Hot Politics Web site reports by the Center for Investigative Reporting, Inc.

Many of the researchers expressing doubts about the science of global warming have financial ties to the oil, auto, electricity and coal industries. These experts appear regularly at Congressional hearings, on television, radio and in print, and at events in order to spread their message. That message varies somewhat from skeptic to skeptic but generally sows doubt about climate change, challenging the consensus of mainstream scientists. They ask whether global warming is really occurring, whether human activity is truly to blame and whether rising temperatures are such a bad thing.

Here are profiles of five of the most famous skeptics:

Frederick Seitz, Ph.D.
President Emeritus, National Academy of Sciences; Chairman Emeritus, George C. Marshall Institute

“The United States is very close to adopting an international agreement that would ration the use of energy and of technologies that depend upon coal, oil, and natural gas and some other organic compounds. This treaty is, in our opinion, based upon flawed ideas. Research data on climate change do not show that human use of hydrocarbons is harmful. To the contrary, there is good evidence that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is environmentally helpful.”
Letter to the Oregon Petition Project, 1997.

Area of Expertise: Dubbed by Business Week "the granddaddy of glo