In a world of increasingly rough-and-tumble debate, climatologist Stephen Schneider brandished a fierce intellect while preaching a lyrical message.
The most meaningful cue for environmental action, he wrote at the end of his 2009 book Science as a Contact Sport, "is to hum in your head often the lines of the Crosby, Stills, and Nash song from decades ago. The advice is still the most important thing any of us can do as individuals: 'Teach your children well.'"
"That's what he lived for," said his wife, Terry Root, shortly after Schneider's sudden death from an embolism on a July 19 flight from Sweden to London. He was 65. A professor of biology, Schneider was a key participant in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore. He was a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, as is Root, and they shared the 2003 National Conservation Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation. Schneider, who received a doctorate in mechanical engineering and plasma physics from Columbia University in 1971, had been at Stanford since 1992.
Schneider overcame mantle-cell lymphoma in 2002 and resumed work at an energetic pace. Despite battling health problems during the past year, he could be as feisty as he was relentless in spotlighting the dangers posed by climate change. Undeterred by sometimes virulent political adversaries, and renowned for his wit and eloquence in plainly explaining complex research, Schneider galvanized people's attention in the classroom, the media and the global scientific community.
"As tragic as it is to lose him," said Chris Field, a professor of biology who worked on a variety of projects with Schneider, "it's hard to imagine he would have wanted to leave us any other way than in the thick of all the issues he was so passionate about."
Schneider's close friend Benjamin Santer, a climate scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said that his teenage son, "who's not one to be impressed by Dad's friends and his work," particularly enjoyed musical evenings at the Schneider and Root home, highlighted by Schneider playing the guitar and singing Bob Dylan songs.
Santer remembers being stuck in a Berlin hotel room in the early '90s as a "junior scientist" assigned to hurriedly write a chapter for the proceedings book of a conference under way. He got indispensable help from Schneider, who sent a series of notes by messenger throughout an opera he was attending. "That was typical of his extraordinary kindness and generosity," said Santer.
Schneider's survivors include a son, Adam, a daughter, Rebecca Cherba, and grandson Nikolai. Plans are under way for a memorial celebration at Stanford later this year.
