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« Climate cuttings 35 | Main | Tip jar »
Saturday
Feb272010

Channel Four on Boulton's CV

Nick Scott-Plummer updates the story of Geoffrey Boulton's CV over at the Channel Four website. You may remember that Steve McIntyre found a copy of the CV from 2007 that referred to Boulton being on the IPCC. Boulton has now sent a contemporaneous copy of his CV to Channel Four, pointing out that this version doesn't include the line about the IPCC. Nick continues:

Asked whether he was implying dirty tricks we received another email: "Professor Boulton has no CV with that line on it, because there is no reason for it", adding: "people are free to draw their own conclusions as to why it seems to have appeared now".

There's also some pertinent comments about how the blogs are making the running on these stories, digging up small details in a very short space of time. And in fact, commenter Turning Tide, has already pointed out that the last edit date for the new version of Boulton's CV is actually July 2008, so this is perhaps not the vindication that was originally thought.

 

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  • Response
    - Bishop Hill blog - Channel Four on Boulton's CV

Reader Comments (58)

I put this on Unthreaded, but I'll repeat it here, because it's quite interesting:

Boulton is claiming that the final line in his cv about him being a "contributor to G8 preparatory groups and Intergovernmental Panels on climate change" is not correct, and that he has "no idea" about where it came from or where/when it was added.

He has sent a copy of his 2007 cv to Channel 4 news, which doesn't have this final line. However, if you check the properties of this Word doc., it's creation date is 3 July 2008, not 2007!

Feb 27, 2010 at 10:53 PM | Unregistered CommenterTurning Tide

Ooops - sorry: I didn't see that you'd already picked it up from the Unthreaded thread!

Feb 27, 2010 at 10:54 PM | Unregistered CommenterTurning Tide

If you search Google for the phrase "G8 Preparatory Groups" within a date range up to the start of 2009

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22G8+Preparatory+Groups%22+daterange%3A2451180-2454833

You just get two results, will see that the top result shows the phrase and is dated 18 Oct 2007 by Google. I don't know how reliable that it is though. Strangely the document gives a chinese 404 error when you open it but the HTML version is intact.

Feb 27, 2010 at 11:25 PM | Unregistered CommenterSteve2

Funny, the same line is found also in this post apparently announcing Boulton's seminar talk on October 23, 2007:
blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4ec52f7b01000cjl.html
Also apart from the original location (now missing)
http://spa.xmu.edu.cn/edit/UploadFile/2007101883249846.doc
the CV is also available here:
archt.xmu.edu.cn/news/p.doc

Feb 27, 2010 at 11:33 PM | Unregistered CommenterJean S

This is a copy of a post I left at CA.

Interesting. Boulton now hints that the 2007 CV published here by “oneuniverse”, was forged.

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/sceptics+seek+second+climtegate+panel+casualty/3564682

Just as odd, but the alleged CV of Boulton’s that was on the Chinese web site, has now been “disappeared”. If my translator is correct, it now states that the requested page does not exist, and may have been deleted.

http://spa.xmu.edu.cn/edit/UploadFile/2007101883249846.doc

These are two very different documents, BTW. According to the Properties of these Word documents, both were created by Boulton.

But the one from the Chinese site (uploaded from Channel 4) was created Sept 19, 2007, with a word count of 1515.

The one that Boulton insists was the 2007 CV, was in fact created July 3, 2008, and has a word count of 4282, and a different picture gracing the first page.

Boulton also modified this document 6 times, and spent a little over 30 minutes editing it. He was the last to save it, according to “Advanced Properties”.

In Advanced Properties, there is also a reference to a Tom Clarke, who I assume to be the Channel 4 reporter, as his e-mail is “ITN.CO.UK”

Feb 27, 2010 at 11:52 PM | Unregistered CommenterLes Johnson

and now I see that TurningTide beat me to it....

Feb 27, 2010 at 11:53 PM | Unregistered CommenterLes Johnson

addendum: there is no reference to a Tom Clarke, on the 2007 CV on the Chinese site (h/t Jean S)

Feb 27, 2010 at 11:58 PM | Unregistered CommenterLes Johnson

If there's an error, it's in the version of the CV provided to Xiamen University in connection with the talk he was giving in October 2007. It has nothing to do with Steve McIntrye (or the commenter - "oneuniverse" - who initially turned up the document).

