Lonnie Thompson

Lonnie Thompson (born July 1, 1948), is an

American paleoclimatologist and university professor Lonnie Thompson
in the School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State
University. He has achieved global recognition for his
drilling and analysis of ice cores from ice caps and
mountain glaciers in the tropical and sub-tropical
regions of the world. He and his wife, Ellen Mosley-
Thompson, run the ice core paleoclimatology research
group at the Byrd Polar Research Center.[1][2]

Early life and education

Thompson in 2015
Thompson was born July 1, 1948, in Gassaway, West
Born July 1, 1948 (age 76)
Virginia, and was raised there on a farm.[3] He
Gassaway, West Virginia, U.S.
obtained an undergraduate degree from Marshall
University, majoring in geology. He subsequently Nationality American
attended Ohio State University where he received M.S. Alma mater Ohio State University (M.S. &
and Ph.D. degrees in geology. Ph.D.)
Marshall University (B.S.)
Scientific career
Career and impact
Fields Geology
Thompson is one of the world’s foremost authorities Paleoclimatology
on paleoclimatology and glaciology. For over 40 years, Glaciology
he has led 60 expeditions where they conduct ice-core
Thesis Microparticles, ice sheets and
drilling programs in the Polar Regions as well as on
climate (https://library.ohio-state.e
tropical and subtropical ice fields in 16 countries
du/record=b2628711~S7) (1976)
including China, Peru, Russia, Tanzania and Papua,
Indonesia (New Guinea).[4] He and his team from the
Ohio State University have developed light-weight solar-powered drilling equipment for acquisition of
histories from ice fields in the tropical South American Andes, the Himalayas, and on Mount Kilimanjaro
in Tanzania.[5][4] The results from these paleoclimate histories were published in more than 230 articles
and have contributed toward improved understanding of Earth’s climate system, both past and present.[4]

In the 1970s, he was the first scientist "to retrieve ice samples from a remote tropical ice cap, such as the
Quelccaya Ice Cap in the Andes of Peru,[3] and analyze them for ancient climate signals."[6] He created
the ice core research program at Ohio State while still a graduate student there. In regards to the
dedication required to attain this ice, one author writes:[7]
 In his efforts to obtain ice cores, Thompson has spent an enormous amount of time at elevations
above 5,500 meters. High-altitude climbers typically tackle a peak by spending time in a series
of camps at lower elevations to acclimatize and then making a final rushed push for the summit.
But Thompson and his loyal band of colleagues, students and mountain guides spend literally
months at a time working at altitude... Thompson and his colleagues have managed to drill into
tropical glaciers with nothing more to rely on than a combination of modest funding, low-tech
equipment, ingenuity and sheer muscle power. Because the thin air at high altitudes precludes
the use of helicopters, all of the drilling equipment and supplies must be carried up and down
the slopes by yaks, mules, horses or humans...

— Mark Bowen, Thin Ice

For comparison, the Everest lower base camp is at 5,380 m (17,700 ft) and the upper base camp is at
6,500 m (21,300 ft). (The mountain itself is 8,848 m (29,029 ft).) Rolling Stone magazine says that there
is no person in the world who has spent more time above 18,000 feet than Lonnie Thompson.[8]

His observations of glacier retreat (1970s–2000s) "confirm that glaciers around the world are melting and
provide clear evidence that the warming of the last 50 years is now outside the range of climate
variability for several millennia, if not longer."[9] In 2001, he incorrectly predicted that the famed snows
of Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro would melt within the next 20 years, a victim of climate change across the
tropics. Return expeditions to the mountain have shown that changes in the mountain's ice fields may
signal an even quicker melting of its snow fields, which Thompson documented had existed for thousands
of years. Thompson and his wife both served as advisers for the Academy Award-winning 2006
documentary An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore, Jr., and some of their work was referenced in the movie.

