David King (chemist)

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David King (chemist) bigraphy, stories - Chemists

David King (chemist) : biography

August 12, 1939 –

Sir David Anthony King, FRS (born August 12, 1939) is Director of Research in Physical Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, Director of the Collegio Carlo Alberto, Chancellor of the University of Liverpool http://www.liv.ac.uk/news/press_releases/2009/11/sir-david-king-appointed-liverpool-chancellor.htm and a senior scientific adviser to UBS.http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL114218920080411

Energy

King is a strong supporter of nuclear electricity generation,http://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/a-low-carbon-nuclear-future-economic-assessment-of-nuclear-materials-and-spent-nuclear-fuel-management-in-the-uk/ arguing that it is a safe, technically feasible solution that can help to reduce emissions from the utilities sector now, while the development of alternative low-carbon solutions is incentivised.http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2005/dec/16/greenpolitics.environment In the transport sector, King has warned Governments that conventional oil resources are more scarce than they believe and that peak oil might approach in 5 years. Moreover, he has criticised first generation biofuels due to the effect on food prices and subsequent effect on the developing world. He strongly supports second generation biofuels, however, which are manufactured from inedible biomass such as corn stover, wood chips or straw. These biofuels are not made from food sources (see food vs fuel).

King appears in the film The Age of Stupid, which was released in February 2009, talking about Hurricane Katrina.

Government

During his tenure as Chief Scientific Adviser he has raised public awareness for climate change and initiated several foresight studies. As Director of the Government’s Foresight Programme, he created an in-depth horizon scanning process which advised government on a wide range of long term issues, from flooding to obesity. He also chaired the government’s Global Science and Innovation Forum from its inception. King advised the government on issues including: The foot-and-mouth disease epidemic 2001; post 9/11 risks to the UK; GM foods; energy provision; and innovation and wealth creation; and he was heavily involved in the Government’s Science and Innovation Strategy 2004-2014. He suggested that scientists should honour a Hippocratic Oath for Scientists.

In his role of scientific advisor to the UK government King was outspoken on the subject of climate change, saying "I see climate change as the greatest challenges facing Britain and the World in the 21st century" http://www.coolkidsforacoolclimate.com/Climate%20Change%20News/David%20King.htm and "climate change is the most severe problem we are facing today – more serious even than the threat of terrorism".http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/03/08/ngag08.xmlhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3381425.stm

He strongly supports the work of the IPCC, saying in 2004 that the 2001 synthesis report is the best current statement on the state of play of the science of climate change, and that really does represent 1,000 scientists http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmenvaud/490/4033005.htm

King has criticised the Bush administration for what he sees as its failures in climate change policy, saying it is failing to take up the challenge of global warming.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3381425.stm

King told The Independent newspaper in February 2007 "he agreed that organic food was no safer than chemically-treated food" and openly supported a study by the Manchester Business School that implicated organic farming practices in unfavourable CO2 comparisons with conventional chemical farming.

In an article published in The Guardian on February 13, 2009, King is quoted as saying that ‘Future historians might look back on our particular recent past and see the Iraq war as the first of the conflicts of this kind – the first of the resource wars’ and that this was ‘certainly the view’ (that the invasion was motivated by a desire to secure energy supplies) he held at the time of the invasion, along with ‘quite a few people in government’.http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/feb/13/resource-wars-david-king