Page 240 - James Rodger Fleming - Fixing the sky

84
tation.” Wexler replied, “I hope that before we get into large experimentation
that not only will the state of meteorological knowledge be much more advanced
85
than it is now, but also the state of our socio-political affairs as well.” Remem-
ber, it was not Paul Crutzen in 2006 but Harry Wexler about fifty years before
who first claimed that climate control was now “respectable to talk about,” even
if he considered it quite dangerous and undesirable.

* * * * *

The possibility of manipulating global climate through planetary-scale engineer-
ing is currently being actively debated, although its feasibility and desirability are
highly questionable, if not contentious. Most of the debate centers on back-of-
the -envelope calculations (which are not good enough) or basic climate models
(which are also not good enough). Still, the current crop of geoengineers has yet
to acknowledge the checkered history of the subject.
Accounts of the early history of computers in meteorology follow a well-
rehearsed script, identifying Vilhelm Bjerknes and Louis Fry Richardson as early
pioneers and emphasizing progress after 1946 through the work of a familiar cast
of characters and technical breakthroughs. Through the career of Harry Wexler, we
can now see that the two histories, the familiar and the (until now) unwritten, are
closely interrelated and that climate control is not so much a newcomer in the age
of global warming as something that has been up in the air for quite a long time.
The recent history of climate fears, fantasies, and possibilities is positioned
firmly between the work of two colleagues, John von Neumann and Harry Wex-
ler. An examination of general climate fears and specific climate fantasies reveals
that some were no more than hand-waving proposals, while some were actual field
projects. Anchoring this in time were the high hopes that futurists had for new
emerging technologies such as digital computers, to provide stunning precision
and predictability; nuclear energy, to power continental-scale transformations
or violently alter the geophysical status quo; and satellites, to monitor the Earth
continuously with eagle eyes and to serve as platforms for active interventions.
Wexler’s work on geoengineering in the period 1958 to 1962 applied the results
of new computer climate experiments, nuclear tests in near space, and newly
available satellite heat budget measurements. His work on ozone destruction,
in particular, is notable since it predated the Nobel Prize–winning work of Paul
Crutzen, Sherwood Rowland, and Mario Molina by about a decade, although
Wexler died before he could publish the results. It is clear that Wexler was well
qualified to speak authoritatively about the otherwise “nebulous” subjects of
climate, climate change, and climate control. He served on numerous scientific

fearS, fantaSieS, and PoSSibilitieS of Control | 223