Jim Anderson is the Philip S. Weld Professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Earth and Planetary Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University. He was Chairman, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 1998–2001. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1992, the American Philosophical Society in 1998, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1985, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1986, a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1989.
He received the 2021 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences, the 2019 Aluminus Summa Laude Dignatus from the University of Washington, the 2017 Lichtenberg Medal from the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the 2016 Polanyi Medal of the British Royal Academy of Chemistry for work on free radical kinetics, the 2016 Benton Medal for Public Service by the University of Chicago, and the 2012 Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in the Physical Sciences. He received the E.O. Lawrence Award in Environmental Science and Technology; the American Chemical Society’s Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest; the United Nations Vienna Convention Award for Protection of the Ozone Layer; Harvard University’s Ledlie Prize for Most Valuable Contribution to Science by a Member of the Faculty; the American Chemical Society’s National Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science and Technology. He has testified on numerous occasions before both Senate and House committees on national energy and climate issues.
Education:
- U. Washington — Physics, B.S., 1966
- U. Colorado — Physics/Astrogeophysics, Ph.D., 1970
- U. Pittsburgh — Department of Physics, Postdoctoral Fellow, 1971-1972
Appointments:
- 1982–Present — Philip S. Weld Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, Harvard University.
- July 1998–July 2001 — Chairman, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University.
- 1978–1982 — Robert P. Burden Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, Harvard University.
- April–July 1978 — Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of Michigan.
- 1975–1978 — Research Scientist, Space Physics Research Laboratory, University of Michigan.
- 1972–1975 — Research Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Pittsburgh.
Membership:
- Space Studies Board 2010 to 2018
- National Academy of Sciences, Elected 1992
- American Philosophical Society, Elected 1998
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Elected 1985
- Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Elected 1986
- Fellow, American Geophysical Union, Elected 1989
- National Research Council Space Science Board: Task Group on Research and Analysis
- National Research Council Committee on Atmospheric Chemistry
- National Research Council Committee on Global Change Research
- National Research Council Committee on Fire Suppression Substitutes and Alternatives to Halon, National Science Foundation Advisory Committee on Atmospheric Sciences
- National Academy of Sciences Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, 1986–1989; 1992–1993
- Editorial Board: Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry
- Editorial Board: International Reviews in Physical Chemistry
- Board of Directors, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, 1984–1988; Executive Committee, 1985–1988
- Pontifical Academy Board: Chemical Events in the Atmosphere and Their Impact on the Environment, The Vatican, November, 1983
Anderson Research Group:
The Anderson research group addresses the coupling of climate change and chemistry; stratospheric free radical catalyzed ozone loss, carbon isotopic fluxes from the Arctic, ice penetrating radar mapping of glacial structures, ozone loss over the US in summer from storm induced convective injection of water, mechanistic coupling between sulfate addition to the stratosphere and climate forcing of convective injection of water vapor, gas phase kinetics of free radicals, photochemistry of planetary atmospheres, kinetics of excited molecular states. In addition the Anderson Group addresses three domains at the interface of chemistry and Earth Sciences: (1) mechanistic links between chemistry, radiation, and dynamics in the atmosphere that control climate (2) chemical catalysis sustained by free radical chain reactions that dictate the macroscopic rate of chemical transformation in Earth’s stratosphere and troposphere; and (3) chemical reactivity viewed from the microscopic perspective of electron structure, molecular orbitals and reactivities of radical-radical and radical-molecule systems. Studies are carried out both in the laboratory, wherein elementary processes can be isolated, and within natural systems, in which reaction networks and transport patterns are dissected by establishing cause and effect using simultaneous, in situ detection of free radicals, reactive intermediates, and long-lived tracers. Research addressing Earth’s climate focuses on establishing the primary mechanisms that couple chemistry, dynamics, and radiation in the climate system, the establishment of a high-accuracy record of climate change using airborne ice penetrating radar, interferometry from low Earth orbit, and strategies for testing long-term climate forecasts using absolute spectrally resolved radiance in the infrared.
Most Recent Publications:
- Stratospheric Ozone Over the United States in Summer Linked to Observations of Convection and Temperature Via Chlorine and Bromine Catalysis
- Arctic Regional Methane Fluxes by Ecotope as Derived Using Eddy Covariance from a Low-Flying Aircraft
- A Case Study of Convectively Sourced Water Vapor Observed in the Overworld Stratosphere over the United States
- Ozone Depletion Following Future Volcanic Eruptions