I can't see any reason for Xiamen U. to have doctored the CV . Perhaps Professor Boulton should go back and check his email exchanges with the university and track down this "error". That same version of the CV (the one on the XU website) describes him as an "advisor" to both the UK Government and European Commission on climate change.

Hmm...perhaps another FOI request is in the winds? (Correspondence between XU and Boulton related to his 2007 talk, including the copy of the CV sent at that time; AND any correspondence / email between Boulton & Xiamen U since this story broke?)

From the XU website: (http://admissions.xmu.edu.cn/liuxuesheng/shownews.aspx?language=en&news_id=83) using Google translate:

"Geoffrey Boulton, vice president respectively, were also invited to organize this trip, entitled "University of Edinburgh, and the United Kingdom and European research universities policies" and "Oceans and Climate Change" lecture."

Boulton's advertised talk (the first title in the previous paragraph), however, seemed to focus on cooperation issues between the universities involved.

Feb 28, 2010 at 12:03 AM | Unregistered CommenterIan

I'm confused. Are there no records of IPCC participation, and couldn't they be used to clear the air one way or another?

Feb 28, 2010 at 12:09 AM | Unregistered Commenterbanjoman0

@Les Johnson

I think the cv file was sent as an attachment to Channel 4: Word seems to record the subject heading of the email and the name of the recipient, which is why Tom Clarke's name appears.

Feb 28, 2010 at 12:12 AM | Unregistered CommenterTurning Tide

Also, the CV supplied by Boulton has an extra reference (P4) to a paper he produced with Colin Lucas called "What are Universities for?".

This paper seems to be from September 2008 (although it looks like it went to press in July of that year).

Funny how a CV from 2007 has a paper from 2008 listed!

Feb 28, 2010 at 12:15 AM | Unregistered CommenterBillyquiz

Properties off the CV at archt.xmu.edu.cn/news/p.doc

Created: 19/09/2007, 03:12:00, Geoffrey Boulton
Modified: 19/09/2007, 03:12:00, Nini Yang

Final papa: "As contributor to G8 Preparatory Groups and Intergovernmental Panels on climate change"

Feb 28, 2010 at 12:27 AM | Unregistered CommenterAJC

Perhaps Boulton could explain how the IPCC association shows up elsewhere, e.g.:

Geoffrey Boulton interview from a United Arab Emirates paper titled “UAE warning: Climate change effects” 28 Feb. 2008
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/uae-warning-climate-change-effects-1.449068

“…Professor Geoffrey Boulton, a British geologist with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).”

And then there is the case of the Romanian coke bottling plant, where Boulton was “UK Govt’s Chief Advisor on Climate Change” (according to his billing on the video of the event):

http://www.coca-colahellenic.com/sustainability/flagshipprogrammes/Reductionofcarbonemi/

Is the video faked?
Is this all part of the vast Exxon-Mobil conspiracy?

Feb 28, 2010 at 12:34 AM | Unregistered CommenterZT

"What are Universities for?". I am looking right at it.

What are universities for?
Geoffrey Boulton and Colin Lucas
September 2008


The CV is dated January 2007. This CV references the paper as:

• Geoffrey Boulton & Colin Lucas: What are universities for? (in press)


I don't know, I guess it takes 21 months to get through (in press)......

Feb 28, 2010 at 12:39 AM | Unregistered Commenterdkkraft

I once gave a talk in the Netherlands. I submitted my bio to them. When the brochure came out for my talk, they had reproduced by bio exactly, except they added Dr. in front of my name. I am not a doctor. I think it was a bit of puffery that the session organizers engaged in to make me seem more important. Perhaps XMU added this line(?) to make Dr Boulton more fashionable.

Feb 28, 2010 at 12:40 AM | Unregistered Commentermpaul

re: February 28, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAJC

Nini Yang works for the University of Edinburgh in the International office and is stationed in China. He(she) most liley arranged the China trip for Boulton:

http://www.international.ed.ac.uk/staff/staff_list.html

Feb 28, 2010 at 12:47 AM | Unregistered Commentermpaul

The link below to the Boulton cv on the Xiamen Uni web site which includes:- As contributor to G8 Preparatory Groups and Intergovernmental Panels on climate change

http://wise.xmu.edu.cn/viewNews.asp?id=1026

Feb 28, 2010 at 12:50 AM | Unregistered Commentermartyn

Also, section 5 Current Research and Grant Funding:
C - Evaluating hydraulic conditions beneath a West Antarctic ice stream from seismic experiments.

The funding for this wasn't finalised until 1st April 2008:

http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/afi/awards_round9.php#923

Feb 28, 2010 at 1:02 AM | Unregistered CommenterBillyquiz

The Google’s cache contains a copy of the CV from the Chinese URL.

Google provides the data of CV as 18 Oct 2007.

And Google tells us it does contain the line being questioned.

Anybody can easily check this for themselves. They don’t have to rely on files provided to them by others.

Here’s how:

Go to Google and search for “geoffrey boulton cv” (without quotes). About the 3rd Google result is:

[DOC]
SHORT ACADEMIC CURRICULUM VITAE
File Format: Microsoft Word – View as HTML
18 Oct 2007 … SUMMARY CV. Professor Geoffrey Boulton OBE, FRS, FRSE, Regius Professor and Vice Principal of the University of Edinburgh. Professor Boulton …
spa.xmu.edu.cn/edit/UploadFile/2007101883249846.doc

Notice the date “18 Oct 2007″

Click where it says “View as HTML”, and scroll to the bottom. The last says “As contributor to G8 Preparatory Groups and Intergovernmental Panels on climate change ”

I’d suggest anybody who wants to do so take a screen shot of the Google search result page, and cached version of CV with the last line, since Google cache doesn’t last forever

Feb 28, 2010 at 1:06 AM | Unregistered CommenterCopner

It looks like the Gulf News is certain Prof Boulton has/had IPCC involvement: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/uae-warning-climate-change-effects-1.449068

Feb 28, 2010 at 1:08 AM | Unregistered CommenterRyan

Has anybody tried looking at the various versions of Boulton's CV in a hex editor?

With Word files, sometimes - actually quite often - you can see text that was in previous versions of the document, but was deleted from previous versions.

Feb 28, 2010 at 1:23 AM | Unregistered CommenterCopner

copner

Boultons CV directly off the Xiamen Uni web site is Rev 2 dated 19/9/2007 and saved by Nini Yang

Feb 28, 2010 at 1:23 AM | Unregistered Commentermartyn

From Boulton’s “2007” CV, that he sent to Channel 4 (H/T the Bishop).

2008 in press: G.S. Boulton, Hagdorn, M., Maillot P.B. and Zatsepin, S. Drainage beneath ice sheets and the role of groundwater: evidence from Ice Age ice sheets and their esker systems. Quaternary Science Reviews.

From Science Direct, the only match I could find to Boulton, Hagdorn, Maillot and Zatsepin: The title is slightly different, though.

Received 20 December 2007;
accepted 29 May 2008.
Available online 25 November 2008.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VBC-4V0VC3J-2&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2009&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1225402732&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=86f2b7a463c1ad0b44ad6cf4cd297a83

So the timeline matches 2008. His CV states “in press” about this article, which could only mean that the CV was written after 2007. This is confirmed by the “Properties” of the Word document.

Unless he was writing his 2007 CV a year after the fact, it appears that the so-called “2007 CV” was actually “2008 CV”. I can’t think of any good reason to back date a CV.

Also, as noted by Jean S, Google Cache still shows the 2007 CV, on the Chinese site, and it shows the critical line about contributing to the IPCC.

Feb 28, 2010 at 1:25 AM | Unregistered CommenterLes Johnson

RE: Copner.

The CV is still on the university's website - at least for now. See the post by Jean S. above or the one provided by Martyn. No need to go to Google's cache - at least not yet!

Feb 28, 2010 at 1:26 AM | Unregistered CommenterIan

SInce the CV at archt.xmu.edu.cn/news/p.doc might be removed, I have archived it at Webcitation.org

http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Farcht.xmu.edu.cn%2Fnews%2Fp.doc&date=2010-02-27

or short URL of

http://www.webcitation.org/5nrtzDgFb

Webcitation seems to expect HTML, so the formatting is corrupted, but all of the text is there.

Feb 28, 2010 at 1:45 AM | Unregistered CommenterCharlie A

Using a Windows PC and a hex editor.

1. Download cv07.doc from Channel 4 web site to your computer, and save it to a folder of your choice. Do NOT open in it in Word or another program. This is the Channel 4 says it received from Geoffrey Boulton, and that Boulton identified as his 2007 CV.

2. Download the freeware hex editor from
http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm#download

Copy all the files from xvi32 to a folder on your computer

(You can use another hex editor of you choice if you like)

The purpose of using a hex editor is it allows you to see every bit and byte inside the file, rather than just the currently visible text in Word.

3. Click Open... on File menu. Then select the cv07.doc file,

4. The contents of the cv07.doc file are now visible in the hex editor

5. Click Goto on the Address menu. A dialogue box is displayed. Make sure the "decimal" radio button is selected. And enter the number 880140 in the blank space beneath the decimal/hexadecimal buttons, then click OK.

6. This moves you down to location 880140 (which is also known asD6EOC) in the file.

7. Look at the right hand side of the screen.

Spread over several lines, you can clearly see the text:

AdHocReviewCycle NewReviewCycle EmailSubject AuthorEmail AuthorEmailDisplayName CVGATE TOMCLARKE@ITN.CO.UK Clarke, Tom

8. So the question is why did a copy of Boulton's 2007 CV contain a reference to "CVGATE" and a reference to an ITN reporter's email address?

9. IMPORTANT NOTE: I do *not* assert that Boulton himself was responsible for the appearance of this text in the CV07.doc file - it may have been altered as a result of actions at Channel 4 after they received the file from Boulton but before they placed it on their web site. Or it may have been altered somebody else, if they forwarded it to Channel 4.

Feb 28, 2010 at 1:56 AM | Unregistered CommenterCopner

Copner: as someone else has stated, and I hinted at in my posts; Tom Clarke had his name put in, when he used the file as an attachment.

Feb 28, 2010 at 2:13 AM | Unregistered CommenterLes Johnson

Copner:

That detail (about Tom Clarke) shows up in the "Document Properties" as well. I'm curious though: have you tried using the editor on the original (i.e., the one from Xiamen U.) version of the CV? Boulton is seeking to imply that some other (possibly nefarious) party has manipulated his CV. I just wonder whether the hex editor would show anything?

Cheers.

Feb 28, 2010 at 2:24 AM | Unregistered CommenterIan

I am puzzled as to how Himalayan alarm-ism got Pachauri and the IPCC into trouble - yet Boulton the glaciologist has promulgated exactly this form of false alarm-ism/activism and this has not been mentioned in the media. Why is this?

Details:

http://www.gcph.co.uk/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,385/
Boulton’s Lecture from Tuesday 29 January 2008 The Glasgow Centre for Population Health’s seminar:
“Calculations by glaciologists now suggest that by 2050 most of the Himalayan glaciers will have gone…”

The full paragraph reads as follows:
“The impacts are there already. These are representative images from Central Ladakh from ‘69, ‘79, ’89; they show the cover of snow and, in fact, glacier ice. The reason why that’s important is that during the dry season something like 80% of the flow of the rivers of the great north Indian plain, the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, about eighty per cent of that dry season flow comes from snow and melting glaciers. Already in the last fifteen years we’ve seen dramatic reductions in dry season flow. Calculations by glaciologists now suggest that by 2050 most of the Himalayan glaciers will have gone and the impact on dry season flow of those great rivers will be dramatic in the extreme. They could be reduced between twenty and thirty per cent of their current dry season flow with devastating impacts on agriculture in both India and Pakistan and indeed, in Western China.” (Page 9 of the transcript).

Feb 28, 2010 at 2:26 AM | Unregistered CommenterZT

ZT: go to CA and post this as well. Steve M has a thread(s) on Boulton. This one on glaciers, is interesting, for sure.

Feb 28, 2010 at 2:43 AM | Unregistered CommenterLes Johnson

David Longinotti over at CA wrote:

"Google: geoffrey boulton “science policy in Europe and UK”. Translate the first entry to English, and there is what looks like a 2007 blog entry of a chinese student Lei with a reminder to attend Boulton’s lecture. His CV follows and, in the last line, there is the mention of the contribution to intergovernmental panels".

