Vale Tony McMichael: Recognising his contribution to climate science

01.10.14 By
This article is more than 9 years old

The Climate Council is extremely saddened by the loss of our great friend and colleague, Prof. Tony McMichael (1942-2014).

Tony was Professor Emeritus at the Australian National University and internationally recognized for his pioneering work in environmental health, particularly for his efforts to alert the world to the risks posed to human health by climate change.

Through his long and distinguished career, Tony made many seminal contributions to our understanding of the health impacts of tobacco, lead pollution, uranium mining ozone depletion, as well as climate change. He was a great friend of the former Climate Commission, co-authoring one of the Commission’s most important reports – “The Critical Decade: Climate Change and Health” in 2011. Tony continued to be a great supporter of our work on the Council.

Tony was a wonderful communicator, with a dry wit and polished prose, an inspirational and generous colleague, and a wise and compassionate man. He will be sorely missed by all of us.

Some of the many heartfelt tributes to Tony can be found at:

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/croakey/2014/09/27/paying-tribute-to-professor-tony-mcmichael-one-of-the-worlds-public-health-champions/

http://dea.org.au/news/article/tony-mcmichael-his-contribution-to-dea-and-an-appreciation-of-his-life

http://globalchangemusings.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/aj-tony-mcmichael-champion-for.html