Thomas Stocker

Professor Thomas Stocker is a leading international expert in climate and environmental physics at the University of Bern's Physics Institute, where he heads the Climate and Environmental Physics division. His work focuses on ice core analysis (reconstructing CO₂ levels over 800,000 years) and climate modeling, particularly reduced-complexity models for long-term climate projections.

Stocker's career included postdoctoral research at University College London, McGill University, and Columbia University under Wally Broecker. He co-chaired the IPCC's Working Group I for the 2013 Fifth Assessment Report, which underpinned the Paris Agreement. His research emphasizes understanding glacial cycles, carbon cycle dynamics, and abrupt climate transitions.

His team's Beyond EPICA project seeks 1.5-million-year-old Antarctic ice cores to study precession-dominated climate cycles. Notable contributions include disproving the 'global warming pause' myth and analyzing AMOC stability under climate change.

• Education:
  • ETH Zurich (PhD in Physics)
  • Postdoctoral fellowships at UCL, McGill, and Columbia
• Research Themes:
  • Ice core greenhouse gas reconstructions
  • Climate modeling of millennial-scale variability
  • Anthropogenic climate change impacts
  • Policy-relevant climate science communication

His 2025 articles highlight advancements in ice core drilling (Beyond EPICA), climate intervention studies, and projections for 2050. Recent work addresses tipping points, Antarctic ice sheet stability, and solar radiation management risks.

• Awards:
  • Swiss Science Prize Marcel Benoist (2017)
  • AGU Fellow (2016)
  • Dr. Honoris Causa degrees from ETH Zurich (2012) and Versailles (2006)

Stocker advocates for global climate partnerships, emphasizing the need for decarbonization as a 'fourth industrial revolution.' His lab develops the Bern3D Earth system model and advances drilling technologies like RADIX to access deep Antarctic ice cores.