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Thomas Stocker
Thomas Stocker
Thomas Stocker
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Thomas F. Stocker (born 1959) is a Swiss climate scientist.

Key Information

Born in Zürich, Stocker obtained a degree in physics at the ETH Zurich. He was active in research at the University College London, at McGill University in Montreal and at Columbia University in New York. Since 1993, he has been a professor and head of the department of Climate and Environmental Physics at the University of Bern.[2]

The focus of Stocker's research is the development of models of climate change based on, among other, the analysis of ice cores from the polar regions. He significantly contributed to creating the "hockey stick graph" that shows a growing increase of global mean temperatures in recent times. Since 1998, he contributes to the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and is co-chairman of the IPCC Working Group I (assessing scientific aspects of the climate system and climate change) from 2008 to 2015.[2]

In 1993, Stocker was awarded the Swiss National Science Foundation's National Latsis Prize,[1] in 2009 the Hans Oeschger Medal of the European Geosciences Union and in 2017 the Marcel Benoist Prize.[3][4] For 2023 he received the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award.[5]

He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and a member of the Academia Europaea and the American Meteorological Society. In 2019, Stocker became a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.[6]

Stocker is featured in the film Taking Earth's Temperature: Delving into Climate's Past.[7]

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Thomas Stocker

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''Thomas Stocker'' is a Swiss climate scientist known for his research in climate and environmental physics, his contributions to understanding past and future climate changes, and his leadership as co-chair of Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for the Fifth Assessment Report. Stocker served as Professor of Climate and Environmental Physics at the Physics Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland, from 1993 to 2024, and has been President of the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research. He earned his PhD in Natural Sciences from ETH Zurich in 1987 and has held various research positions prior to his professorship. His work has focused on critical aspects of the climate system, including climate tipping points and the scientific basis underpinning international agreements like the Paris Agreement through his IPCC involvement. Stocker holds two honorary doctorates and continues to contribute to discussions on climate science and policy.

Early life and education

Birth and family background

Thomas Stocker was born in 1959 in Zürich, Switzerland. He grew up in Zürich and is a Swiss citizen with origins in both Zürich and Büron in the canton of Lucerne. He is married and has two adult daughters.

Education and early academic training

Thomas Stocker earned his Diploma in Natural Sciences (Dipl. Natw.), specializing in Umweltphysik (Environmental Physics), from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich) in 1984 under the supervision of Prof. K. Hutter. His diploma thesis was recognized for its excellence with the Medal of ETH in 1985. He remained at ETH Zürich for his doctoral studies, completing his Dr. sc. nat. (Doctor of Natural Sciences) in 1987, also supervised by Prof. K. Hutter. For his outstanding PhD thesis, he received the Medal of ETH in 1987. This training in physics applied to environmental problems at one of Europe's leading technical universities formed the foundation for his subsequent career in climate science.

Academic and research career

Early research positions and postdoctoral work

After obtaining his doctorate from ETH Zürich in 1987, Thomas Stocker started his professional career as a Research Assistant at the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW) at ETH Zürich from 1985 to 1988, where he gained initial experience in glaciology and related fields. He then moved internationally for postdoctoral training, serving as a SERC Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Mathematics at University College London from 1988 to 1989. Supported by a fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation, Stocker continued his research as a Research Fellow at McGill University in Montreal from 1989 to 1991, further developing his expertise in climate-related mathematical modeling. From 1991 to 1993, he worked as an Associate Research Scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in New York, engaging in advanced studies on ocean-atmosphere dynamics. During these early career years, he also undertook selected longer visiting scholar stays, including at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder. In 1993, he returned to Switzerland to take up a professorship at the University of Bern.

Professorship and leadership at the University of Bern

Thomas Stocker was appointed Professor of Climate and Environmental Physics at the Physics Institute of the University of Bern in 1993, where he succeeded Hans Oeschger and assumed responsibility for the Department for Climate and Environmental Physics. He held this professorship for more than 30 years, serving concurrently as Head of the Division of Climate and Environmental Physics from 1993 to 2024. In 2017, Stocker was appointed President of the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, an interdisciplinary institution at the University of Bern, and he continued in this leadership role until 2024. Following his farewell lecture on 18 June 2024, Stocker was granted emeritus status by the University of Bern. He is now Professor Emeritus at the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research and affiliated with the Physics Institute.

Research focus and contributions

Climate system dynamics and modelling

Thomas Stocker's research centers on the dynamics of the climate system and climate modelling. A major emphasis of his work has been the development of climate models of reduced complexity, also known as models of intermediate complexity, which provide efficient computational frameworks for simulating long-term climate processes and interactions within the Earth system. His investigations explore past and future climate change, with particular attention to abrupt climate changes and their underlying mechanisms, including effects on ocean circulation. These modelling approaches enable the analysis of rapid shifts in the climate system under varying forcing conditions. Stocker has authored or co-authored more than 250 peer-reviewed papers in the areas of climate dynamics and paleoclimate modeling. His modelling work has occasionally been applied to paleoclimate studies involving ice core data.

Paleoclimate reconstruction and ice core analysis

Thomas Stocker has played a central role in paleoclimate reconstruction through detailed analysis of polar ice cores, particularly in recovering past atmospheric compositions and understanding climate variability. His research has focused on extracting and interpreting trapped air bubbles from ice cores to reconstruct historical concentrations of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. As part of the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA), Stocker and his team led the greenhouse gas measurements on samples from the 3270 m long ice core drilled at Dome Concordia Station, providing a continuous time series of greenhouse gas concentrations spanning the last 800,000 years. This record has documented natural variations in greenhouse gas levels over multiple glacial-interglacial cycles and demonstrated tight coupling between these gases and Antarctic temperature proxies derived from stable water isotopes. Stocker's work has extended to methodological advancements in ice core analysis, including the development of continuous flow analysis systems to efficiently measure chemical impurities, stable isotopes, and greenhouse gases at high resolution. These techniques have enabled more precise reconstructions of past environmental conditions and supported investigations into rapid changes in the climate system. His contributions have also advanced understanding of abrupt climate changes evident in ice core records, such as Dansgaard-Oeschger events in Greenland and corresponding Antarctic variations. Stocker developed a minimum thermodynamic model of the bipolar seesaw to explain the antiphase temperature relationships between the hemispheres observed in synchronized ice core records, reconciling apparent contradictions in the phasing of abrupt events and highlighting the role of ocean circulation in transmitting signals across hemispheres. This ice core-based research has provided key paleoclimate evidence for integrating past greenhouse gas dynamics and abrupt shifts into broader climate system modeling efforts.

Role in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Appointment and co-chairmanship of Working Group I

Thomas Stocker has contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 1998, beginning as a Coordinating Lead Author for Working Group I in the Third Assessment Report. He continued in a similar role as Coordinating Lead Author for the Fourth Assessment Report. In September 2008, Stocker was elected Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group I, which assesses the physical scientific basis of the climate system and climate change. He was chosen alongside Qin Dahe from China during the 29th Session of the IPCC Plenary in Geneva, held from 31 August to 4 September 2008, by delegations from member governments. Stocker served in this position from 2008 to 2015, overseeing Working Group I activities during the preparation of the Fifth Assessment Report.

Contributions to key IPCC reports and assessments

Thomas Stocker has made substantial contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) through successive assessment reports, particularly in advancing the assessment of the physical science basis of climate change. He served as Coordinating Lead Author for the Third Assessment Report (published in 2001), coordinating Chapter 7 on Physical Climate Processes, and continued in the same role for the Fourth Assessment Report (published in 2007), where he coordinated Chapter 10 on climate projections. From 2008 to 2015, Stocker co-chaired Working Group I for the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), leading the preparation of Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis together with Co-Chair Qin Dahe and coordinating the work of 259 authors from 39 countries. This role built on his earlier IPCC involvement, which began in 1998, and positioned him to guide key improvements in report structure, content, and communication. Under his co-chairmanship, AR5 Working Group I introduced several notable advancements, including headline statements in the Summary for Policymakers to convey core messages clearly and accessibly, the explicit inclusion of the carbon budget concept to quantify cumulative emissions compatible with temperature targets, and the first depiction of ocean acidification in a Summary for Policymakers figure. The report also dedicated a full chapter to near-term (decadal) climate projections and included a specific analysis of the observed temporary slowdown in global surface warming rates (often referred to as the hiatus), addressing a topic of public and scientific debate through evaluation of natural decadal variability. In presenting the key findings of the AR5 Working Group I report in September 2013, Stocker stressed that continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and widespread changes across the climate system, with effects persisting for centuries even if emissions cease. He noted that global surface temperature change by the end of the 21st century is likely to exceed 1.5°C relative to 1850–1900 in all but the lowest emissions scenario and likely to exceed 2°C in higher scenarios, while heat waves are very likely to become more frequent and longer, and precipitation patterns will generally shift toward wetter conditions in wet regions and drier in dry regions. These elements reflect his emphasis on robust, evidence-based communication of climate risks and the urgency of emission reductions to limit future warming.

Awards and honours

Major scientific prizes and medals

Thomas Stocker has been recognized with several major scientific prizes and medals for his seminal contributions to understanding past climate dynamics, ocean processes, and the long-term coupling of greenhouse gases with global temperatures through ice core data and climate modelling. In 2008, he was a co-recipient of the European Descartes Prize for Research as a member of the EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) team. The following year, in 2009, the European Geosciences Union awarded him the Hans Oeschger Medal for his important contributions to the understanding of the role of the oceans in past climate changes and for his involvement in ice core studies. In 2017, Stocker received the Marcel Benoist Swiss Science Prize—Switzerland's highest scientific honor—for his work using climate modelling and ice core analysis to demonstrate the reality of climate change and its societal consequences. The award, carrying a value of CHF 250,000, was presented on November 1, 2017, in Bern. More recently, in January 2024, Stocker shared the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Climate Change with Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Jean Jouzel, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, and Jakob Schwander for their collaborative contributions to polar ice core records that establish a fundamental coupling between greenhouse gases and air temperature across the past 800,000 years. Stocker has also been selected to receive the Alfred Wegener Medal from the European Geosciences Union in 2026, one of the organization's most prestigious honors, in recognition of his exceptional international standing in atmospheric, hydrospheric, and cryospheric sciences.

Academic memberships and honorary degrees

Thomas Stocker has been elected to several prestigious academies and scientific societies in recognition of his contributions to climate and environmental physics. He became a member of Academia Europaea in 1998 and was named a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2012. In 2016, he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2019. Stocker has received honorary doctorates from leading institutions. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Université de Versailles in 2006 and by ETH Zürich in 2016. He was also recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher from 2014 to 2018.

Public engagement and media appearances

Documentary features and public communication

Thomas Stocker has contributed to public understanding of climate science through appearances in documentary films and engagement with media. He is featured as an expert interviewee in the one-hour documentary "Taking Earth's Temperature: Delving into Climate's Past," produced by Northern Arizona University's IDEA Lab, which examines scientific evidence of past climate variations using ice cores and other paleoclimate records. In the film, he shares insights drawn from his research on climate dynamics and ice core analysis to illustrate long-term climate changes. Beyond this documentary, Stocker has actively participated in public communication by responding to media requests and explaining consensus-based climate science in accessible ways. He has described this role as an essential part of scientific responsibility, particularly for issues of high societal relevance, and has emphasized clear, fact-grounded communication even when addressing controversial topics. His public engagement has included support for youth climate initiatives in Switzerland, contributing to local policy changes such as bans on oil heating systems. These efforts reflect his commitment to bridging scientific knowledge and public discourse, though his primary appearances remain tied to his expertise as a climate scientist rather than professional media roles.

References

  1. https://climatehomes.unibe.ch/~stocker/
  2. https://www.weforum.org/people/thomas-stocker/
  3. https://theconversation.com/profiles/thomas-stocker-2565741
  4. https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/environment-geneva/experts/thomas-stocker/
  5. https://thebulletin.org/2025/03/notoriously-difficult-to-investigate-and-even-more-difficult-to-predict-thomas-stocker-on-tipping-points/
  6. https://marcel-benoist.ch/en/thomas-stocker/
  7. https://climatehomes.unibe.ch/~stocker/papers/stocker12bio_e.pdf
  8. https://www.news.admin.ch/en/nsb?id=19422
  9. https://www.istitutoveneto.it/stocker-thomas/
  10. https://climatehomes.unibe.ch/~stocker/cv.html
  11. https://www.international.unibe.ch/people/2018/thomas_stocker/my_international_journey
  12. https://climatehomes.unibe.ch/~stocker/papers/stocker16bio_e.pdf
  13. https://www.uniaktuell.unibe.ch/2024/thomas_stocker_emeritus_status/index_eng.html
  14. https://www.climate.unibe.ch/about_us/team/prof_stocker_thomas/index_eng.html
  15. https://www.ogs.it/it/oceanography-unveiled-thomas-stocker
  16. https://climatehomes.unibe.ch/~stocker/papers/stocker07iprc.pdf
  17. https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/18/2289/2022/
  18. https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/105523
  19. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2003PA000920
  20. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379106000771
  21. https://www.carbonbrief.org/the-carbon-brief-interview-thomas-stocker/
  22. https://climatehomes.unibe.ch/~stocker/stocker24cv_1p.pdf
  23. https://www.news.admin.ch/en/nsb?id=21145
  24. https://www.wcrp-climate.org/wmo-public-science-lecture
  25. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/
  26. https://archive.ipcc.ch/news_and_events/docs/ar5/press_release_ar5_wgi_en.pdf
  27. https://www.egu.eu/awards-medals/hans-oeschger/2009/thomas-stocker/
  28. https://mediarelations.unibe.ch/media_releases/2017_e/media_releases_2017/climate_scientist_thomas_stocker_awarded_the_marcel_benoist_swiss_science_prize/index_eng.html
  29. https://www.frontiersofknowledgeawards-fbbva.es/galardonados/thomas-stocker-2/
  30. https://pastglobalchanges.org/news/138739
  31. https://climatehomes.unibe.ch/~stocker/membership.html
  32. https://www.amacad.org/person/thomas-f-stocker
  33. https://climatehomes.unibe.ch/~stocker/stocker24bio.pdf
  34. https://takingearthstemperature.nau.edu/
  35. https://scnat.ch/en/uuid/i/a0f5b656-eaf7-50ff-9eb0-c9fb05c8ca47-Taking_Earths_Temperature_-_Delving_into_Climates_Past
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