Posted on 01/04/2017 5:16:06 AM PST by randita
Climatologist Dr. Judith Curry branded a heretic for challenging global warming I was tossed out of the tribe
Via: https://judithcurry.com/2017/01/03/jc-in-transition/
by Judith Curry
Effective January 1, I have resigned my tenured faculty position at Georgia Tech.
Before reflecting on a range of things, let me start by answering a question that may have popped into your head: I have no plans to join the Trump administration (ha ha).
Technically, my resignation is a retirement event, since I am on the Georgia State Teachers Retirement System, and I need to retire from Georgia Tech to get my pension (although I am a few years shy of 65). I have requested Emeritus status.
So, I have retired from Georgia Tech, and I have no intention of seeking another academic or administrative position in a university or government agency. However, I most certainly am not retiring from professional life. Why did I resign my tenured faculty position?
Im cashing out with 186 published journal articles and two books. The superficial reason is that I want to do other things, and no longer need my university salary. This opens up an opportunity for Georgia Tech to make a new hire (see advert).
The deeper reasons have to do with my growing disenchantment with universities, the academic field of climate science and scientists. A deciding factor was that I no longer know what to say to students and postdocs regarding how to navigate the CRAZINESS in the field of climate science. Research and other professional activities are professionally rewarded only if they are channeled in certain directions approved by a politicized academic establishment funding, ease of getting your papers published, getting hired in prestigious positions, appointments to prestigious committees and boards, professional recognition, etc.
How young scientists are to navigate all this is beyond me, and it often becomes a battle of scientific integrity versus career suicide (I have worked through these issues with a number of skeptical young scientists). When I first started down this new path in 2010, I published papers that could be categorized as applied philosophy of science (e.g. uncertainty monster, etc). This seemed to be a path towards maintaining academic legitimacy in light of my new interests, but frankly I got bored with playing the game. Why go to the extra effort to publish papers, wrestling with reviewers who (usually) know less than you do about your topic (not to mention their biases), having to pay to get an article published some months in the future, so that maybe 100 people will read it? Not to mention the broader issues related to coping with the university bureaucracy, government funding, etc.
Once you detach from the academic mindset, publishing on the internet makes much more sense, and the peer review you can get on a technical blog is much more extensive. But peer review is not really the point; provoking people to think in new ways about something is really the point. In other words, science as process, rather than a collection of decreed truths. At this point, the private sector seems like a more honest place for a scientist working in a politicized field than universities or government labs at least when you are your own boss.
Full comments by Dr. Curry here: https://judithcurry.com/2017/01/03/jc-in-transition/
Ping. Important statement from Judith Curry.
Oh, and how do we get her into an important science policy position in the Trump Administration? The USA needs her service badly in this area.
She’s a straight shooter and a regular on WUWT. Georgia Tech’s loss
Three progressive idols I’m tired of hearing about:
1 climate change
2 palestinians
3 gays
A speaker of the truth. Georgia tech’s loss.
Isn’t the original purpose of tenure to protect people like Judith from being fired or hounded out of their positions for their thoughts and ideas?
I am a bit worried about Trump putting his daughter Ivanka in charge of Climate change issues. But I will withhold any judgment until we see what happens.
HOORAY Dr. Judith Curry.
CRAZINESS = DECEIT
TOTALITARIANS at Tech ALERT!
Yet another "industry" ripe for disintermediation. Technical blogs and suchlike are going to replace the increasingly unaffordable mechanism of journal publications - and soon.
Love it! She now has the opportunity to be recognized by history as a great scientist. One that clashed with dogma with facts, and reason.
Godspeed Dr Curry.
Love it! She now has the opportunity to be recognized by history as a great scientist. One that clashed with dogma with facts, and reason.
Godspeed Dr Curry.
Love it! She now has the opportunity to be recognized by history as a great scientist. One that clashed with dogma with facts, and reason.
Godspeed Dr Curry.
You can say that again!
Living up to your username?
;-P
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Randita, for posting this!
One of her remarks in her article: “I remain very interested in the interactions afforded by social media. However, over the past year I have devoted considerably less time to writing original material for Climate Etc. Apart from being really busy, I have been spending more time on twitter (which is a much smaller time investment).”
Unfortunately, I fear Dr. Curry is about to find out most unpleasantly that her Twitter account will be permanently suspended soon. Twitter, like Facebook, censors material and users for information they don’t want getting out and informing others when it is contrary to what they want you to believe.
Semi-fake news.
She’s retiring voluntarily—She wasn’t forced out.
American universities sound a lot like the old Soviet universities. They allow no dissent to government-approved doctrine. Hopefully, Pres. Trump will call attention to this egregious bastardization of academic freedom.
Hope all is well with you.
Professor Peter Hagelstein of MIT prefaces his cold fusion lectures with a warning that "pursuing this subject will damage your career," both verbally and with a power point slide.
It’s a shame that we’re losing a good, honest person behind enemy lines who will tell us what’s going on. But she’s done her duty and her work will continue.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.