Willi Dansgaard

Willi Dansgaard was a distinguished Professor of Geophysics at the University of Copenhagen, affiliated with the Niels Bohr Institute's Centre for Ice and Climate. His career spanned decades of groundbreaking research in paleoclimatology, particularly through ice core analysis. He pioneered methods to reconstruct ancient climates using oxygen isotope ratios in ice cores, revealing abrupt temperature shifts like the Dansgaard-Oeschger events.

Education: Earned a doctorate in Physics from the University of Copenhagen. His research focused on glaciology, isotopic geochemistry, and global climate dynamics. Major contributions included the analysis of ice cores from Camp Century, Dye 3, and Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP).

Awards:

• Crafoord Prize (1995)
• Tyler Prize (1996)
• Member of multiple academies including Royal Danish Academy and Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Advising/Grants: Collaborated extensively with international teams, including Chester C. Langway and Hans Oeschger. His work underpinned major ice coring projects like GISP and GRIP. Labs included the Niels Bohr Institute’s ice core research groups.