Personal life
Lonnie Thompson has been married to Ellen Mosley-Thompson for more than 40 years. They met in the
1970s in the Marshall University while he was studying geology and she was pursuing a degree in
physics. After their graduation, they both pursued graduate degrees in geology at the Ohio State
University. They are now research partners who are both interested in examining the effects of climate
change on the world's glacial regions and in developing the technology to drill deep in the ice.[10]

On May 1, 2012, he underwent a successful heart transplant.[3]

Documentary Film
Lonnie Thompson was featured in the 2023 documentary film Canary,[11] which was directed by Danny
O'Malley and Alex Rivest. Canary won "Best Feature"[12] at the 2024 Jackson Wild Media Awards.

Honors and awards

2001: Thompson was featured among eighteen scientists and researchers as "America's
Best" by CNN and Time Magazine.
 2002: Thompson was awarded the Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences by
the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
2002: Thompson was awarded the Vega Medal by the Swedish Society for Anthropology
and Geography.[13]
2005: Thompson was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.[1] (https://web.archive.o
rg/web/20051215173902/http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/newnas.htm)
November, 2005: Thompson was featured in a "Rolling Stone" article, "The Ice Hunter" (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20060316090913/http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/874235
5/the_ice_hunter/).
2005: Thompson was awarded the prestigious Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement,
an honor often regarded as the environmental science equivalent to the Nobel Prize. [2] (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/20060207185321/http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/lonnityler.ht
m)
2006: Thompson was elected to the American Philosophical Society.[14]
February, 2007: Mosley-Thompson and Thompson were jointly awarded the Roy Chapman
Andrews Society Distinguished Explorer Award at Beloit College, Beloit, WI.[3] (https://web.a
rchive.org/web/20070502192411/http://www.roychapmanandrewssociety.org/distinguish.htm
l)
May, 2007: Thompson is named to receive the National Medal of Science. [4] (https://www.n
sf.gov/od/nms/2005nmslaureates_pressrelease.pdf) This honor is the highest the United
States can bestow upon an American scientist. It was presented to Thompson by President
Bush in July 2007 (Award year 2005). [5] (https://web.archive.org/web/20100610083641/htt
p://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/ltmdlsci.htm)
2007: Thompson was awarded Seligman Crystal by the International Glaciological
Society.[15] The Crystal is considered to be one of the highest awards in glaciology.
2008: Mosley-Thompson and Thompson share the $1 million Dan David Prize (Future
category) with British researcher Geoffrey Eglinton.
2008: Thompson was listed as one of Time Magazine's Heroes of the Environment.[16]
2012: Mosley-Thompson and Thompson were jointly awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal
in Earth and Environmental Science from the Franklin Institute.[17]
2013: International Science and Technology Cooperation Award, China[4]
2021: BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the category "Climate Change".[18]

Publications
Lonnie Thompson has been awarded 53 research grants from the NSF, NASA, NOAA and NGS and has
published 165 papers. An abbreviated list of expeditions, grants, and publications can be found in his
Ohio State curriculum vitae (https://web.archive.org/web/20060517101441/http://www-bprc.mps.ohio-sta
te.edu/Icecore/vitae/lgtvita.pdf) (PDF).

Some notable publications include:

