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**Written by Doug Powers

Nobody in his or her right mind would resign from the prestigious American Physical Society, but that it has happened can now serve as further proof that global warming causes mental illness.

From Fox News:

Dr. Ivar Giaever, a former professor with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the 1973 winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, abruptly announced his resignation Tuesday, Sept. 13, from the premier physics society in disgust over its officially stated policy that “global warming is occurring.”

The official position of the American Physical Society (APS) supports the theory that man’s actions have inexorably led to the warming of the planet, through increased emissions of carbon dioxide.

Giaever does not agree — and put it bluntly and succinctly in the subject line of his email, reprinted at Climate Depot, a website devoted to debunking the theory of man-made climate change.

“I resign from APS,” Giaever wrote.

Giaever was cooled to the statement on warming theory by a line claiming that “the evidence is incontrovertible.”

“In the APS it is ok to discuss whether the mass of the proton changes over time and how a multi-universe behaves, but the evidence of global warming is incontrovertible?” he wrote in an email to Kate Kirby, executive officer of the physics society.
[...]
The use of the word “incontrovertible” had already caused debate within the group, so much so that an addendum was added to the statement discussing its use in April, 2010.

“The word ‘incontrovertible’ … is rarely used in science because by its very nature, science questions prevailing ideas. The observational data indicate a global surface warming of 0.74 °C (+/- 0.18 °C) since the late 19th century.”

What makes this latest blow to the AGW peddlers sting even more is that Dr. Ivar Giaever isn’t exactly a right-winger. As noted by John Hayward at Human Events, he supported Barack Obama in 2008:

Giaever is, however, no Hayek-loving proponent of economic liberty. He endorsed Obama’s disastrous brand of politically-controlled economics, supporting America’s Worst President during the 2008 elections by co-signing a letter critical of George Bush’s insufficient zeal for pouring federal money into science projects. An excerpt from the letter:

We have watched Senator Obama​’s approach to these issues with admiration. We especially applaud his emphasis during the campaign on the power of science and technology to enhance our nation’s competitiveness. In particular, we support the measures he plans to take — through new initiatives in education and training, expanded research funding, an unbiased process for obtaining scientific advice, and an appropriate balance of basic and applied research — to meet the nation’s and the world’s most urgent needs.

Obama must not have made his stance on global warming clear enough in 2008, because the endorsement soured quickly:

Giaever was also one of more than 100 co-signers in a March 30, 2009 letter to President Obama that was critical of his stance on global warming.

More than a hundred co-signers? To paraphrase Bill Clinton, “It depends on what your definition of ‘consensus’ is…”

Giaever made a couple of good points in his resignation letter:

The claim (how can you measure the average temperature of the whole earth for a whole year?) is that the temperature has changed from ~288.0 to ~288.8 degree Kelvin in about 150 years, which (if true) means to me is that the temperature has been amazingly stable, and both human health and happiness have definitely improved in this ‘warming’ period.

Al Gore is now devoting 24 straight hours to figuring out where “deniers” like Gaiever get their funding.

In the spirit of fairness, I’m offering Al Gore a minute for rebuttal (BS warning):

Update: Jim Treacher breaks down what will be Gore’s logic for discrediting Giaever:

Okay, let’s look at this reasonably and dispassionately:

1.The science is settled, and all the scientists agree about the existence and causes of the problem.
2.“Doctor” Ivar Giaever disagrees.
3.Therefore, Ivar Giaever is not a scientist.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe