Michael Mann

[[File:Mann4.jpg|thumb|Michael Mann, head of the [[environmentalism|eco-fascist]] cabal and the co-inventor of global warming ([[Gore's Law|along with Al Gore]]).|165px]]{{science}}{{cquote|Insert "Mann-made global warming" joke here.}}
'''Michael Mann''' is a climatologist at Penn State University most famous for his work in paleoclimatology, producing the ''''hockey stick' graph''' illustrating increasing temperatures as a result of [[global warming]], his "role" in [[Climategate]], and as the head of the [[Evil Liberal Science Conspiracy]]. Mann's work on the hockey stick was actually important not so much because it showed increasing temperatures in recent history but because it revised what were thought to be very large variations in the climate in pre-modern [[history]] into much smaller and more local variations. Specifically, Mann argued that what was called the "Medieval Warm Period" and the "Little [[ice age|Ice Age]]" were less significant than previously thought and an artifact of much of the paleoclimate data being limited to [[European]] sites.{{cn}}

Mann's work was initially controversial within the scientific community when it was published in 1998, as [[Scientific consensus|every significant shift in the scientific paradigm is]]. In full [[irony]], the [[denialist]] community has attempted to paint Mann and other climatologists like Keith Briffa and Phil Jones as [[Global warming conspiracy theory|conspiring]] to "corrupt the [[peer review]] system" in order to get the "bogus" hockey stick graph published. Briffa and Jones were, in fact, early critics of Mann and had produced their own version of the hockey stick, which they subsequently worked out the differences with Mann's team on. The back-and-forth between the research teams in e-mails was subsequently [[quote mining|quote mined]] for "conspiratorial" language about "''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' tricks" and "hiding the decline."{{cn}]

After the research teams settled some of their differences, the hockey stick was included in the 2001 IPCC report on climate change. [[Steve McIntyre]] and [[Ross McKitrick]], ''neither'' one an actual climatologist (the former a [[crank]] blogger and the latter an [[economist]], to be specific), released a number of papers and articles criticizing the hockey stick, two of which managed to get published in [[scientific journal]]s, and offering their own "reconstruction" of temperatures (often referred to as the "M&M model"). Their "research" was roundly demolished for using algorithms that massively [[cherry-picking|cherry-picked]] data to the tune of excluding over 80% of the recorded temperatures in some cases to resuscitate the large variations in historical data and "hide the increase" in 20th century temperatures.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20081119055010/http://www.alexlockwood.net/2008/08/20/hockey-stick-grab/ Hockey Stick Grab], Alex Lockwood</ref>

After the M&M fiasco, a number of climatologists published their own reconstructions of global temperatures from [[Reproducibility|independent lines of research]] that vindicated Mann's research by showing similar if not identical trends in temperature. Another attempt to discredit the work of Mann came in 2006 with the release of the [[Wegman Report]], which recycled the M&M models and was largely [[Plagiarism|plagiarized]].

Mann officially became head of the so-called science conspiracy in 2009 after the Climategate e-mails leaked. Multiple subsequent investigations have cleared him of ethical wrongdoing.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/14/AR2010041404001.html Academic experts clear scientists in Climategate], ''Washington Post''</ref><ref>[http://live.psu.edu/pdf/Final_Investigation_Report.pdf RA-1O Final Investigation Report Involving Dr. Michael E. Mann], Pennsylvania State University, June 4, 2010</ref>

The more "advanced" deniers tend to use Mann rather than [[Al Gore]] as the subject of their [[1984|Two Minutes of Hate]], usually referring to the hockey stick or global warming itself as "the "Mann fraud" or the "Mann lies." They also tend to [[willful ignorance|selectively ignore]] everyone else who has replicated his work and attack Mann's 1998 and 1999 papers, continuing to hold up the truly fraudulent M&M ("It's peer-reviewed!") and Wegman Report as "definitive debunkings" of the hockey stick. If the 1998 paper can be "debunked," that obviously means all other climate science is invalid and CO<sub>2</sub> is no longer a [[greenhouse effect|greenhouse gas]]! Specifically, the findings of the paper have been validated by both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation have found both his methods and results to be reliable and accurate.<ref>[http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-02/ps-iga020915.php Iconic graph at center of climate debate] release by Penn State</ref>

Some of Mann's methodology in collecting pre-1600 temperatures has been criticized and there are still technical disagreements over various details, but the general trend of the hockey stick is accepted as part of the current consensus on global warming.<ref>[http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11676 Surface Temperature Reconstructions for the Last 2,000 Years], National Research Council</ref>

Mann, along with other climate scientists, also runs the Real Climate blog.

==Libel cases==
Mann filed a libel complaint in Canada against [[Tim Ball|Timothy (“Tim”) Ball]] and The Frontier Centre for Public Policy (FCPP) in 2011. The case was dismissed in 2019 due to delay, but was partially settled after FCPP issued a retraction and apology on their website.<ref>[https://climatecasechart.com/non-us-case/michael-mann-v-timothy-tim-ball-the-frontier-centre-for-public-policy-inc-and-john-doe/ Michael Mann v. Timothy (“Tim”) Ball, The Frontier Centre for Public Policy, Inc. and John Doe] (2011) ''Climate Case Chart''.</ref>

After 12 years of waiting, court proceedings for libel against [[troll]] Rand Simberg's writing in [[Competitive Enterprise Institute]] and troll Mark Steyn's writing in ''[[National Review]]'' began in 2024.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/02/07/michael-mann-climate-trial/ After waiting 12 years, this famed climate scientist fights his critics in court: Climatologist Michael Mann is suing two bloggers, part of a mounting campaign to defend scientists against attacks from right-wing trolls] by Dino Grandoni (February 7, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. EST) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> On February 8 2024, Steyn and Simberg were found guilty of defamation. The jury fined Simberg for $1,000 in punitive damages, and fined Steyn for $1,000,000 in punitive damages.<ref>[https://www.science.org/content/article/jury-rules-climate-scientist-michael-mann-long-running-defamation-case "Jury rules for climate scientist Michael Mann in long-running defamation case"] by Paul Voosen, Science, 2024 February 8</ref>

==External links==
*[http://www.meteo.psu.edu/~mann/Mann/ Mann's faculty page]
*[http://www.realclimate.org/ Real Climate blog]
*[http://www.skepticalscience.com/broken-hockey-stick.htm Is the hockey stick broken?] Skeptical Science
*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/09/hockey-stick-graph-ipcc-report ''The Guardian''] on the climate wars
*[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=behind-the-hockey-stick Behind the Hockey Stick], ''Scientific American''
*Mann, M.E., Bradley R.S., Hughes M.K. (1998). [https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~wsoon/DaveLegates03-d/Mannetal98Nature.pdf Global-scale temperature patterns and climate forcing over the past six centuries.] ''Nature'', 392 (6678): 779–787. (The paper that started it all.)
*Michael E. Mann, Raymond S. Bradley & Malcolm K. Hughes. [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v430/n6995/suppinfo/nature02478.html Corrigendum: Global-scale temperature patterns and climate forcing over the past six centuries.] ''Nature'' 430, 105(1 July 2004) (Corrections to MBH '98)
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x2afzvRbeg "The Battle to Communicate Climate Change: Lessons from The Front Lines"], Mann's presentation at the AGU Chapman Conference on Communicating Climate Science: A Historic Look to the Future

==References==
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[[Category:Climatologists]]
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Categories: Climatologists, Global warming, Bloggers, Living people