Thompson, L. G.; Mosley-Thompson, E.; Brecher, H.; Davis, M.; León, B.; Les, D.; Lin, P. -
N.; Mashiotta, T.; Mountain, K. (2006). "Inaugural Article: Abrupt tropical climate change:
Past and present" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1484420). Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (28): 10536–43. Bibcode:2006PNAS..10310536T (h
ttps://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006PNAS..10310536T). doi:10.1073/pnas.0603900103 (h
ttps://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.0603900103). PMC 1484420 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p
mc/articles/PMC1484420). PMID 16815970 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16815970).
 Thompson, L.G.; Mosley-Thompson, E.; Davis, M.E.; Lin, P.-N.; Henderson, K.; Mashiotta,
T.A. (2003). "Tropical glacier and ice core evidence of climate change on annual to
millennial time scales" (https://web.archive.org/web/20101204102557/http://bprc.osu.edu/Ice
core/Thompsonetal-climatic-change-2003.pdf) (PDF). Climatic Change. 59 (1–2): 137–155.
Bibcode:2003ClCh...59..137T (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003ClCh...59..137T).
doi:10.1023/A:1024472313775 (https://doi.org/10.1023%2FA%3A1024472313775).
S2CID 18990647 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:18990647). Archived from the
original (http://bprc.osu.edu/Icecore/Thompsonetal-climatic-change-2003.pdf) (PDF) on
December 4, 2010.
Thompson, L. G.; Mosley-Thompson, E.; Davis, M. E.; Henderson, K. A.; Brecher, H. H.;
Zagorodnov, V. S.; Mashiotta, T. A.; Lin, P. N.; Mikhalenko, V. N.; Hardy, D. R.; Beer, J.
(2002). "Kilimanjaro Ice Core Records: Evidence of Holocene Climate Change in Tropical
Africa" (https://web.archive.org/web/20081217090237/http://bprc.osu.edu/Icecore/589.pdf)
(PDF). Science. 298 (5593): 589–593. Bibcode:2002Sci...298..589T (https://ui.adsabs.harva
rd.edu/abs/2002Sci...298..589T). doi:10.1126/science.1073198 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2F
science.1073198). PMID 12386332 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12386332).
S2CID 32880316 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:32880316). Archived from the
original (http://bprc.osu.edu/Icecore/589.pdf) (PDF) on December 17, 2008.
Thompson, L. G. (2000). "Ice core evidence for climate change in the Tropics: Implications
for our future". Quaternary Science Reviews. 19 (1–5): 19–35.
Bibcode:2000QSRv...19...19T (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000QSRv...19...19T).
doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(99)00052-9 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2FS0277-3791%2899%2900
052-9).
Thompson, L. G.; Yao, T.; Davis, M. E.; Henderson, K. A.; Mosley-Thompson, E.; Lin, P. N.;
Beer, J.; Synal, H. A.; Cole-Dai, J. (1997). "Tropical Climate Instability: The Last Glacial
Cycle from a Qinghai-Tibetan Ice Core". Science. 276 (5320): 1821.
doi:10.1126/science.276.5320.1821 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.276.5320.1821).

References
1. "Byrd Polar Research Center Directory" (http://bprc.osu.edu/directory/?sort=group).
September 29, 2009. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
2. Zagorski, N. (2006). "Profile of Lonnie G. Thompson" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti
cles/PMC1544187). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (31): 11437–
11439. Bibcode:2006PNAS..10311437Z (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006PNAS..103
11437Z). doi:10.1073/pnas.0605347103 (https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.0605347103).
PMC 1544187 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1544187). PMID 16868075
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16868075).
3. Gillis, Justin (July 3, 2012). "A Climate Scientist Battles Time and Mortality" (https://www.nyti
mes.com/2012/07/03/science/earth/lonnie-thompson-climate-scientist-battles-time.html?pag
ewanted=all). The New York Times. Retrieved July 3, 2012.
4. "Lonnie Thompson | Council for the Advancement of Science Writing" (https://casw.org/new-
horizons/speakers/lonnie-thompson). casw.org. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
5. "Lonnie Thompson" (https://earthsciences.osu.edu/people/thompson.3).
earthsciences.osu.edu. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
6. "Lonnie Thompson to Receive National Medal of Science" (https://web.archive.org/web/201
00610083641/http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/ltmdlsci.htm). Ohio State University,
Research News. 2007. Archived from the original (http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/ltmdl
sci.htm) on June 10, 2010. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
7. Mark Bowen (2005). Thin Ice (https://archive.org/details/thiniceunlocking00bowe_0). Henry
Holt and Co. pp. 320 (https://archive.org/details/thiniceunlocking00bowe_0/page/320).
ISBN 0-8050-6443-5.
 8. "The Ice Hunter" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080430072521/http://www.rollingstone.co
m/politics/story/8742355/the_ice_hunter/). Rolling Stone. November 3, 2005. Archived from
the original (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/8742355/the_ice_hunter/) on April
30, 2008. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
9. "Lonnie Thompson CV (short)" (https://web.archive.org/web/20081011143546/http://bprc.os
u.edu/Icecore/vitae/lgt%20short%20vita.pdf) (PDF). Archived from the original (http://bprc.os
u.edu/Icecore/vitae/lgt%20short%20vita.pdf) (PDF) on October 11, 2008. Retrieved
June 19, 2010.
10. "Couple has spent decades exploring glaciers, which reveal climate history" (https://www.wa
shingtonpost.com/conversations/couple-has-spent-decades-exploring-glaciers-which-reveal-
climate-history/2015/03/16/cdcb8b54-b3bf-11e4-827f-93f454140e2b_story.html). The
Washington Post.
11. Canary (2023) - IMDb (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28668969/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm).
Retrieved November 4, 2024 – via www.imdb.com.
12. "2024 Media Award Finalists & Winners" (https://www.jacksonwild.org/2024-media-awards).
Jackson Wild. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
13. "Medals | SSAG | Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi" (https://ssag.se/english/
medals/). ssag.se. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
14. "APS Member History" (https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Lonnie+G.+T
hompson&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=a
dvanced). search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
15. "The Seligman Crystal" (https://www.igsoc.org/awards/seligman/). International Glaciological
Society (IGS). Retrieved August 27, 2021.
16. "Heroes of the Environment" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080930184738/http://www.time.
com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1841778_1841782_1841790,00.html). TIME.
September 24, 2008. Archived from the original (http://www.time.com/time/specials/package
s/article/0,28804,1841778_1841782_1841790,00.html) on September 30, 2008. Retrieved
June 19, 2010.
17. "Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science" (https://archive.today/20130
626175415/http://www.fi.edu/franklinawards/12/bf_earth.html). Franklin Institute. 2012.
Archived from the original (http://www.fi.edu/franklinawards/12/bf_earth.html) on June 26,
2013. Retrieved April 6, 2013.
18. BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards 2021 (https://www.frontiersofknowledgea
wards-fbbva.es/)