Here's a link to the translated blog post:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4ec52f7b01000cjl.html&prev=http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch%3Fhl%3Den%26um%3D1%26ie%3DUTF-8%26q%3Dgeoffrey%2Bboulton%2B%25E2%2580%259Cscience%2Bpolicy%2Bin%2BEurope%2Band%2BUK%25E2%2580%259D%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

Its clear that Boulton's bio for the trip to China in 2007 had the IPCC reference and therefore this reference was not added in 2010.

Feb 28, 2010 at 2:45 AM | Unregistered Commentermpaul

Boulton's stuff on glaciers is already covered on Climate Audit, under the thread: Boulton and Glaciergate. See: http://climateaudit.org/2010/02/13/boulton-and-glaciergate/

Feb 28, 2010 at 3:09 AM | Unregistered CommenterIan

Boulton's CV seems a typical Warmists' tangled web. Alas, we cannot in good conscience accord his manifest IPCC connection the benefit of any doubt.

Feb 28, 2010 at 3:12 AM | Unregistered CommenterJohn Blake

ZT and Les:
I found the same quotation and raised the issue on CA earlier and posted this at http://buythetruth.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/un-ipcc-rotting-from-the-head-down/
:
Boulton apparently repeated the 2008 presentation on the topic of the disappearing Himalayan glaciers in a presentation at a recent conference in November 2009. (see http://www.envirosecurity.org/news/single.php?id=296)

"The impacts are there already. These are representative images from Central Ladakh from ‘69, ‘79, ’89; they show the cover of snow and, in fact, glacier ice. The reason why that’s important is that during the dry season something like 80% of the flow of the rivers of the great north Indian plain, the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, about eighty per cent of that dry season flow comes from snow and melting glaciers. Already in the last fifteen years we’ve seen dramatic reductions in dry season flow. Calculations by glaciologists now suggest that by 2050 most of the Himalayan glaciers will have gone and the impact on dry season flow of those great rivers will be dramatic in the extreme. They could be reduced between twenty and thirty per cent of their current dry season flow with devastating impacts on agriculture in both India and Pakistan and indeed, in Western China. " (emphasis added)

This seems very odd on three counts. First, it is unclear as to Boulton's expertise in this specific area. Perhaps he has written previously on this topic but I could find nothing. Nor does his center at the University of Edinburgh appear to focus on this area.
Second, the statement as to the rate of decline has no empirical basis (see for example, http://na.unep.net/publications/Himalayas.pdf where they say (p10)
1. Regarding the area the IPCC gives for mountain glaciers in the Himalaya Region: if the IPCC intended for the areas to apply to the Himalayas,then it is wrong. Berthier et al. (2007) reported that there were only 33 000 km2 of mountain glaciers in the region. Since then, estimates of glacial coverage in the Himalayas have been refi ned. Independent geologists claim that there are 18 065 small and big glaciers with a total area of 34 659.62 km2 and a total ice volume of 3 734.4796 km3 in the whole of the Himalayan range (Tribune India
2008). In both cases, the estimated current area of Himalayan mountain glaciers is far below the 100 000 km2 predicted to remain in 2035;
2. Regarding the rate of retreat: the rate stated by the IPCC does not appear to be based upon any scientifi c studies and therefore has no foundation.

The upshot is that the critics are correct. The 2007 IPCC statement of glacial area is erroneous if one interprets them to apply to the Himalayas, and there appears to be no scientifi c foundation for the IPCC’s prediction for the year 2035. Emphasis added.

Thirdly, the actual numbers Boulton uses do not appear to make sense, Namely,if it contributes 80% during the dry season, how can the loss of this melt water reduce the flow by 20 to 30% in the dry season?

This is all very odd for a scientist with Boulton's reputation.

Feb 28, 2010 at 3:34 AM | Unregistered CommenterBernie

ZT:
Steve McIntyre already posted the same quotation earlier this month at http://climateaudit.org/2010/02/13/boulton-and-glaciergate/

Within the string of comments somebody found what looks like a more definitive statement on the state of Himalayan Glaciers.
http://web.hwr.arizona.edu/~gleonard/2009Dec-FallAGU-Soot-PressConference-Backgrounder-Kargel.pdf
Boulton is clearly and horrendously wrong in his estimates of the ro;le of melt water for the three major rivers.

