No Nobel

The Collegian reports this morning on Penn State receiving recognition on its efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) . What caught my eye was the opening sentence of the closing paragraph.

Geosciences professor Richard Alley -- a Nobel Prize winner for his work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- said the role of colleges in combating global warming is immense.

I wish the Collegian wouldn't spread this misinformation. Before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared last years Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore, no Penn State faculty member had ever won a Nobel Prize. That award didn't change anything. The Nobel Prize folks don't recognize the individual members of the committee as Laureates. Here's what a search of their Web site on Richard Alley turns up.

See No Nobel for Alley.

This isn't intended to diminish Alley's contributions and I'm fairly certain that amongst his peers he would demure if referred to as a Nobel Prize winner. My gripe is with Old Main which is desperate to join the Nobel club, but clueless about how to build the sort of programs which would get them there legitimately. Hence they do the only thing they do well, bullshit. Is it too much to ask that the Collegian not be an accomplice with Old Main in the game of fooling the rubes?

And by the way, I don't know if the NWF took into account Penn State's two private planes when the looked at Penn State's greenhouse balance sheet.

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