External links
Ice Core Paleoclimatology Research Group (http://www-bprc.mps.ohio-state.edu/Icecore/fro
nt-page.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20060903024832/http://www-bprc.mps.
ohio-state.edu/Icecore/front-page.html) 2006-09-03 at the Wayback Machine, the
Thompson's research group at OSU.
Lonnie Thompson's web page at Byrd Polar (http://www-bprc.mps.ohio-state.edu/Icecore/Gr
oupP.html#lonniethompson)
Ellen Mosley-Thompson's web page at Byrd Polar (http://www-bprc.mps.ohio-state.edu/Icec
ore/GroupP.html#ellenmosleythompson)
Lonnie Thompson's Department of Geological Sciences faculty home page (https://web.arch
ive.org/web/20100626050653/http://www.geology.ohio-state.edu/faculty_bios.php?id=52)
Ellen Mosley-Thompson's Department of Geography faculty home page (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20100427045128/http://www.geography.osu.edu/faculty/emt/)
 "Rapid Climate Change in the Earth System: Past,Present,Future" (https://web.archive.org/
web/20060115021441/http://www.knaw.nl/heinekenprizes/pdf/5.pdf) 2002 Heineken Prize
lecture by Prof. Thompson
Lonnie Thompson (http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Sh-Z/Thompson-Lonnie.html),
biography from the Encyclopedia of World Biography
"Deciphering the ice: scientist drills into tropical glaciers for clues to Earth's climate
changes" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080613210421/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/20
01/americasbest/science.medicine/pro.lthompson.html) from CNN/Time.
"Science Goes to New Heights" (http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/science/contenthandler.cfm?id
=1470), article about Thompson's research in The Antarctic Sun. June 27, 2008
The Habitable Planet video (https://web.archive.org/web/20131017233416/http://www.learne
r.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=2280)
Dan David Prize laureate 2008 (https://web.archive.org/web/20110723051219/http://www.da
ndavidprize.org/index.php/laureates/laureates-2008/55-2008-future-geosciences/74-ellen-m
osley-thompson-and-lonnie-g-thompson.html)
WOSU Public Media profiled the Thompson's polar research in 2008 (https://archive.today/2
0130416072211/http://www.wosu.org/imix/?date=11/22/2008&id=0) in a two video segments
distributed nationally.

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