Colorado’s Warren N. Washington is among the Americans who show “the promise of science,” President Obama said during a ceremony in the White House East Room Wednesday.
Washington, an internationally recognized climate change scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, is among 10 ground-breaking researchers, scientists and engineers the president presented the National Medal of Science, the government’s highest honor.
Obama said their achievements “stand as a testament to the ingenuity, to their zeal for discovery and to the willingness to give of themselves and to sacrifice in order to expand the reach of human understanding. All of us have benefited from their work.”
Washington, 74, was lauded for developing and using global climate models to understand climate and explain the role of human activities and natural processes in the Earth’s climate system. The Portland, Ore. native has worked at NCAR since 1972 and has been the director of its Climate and Global Dynamics Division since 1987.
He is the former chairman of the National Science Foundation.
Other National Medal of Science recipients included scientists from corporate, government and university settings whose contributions range from super glue to microchips to digital cameras, as well as unlock the secrets of genetics and disease, nanotechnology, solar energy, and chemistry and biology.
According to his NCAR biography, Washington served as a science adviser to presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton and has published nearly 200 papers in professional journals. He has received dozens of national and international awards.
The other recipients of the National Medal of Science are:
