Steven Haywood Yaskell
Steven has written two key books on climate and
history, which provide very important context for the huge impacts of climate and
the sun's key role, as well as a history of science and scientists in this area. But
much more than that, Steven provides wonderful stories about how people, both scientists and
non-scientists, have fought to shed light light on the subject in the face of tremendous
opposition from mainstream science and scientists, of how the sun and climate have
impacted on peoples lives, and of the under-appreciated role of women in science.
Yaskell's work also reflects the profound impact that climate has had on his own family
in Vermont over the last hundred years, even though he has not described this in detail
in his books (short descriptions are provided in the "New Material" section below).
New Material!!:
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06Apr2014 Steven Yaskell - A letter to the Vermont state government - Climate history
Here is a well-considered and composed letter from Yaskell to the Vermont state government, intended to highlight
errors in the thinking of modern scientists as related to climate, and to highlight the important historical
impact of solar activity. An especially haunting comment is (in reference to the Maunder Minimum) :
- "... Springs and summers for these generations of people were hot, dry, and
brutally short as often as not. Winters were cold, wet, and often killing in nature. It was
the age of science's beginning, and an era of colonial expansion driven more by
desperation to find arable land and exploitable fishing resources than for so-called
religious freedom. ..."
(received 02Mar2014, first posted 06Apr2014)
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Willie W-H Soon, S.H. Yaskell 2003 "The Maunder Minimum and the variable sun-earth
connection" World Scientific Publ, Signapore, 278pp
The Maunder grand solar minimum from ~1615 to ~1710 had a profound impact on climate, the
environment, and history, but this is still probably not well understood by most modern
scientists. In spite of the near-disappearance of sunspots during this time, it was only
the dogged persistence of Maunder in the late 1800's and early 1900's that eventually
provided a solid basis linking the diminished solar activity to the depths of the
"mini ice age", and its effects on people, societies, and history. Yaskell and co-author
Willie Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Institute for Astrophysics (HSIA) do a masterful job
of bringing this period to light.
As a side note, Soon and his colleague, astrophysicist Sally Baliunus, of the HSIA
were part of the VERY small number (and TINY percentage) of scientists who dared stand out
and challenge the overwhelming mainstream scientific consensus that CO2 has been the
primary driver of climate over the last century and a half. This is essentially what the
public has been fed by scientists, and although this theme has morphed since ~2006
in the face of failures and revelations of widespread scientific fraud, it is
still what I see as mainstream scientific thinking. Sadly, apparently in the face of
the ever-present persecutions by scientists and followers, Sally left the HSIA and is not
much heard any more.
(first posted 06Apr2014)
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Steven H. Yaskell 2013 "Grand phases on the sun: The case for a mechanism responsible
for extended solar minima and maxima" Trafford Publishing www.trafford.com, 195pp ISBN 978-1-4669-6301-6
For this book, Yaskell teamed up with eminent Dutch astrophysicist Cornelius ("Kees") de Jager and female
Argentinian geophysicist Sylvia Duhau, whose "toroidal-poloidal" magnetic cycle theory for
the sunspot cycle (which they extend to grand solar epsides), is a very interesting concept
for more accurately describing the "assymetry" of the cycles (alternate cycles for the North-North
and North-South magnetic pole orientations, given that the sun's magnetic pole flips with each sunspot cycle).
But as with his "Maunder minimum" book, Yaskell delves into the history of the science, the scientists, and the
climate, environment, societal impacts of solar variability. A particularly interesting theme is Yaskell's
coverage of the important role that women have played in modern science all along, often with little recognition.
I promised to do a more thorough commentary on this book - which is planned for sometime in the
not-too-distant future.
Please note that I have a certain bias regarding this book, and the theory of de Jager and Duhau,
as I reviewed parts of the book, and several historical charts in the book came from a
sun-climate-history project of my father and I (see a large chart as last revised 27Sep2009 :
(
www.billhowell.ca/Civilisations%20and%20sun/Howell%20-%20radioisotopes%20and%20history.jpg).
I would NOT have
spent so much time on going through the book if I didn't see it as being of importance. Furhtermore,
Yaskell acknowleges my father and I as "... the two fools that rushed in ...", a dearly
coveted and fun tite! He is right of course - the sun-history model of my father is hugely incomplete,
and further work awaits my investigations of new concepts in fundamental theoretical physics,
and a remapping of the chronology of "ancient" history (now extending back to at least 10-12 ky
Before Present (BP)).
(first posted 06Apr2014)
Steven H Yaskell's background (he will have to fill in here...)