Piers John Sellers OBE (11 April 1955 – 23 December 2016), distinguished NASA scientist and astronaut, passed away today in Houston of pancreatic cancer.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in his statement today —
Piers devoted his life to saving the planet. As a climate scientist, his work in computer modeling of the climate system, satellite remote sensing studies and field work using aircraft, satellites and ground teams broke new ground in our understanding of Earth’s systems. His legacy will be one not only of urgency that the climate is warming but also of hope that we can yet improve humanity’s stewardship of this planet. His cancer diagnosis became a catalyst for him to work even harder on efforts to save the planet from global warming for the benefit of future generations.
www.nasa.gov/...
Piers was a young British scientist who became an American citizen to pursue his dream of going into space. He was born in Crowborough, East Sussex, and was educated at Cranbrook in Kent.
He started working for NASA as a scientist in 1982 at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on research into how the Earth's biosphere and atmosphere interact.
He joined the astronaut corps in 1996, flying on three space shuttle missions to the International Space Station from 2002 to 2010. Piers logged over 559 hours in space, including 41 EVA hours in 6 spacewalks.
Piers returned to the Goddard center in 2011, overseeing scientists researching climate and weather — including the causes and effects of climate change — as deputy director of the center’s Sciences and Exploration Directorate and as acting director of its Earth Sciences Division.
He made a point of using his experiences as an astronaut to further people’s awareness of climate issues and address the role of science in the future development of our society, particularly with regard to global environmental issues, and associated economic and political issues.
Dr. Sellers has published over 70 papers, 30 of them as first author. science.gsfc.nasa.gov/...
Sellers was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honors for services to science, and in June 2016 received NASA’s highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal.
Piers Sellers was featured in Leonardo DiCaprio’s 2016 documentary about climate change - Before the Flood. Trailer below; full documentary at channel.nationalgeographic.com/...
Sellers was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in October 2015,
In Oct 2016, National Geographic published an interview with Piers, discussing his life and time in space and how his illness had strengthened his resolve to study and fight climate change. www.nationalgeographic.com/...
On a question about the factors undermining the public’s understanding of climate change, he said -
There’s a group of climate deniers who have done a first-class job of spreading disinformation and confusion. We have to deal with a negative propaganda machine that uses many of the same strategies as tobacco [companies]. But scientists should fight the clean fight and explain what uncertainty means. It doesn’t mean that nothing’s going to happen. It just means we’re not sure exactly—exactly—when or how it’s going to happen.
Say you’re standing on a railway track with your friend, and your friend says there’s a train coming. Judging by what you know and see, you say that it’s coming at you between 50 and 70 miles an hour, but you can’t tell exactly how fast it’s coming. Your friend isn’t going to say, “Well, that information’s so uncertain, I can’t act on it, and I’m going to wait until you tell me that it’s going 61 miles per hour before I do anything.”
That’s not the way the world works. The information and predictions aren’t absolutely perfect, but they’re certainly good enough to take action.
In Jan 2016, Piers wrote a moving piece “Cancer and Climate Change” at www.nytimes.com/…
He began with —
I am a climate scientist who has just been told I have Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
He went on to write -
What should the rest of us do? Two things come to mind. First, we should brace for change. It is inevitable. It will appear in changes to the climate and to the way we generate and use energy. Second, we should be prepared to absorb these with appropriate sang-froid. Some will be difficult to deal with, like rising seas, but many others could be positive. New technologies have a way of bettering our lives in ways we cannot anticipate. There is no convincing, demonstrated reason to believe that our evolving future will be worse than our present, assuming careful management of the challenges and risks. History is replete with examples of us humans getting out of tight spots. The winners tended to be realistic, pragmatic and flexible; the losers were often in denial of the threat.
He ended with —
As an astronaut I spacewalked 220 miles above the Earth. Floating alongside the International Space Station, I watched hurricanes cartwheel across oceans, the Amazon snake its way to the sea through a brilliant green carpet of forest, and gigantic nighttime thunderstorms flash and flare for hundreds of miles along the Equator. From this God’s-eye-view, I saw how fragile and infinitely precious the Earth is. I’m hopeful for its future.
And so, I’m going to work tomorrow.
Farewell. And Thank You, Sir.