Feb 28, 2010 at 3:52 AM | Unregistered CommenterBernie

The interesting point here is this...

“people are free to draw their own conclusions as to why it seems to have appeared now”.

He is clearly implying using accepted International English that underhand tactics have played a part. I leave it to others to prove him wrong. But...

His mind-set? This immediately indicates an "us against them" mentally, and as the "them" are an active part of the inquiry how can he prove his impartiality? Ignoring the fact that this indicates the guy has a huge ego (it is about him now, he is the story), how can he now show his impartiality?

This is not about Boulton. It should never have been about Boulton.

Had the Inquiry been staffed by totally independent members then this situation would not have happened. And to indicate underhand tactics because the inquiry is not being given an easy ride is not acceptable.

So now Boulton also has the Bunker mentality so clearly displayed by the team.

I really do hope ignoring all the technical stuff re his CV that that one phrase...

“people are free to draw their own conclusions as to why it seems to have appeared now”.

... comes back to haunt him. Forget the CV, there was nothing underhand in its discovery, go after him because of this quote. He has shown hand early. Anything his says from now on is coloured by this quote.

Feb 28, 2010 at 4:15 AM | Unregistered CommenterJiminy Cricket

Not prejudiced?

www.ma.hw.ac.uk/RSE/events/reports/2007-2008/ecrr.pdf

What is "G8 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change"?
https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/presse/news08/pm281027-1boul.html

Little Jolly with his missus.
www.nts.org.uk/cruises/downloads/TreasureCover.pdf

Feb 28, 2010 at 4:17 AM | Unregistered CommenterPeewit

wow...

peewit's reference (Oct 10, 2008) has "G8 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change".
https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/presse/news08/pm281027-1boul.html

check it out.

Feb 28, 2010 at 4:45 AM | Unregistered CommenterSteve McIntyre

Yet more mealy-mouthed, obfuscatory drivel from a MMGW scion.

Is Boulton disputing the authenticity of the 2007 CV or not?

Yes or no, if you please, Mr Boulton.

hint: no, he isn't.

Feb 28, 2010 at 7:16 AM | Unregistered Commentersemanticist

Don't use Word. Thought this was well known by now. Anything but Word. Plain text is best. But not Word. If you want it to look pretty, and you have to have more or less WYSIWYG use a laTex editor (Lyx is the easiest). Or use a pdf generator, I haven't verified this, but they will probably only have in them what appears in the print version.

Feb 28, 2010 at 7:53 AM | Unregistered Commentermichel

It seems that Prof Boulton is doing his best to seek his "worst days of a professional life" à la Phil Jones.

Feb 28, 2010 at 8:46 AM | Unregistered CommenterJean Demesure

Thanks for the links on glaciers.

“people are free to draw their own conclusions..."

I conclude that Boulton is either as good a glaciologist as Pachauri or he is an alarmist activist who repeatedly finds himself in 'embellished credentials situations'.

Feb 28, 2010 at 8:56 AM | Unregistered CommenterZT

'...how can he now show his impartiality?' - Jiminy
May I posit that he will be (every bit) as impartial as he has ever been.

Feb 28, 2010 at 9:11 AM | Unregistered CommenterTony Hansen

peewits link is now broken

Feb 28, 2010 at 9:28 AM | Unregistered Commenterconfused

Confused. No it's fine, but there may be an issue with https rather than http. Try this.

Feb 28, 2010 at 9:40 AM | Registered CommenterBishop Hill

As others have noted it is beginning to look like Boulton has chosen the wrong issue to be clever about here.
It is totally reasonable for people to check his background against the stated requirements of the Muir panel (especially after the Campbell debacle), and say "Hey! whats all this about Intergovernmental panels then!"

Washing his hands of this and showing no willingness to clear up the CV issue is silly. Since it is beginning to look like Nini Yang did add the extra info, if so, since she is U of Edinburgh, the CV then still comes from within the responsibility of U of Edinburgh and this episode shows that they either did not clear it with him, or he forgot.
Not a good sign of Boultons investigative rigour, or the efficiency of the U of Edinburgh secretariat which I hear is to be used by the Muir panel.

