Henrik Svensmark
Overview
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
at the Danish National Space Center
Danish National Space Center
The Danish National Space Center is a Danish sector research Institute and a part of the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. It is located in Copenhagen at Østerbro...
in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
who studies the effects of cosmic rays on cloud
Cloud
A cloud is a visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals made of water and/or various chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planetary body. They are also known as aerosols. Clouds in Earth's atmosphere are studied in the cloud physics branch of meteorology...
formation. His work presents hypotheses about solar
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
activity as an indirect cause of global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
; his research has suggested a possible link through the interaction of the solar wind
Solar wind
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles ejected from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. It mostly consists of electrons and protons with energies usually between 1.5 and 10 keV. The stream of particles varies in temperature and speed over time...
and cosmic rays. His conclusions have been controversial as the prevailing scientific opinion on climate change
Scientific opinion on climate change
The predominant scientific opinion on climate change is that the Earth is in an ongoing phase of global warming primarily caused by an enhanced greenhouse effect due to the anthropogenic release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases...
considers solar activity unlikely to be a major contributor to recent warming, though it is thought to be the primary driver of many earlier changes in climate.
Henrik Svensmark is director of the Center for Sun-Climate Research at the Danish Space Research Institute
Danish Space Research Institute
Danish Space Research Institute was the space agency of Denmark from 1966 to 2005. It was a Danish sector research institute formed in 1966 under the Danish Ministry for Education and Research, later the Danish Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation...
(DSRI), a part of the Danish National Space Center
Danish National Space Center
The Danish National Space Center is a Danish sector research Institute and a part of the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. It is located in Copenhagen at Østerbro...
.
