Frederick Seitz

[[File:Frederick Seitz.jpg|right|thumb|165px|Frederick Seitz, side angle.]]{{denialism|1}}
'''Frederick Seitz''', PhD, {{lived|1911|2008}} was an American physicist and [[expert for hire]].

==Actual science==
Seitz was actually a trailblazer in the field of solid-state [[physics]]. Along with Eugene Wigner, he developed the concept of the Wigner-Seitz unit cell, which is used in the study of crystalline materials.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140729211822/http://www.chemistry.uoguelph.ca/educmat/chm729/wscells/construction.htm Wigner-Seitz cell], and you can play around with some 3d models [https://web.archive.org/web/20050123032736/http://newton.ex.ac.uk/research/qsystems/people/fall/surf.html here]</ref> He published ''The Modern Theory of Solids'' in 1940, a foundational text in solid-state physics. He served as a member of the Manhattan Project and was later involved in [[nuclear energy]] projects. Seitz served as the president of the National Academy of Sciences from 1962-69, when he commissioned the then-largest particle accelerator in the world, Fermilab. He was the president of Rockefeller University from 1968-78.

==I've got the "data" if you've got the money==
In the 1980s, Seitz decided to become a shill for any [[corporation]] willing to pay him enough. He, {{wpl|Robert Jastrow||,}} and {{wpl|William Nierenberg}} co-founded the George C. Marshall Institute ([[Irony|a right-wing think tank named after a famous liberal Democrat]]) in 1984 to hype [[Ronald Reagan]]'s [[SDI|Star Wars]] program. One of the initial goals of the organization was to attack the work done by [[Carl Sagan]] and his colleagues on nuclear winter. During this time, he was also employed by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and helped spread [[propaganda]] denying links between [[tobacco smoking|smoking]] and cancer. Seitz remarked:
{{quotebox|They didn't want us looking at the health effects of cigarette smoking.<ref>[http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/05/warming200605?currentPage=5 While Washington Slept]</ref>}} 
A leaked 1989 memo suggests that these corporations were beginning to worry that the elderly Seitz, despite his willingness to continue shilling, was by then becoming a less than credible tool:
{{quotebox|Bill told me that Dr. Seitz is quite elderly and not sufficiently rational to offer advice.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140729211825/http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2023266534.html?pattern=fred Philip Morris memo]</ref>}}

The George C. Marshall Institute is notable for ''never'' being correct. It's perhaps best to think of the Institute as an example of [[Whale.to#Scopie's Law|Scopie's Law]] (e.g., citing the Institute automatically gets you laughed out of the room).

In the early '90s, Seitz joined the board of another [[think tank]], the Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP), headed by another physicist-turned-shill, [[S. Fred Singer]]. Singer and Seitz's career paths were mirror images. The two co-authored a few works together, denying the dangers of [[ozone layer|ozone depletion]] and [[global warming]]. Through the Marshall Institute, Seitz helped [[Arthur Robinson]] spread the bogus [[Oregon Petition]] of 30,000+ "scientists" who "disagreed with the consensus on global warming." The NAS repudiated him.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/22/us/science-academy-disputes-attack-on-global-warming.html</ref>

==See also==
*[[Anti-environmentalism]]
*[[TASSC]]
*[[Roy Spencer]], member of the Marshall Institute
*The Marshall Institute is a member of the [[Cooler Heads Coalition]]

==External links==
*[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03E1D71138F935A35750C0A96E9C8B63 Seitz's obituary in the New York Times]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100522051207/http://physics.illinois.edu/people/memorials/Seitz.asp Seitz bio at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign]
*[http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Frederick_Seitz Frederick Seitz] and [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_C._Marshall_Institute George C. Marshall Institute] entries at [[SourceWatch]].
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080119061629/http://www.logicalscience.com/skeptics/frederick-seitz.html Logical Science profile]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150301134027/http://marshall.org/ George C. Marshall Institute]
*[http://www.sepp.org/ Science and Environmental Policy Project]

==Bibliography==
*Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. [http://pubs.acs.org/cen/books/89/8903books.html ''Merchants of Doubt''.] Bloomsbury Press, 2011. ISBN 1-608-19394-2

==References==
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Physicists]]
[[Category:Shysters]]
[[Category:Global warming denialists]]

Categories: Physicists, Shysters, Global warming denialists