Feb 28, 2010 at 10:23 AM | Unregistered CommenterSteve2

Steve2

I think that's fair comment although the secretariat is coming from the Royal Society of Edinburgh rather than the university.

Feb 28, 2010 at 10:26 AM | Registered CommenterBishop Hill

@Bishop Hill

Ah! Right thanks, I stand corrected :)

Feb 28, 2010 at 10:29 AM | Unregistered CommenterSteve2

Nini Yang who we know the Director of the China Office of the University of Edinburgh, http://www.international.ed.ac.uk/staff/staff_list.html is known to Geoffery Boulton:

"Recently, Regius Prof. Geoffrey Boulton, glaciologist and Vice President of the University of Edinburgh, and Dr. Nini Yang from the International Coordination Office of the University (Beijing Office) paid a visit to the Lhasa Branch of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS."

http://www.conference.ac.cn/Newewsletter/html/new42/fv.htm

In fact given Prof Boulton's is "in charge of developing the University's links with China" (page 2 of this document http://bit.ly/at7J9R you would think he knows the Ning Yang, the head of the Chinese office very well.

Feb 28, 2010 at 10:55 AM | Unregistered CommenterRyan

@Ian: I downloaded the p.doc from the Chinese site (their version of Boulton's CV). I looked at it in a hex editor. I can't see anything especially interesting. It is 100,000 bytes so I have not looked at it in great detail.

@Everybody: I have also looked over the CV that Channel 4 got from Boulton in more detail. I have not looked at everything in detail (it's over 800,000 bytes!). The only interesting bit is the Tom Clarke / ITN / CVGATE bit. Which we have an explanation for (somehow it got inserted by Word).

Looking just at the two files, I would say the known or likely facts about them are:

1. The Chinese version of the CV was almost certainly last edited in 2007:

2. The Chinese version of the CV does indeed contain a reference at the bottom to the IPCC.

3. However look carefully, the reference to the IPCC is used as a subheading, like the subheadings above. And has no bullet points of specific listed contribution, unlike the subheadings over.

4. The Chinese version of the CV was *probably*, as we know, not last edited by Boulton himself, but by somebody called Nini Yang

5. The only interesting thing in Channel 4 CV version is the reference to CV Gate, and Tom Clarke. We know this information was an artifact inserted by the email forwarding process, rather than Boulton himself..

6. The Channel 4 CV does appear to be a different file from the Chinese version (for example, the Channel 4 version is more than 8X as large a file for starters), but there's no reason to suggest it's not genuine, and there's no reason to suggest it's been back-dated.

Other known and likely facts (not from the CV) have come out:

7. Although various news and other references to Boulton's participation in the IPCC have been found online, as far as I know no specific IPCC contribution has been attributed to him.

My hypotheses are thus:

A. Boulton has not made any specific contribution to the IPCC (Justification: point 6 - plus if there was a specific contribution by Boulton to the IPCC surely it would have been identified by now?)

B. The reference to the IPCC in the Chinese version of the CV (Justification: point 2) was added in 2007 (Justification: point 1), not by a skeptic but by somebody who wanted to list them, most likely Nini Yang (Justification: point 4). This person was however unable to identify any specific contributions by Boulton to the IPCC (Justification: points 3 & 6)

C. The CV sent by Boulton to Channel 4 is a genuine version of his 2007 CV (Justification: Point 6).


I think all the above hypotheses are highly likely to be true.

If you want to test them, I would suggest the following areas of research:

I. Can you actually find an IPCC contribution that can be attributed to Boulton?

II. Can you get a copy of the CV that Boulton sent to Channel 4, BEFORE it's been processed/altered by ITN/Tom Clarke. Look at in a hex editor. Also, there are tools for spelunking DOC files (since some of the info in them in encoded), which may reveal more.


tldr - Short version - The CV on the Chinese websites was not faked in 2010 by skeptics. However it was not necessarily prepared by Boulton, and doesn't actually contain evidence of IPCC involvement by him.

Feb 28, 2010 at 10:56 AM | Unregistered CommenterCopner

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