Why Would Anyone Care About Willie Soon's Bad Science? "Ooh, Harvard!" - That's Why

[hatrack]

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Since 1997 Soon has been employed by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. And that's how Mulkey remembers Soon’s introduction to the crowd in Boise for the seminar on global warming arranged by the Idaho Council on Industry and Environment, a non-profit organization that urges "the use of sound science and facts in shaping public policy."

The gravitas of Harvard-Smithsonian's credibility versus the University of Idaho's was a mismatch, recalled Mulkey, who is now president of Unity College in Maine and recently authored a blog post on the imbalance. "The audience ate up what Soon had to say," said Mulkey, who described the group as pro-industry. "It's like, here's this Harvard scientist telling us all the other scientists are lying to us."

Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution share extraordinary name recognition and a reputation for intellectual rigor. That respectability lends tremendous weight to the work of scientists, researchers and academics, according to Robert Brulle, a professor of sociology and environmental science at Drexel University who has researched funding of climate denialists.

"The more prestigious the institution, the more legitimacy will be conferred on someone's work no matter what position their work takes," Brulle said. "It helps with the perception of competency and legitimacy. Maybe it doesn't with scholars, but certainly in the minds of the public."

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http://insideclimatenews.org/news/04032015/weak-link-harvard-smithsonian-gave-star-power-climate-contrarian-willie-soon

[MisterP]

1. pay for play--it's Industrial Biotest all over again!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Bio-Test_Laboratories