astronomy

Will Steffen

Will Steffen is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Will Steffen rather than just read about it. In short: William Lee Steffen (25 June 1947 – 29 January 2023) was an American-born Australian chemist. He was the executive director of the Australian National University (ANU) Climate Change Institute and a member of the Australian Climate Commission until its dissolution in September 2013.

Key takeaways

Will Steffen belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Will Steffen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Will Steffen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

William Lee Steffen (25 June 1947 – 29 January 2023) was an American-born Australian chemist. He was the executive director of the Australian National University (ANU) Climate Change Institute and a member of the Australian Climate Commission until its dissolution in September 2013. From 1998 to 2004, he was the executive director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, a coordinating body of national environmental change organisations based in Stockholm. Steffen was one of the founding climate councillors of the Climate Council, with whom he frequently co-authored reports, and spoke in the media on issues relating to climate change and renewable energy.

Life and career Will Steffen was born in Norfolk, Nebraska, on 25 June 1947. Steffen completed a BSc in industrial chemistry from the University of Missouri in 1970. The University of Florida awarded him an MSc in education in 1972 and a PhD in chemistry in 1975. He is widely published on climate science. His research interests ranged over climate change and Earth system science, with a focus on sustainability. He wrote on adapting land use to climate change, bringing human processes into the modelling and analysis of the Earth system, and the history of and future prospects for the relationship between the natural world and humans. Steffen was also prominent advocating along with Paul Crutzen the concept of the Anthropocene, and initiating along with Johan Rockström an international debate on planetary boundaries and the "safe operating space" for humanity and in 2018 on the possibility of uncontrolled climate evolution, which stirred considerable scientific debate (Hothouse Earth). Steffen served as science adviser to the Australian Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. He was a member of the advisory board of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and worked with the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council. He was also on an advisory panel in Colorado with the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Steffen was on the Science Advisory Committee of the APEC Climate Centre in Korea. He was honorary professor at the Copenhagen University's Department of Geography and Geology and visiting researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. He was the chair of the Federal Government's Antarctic Science Advisory Committee, and advised the Australian Government in further roles as scientific adviser to the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and as expert adviser to the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee. Steffen also sat on the Australian Climate Commission. In 2011, he was the principal author of a government climate report, The Critical Decade, which advocated that a tax should be placed on carbon. The Australian Climate Commission was dissolved in 2013. Steffen reflected, "I think we were the first definitive action of the Abbott government. They got rid of us and you could probably measure it in hours rather than days." Steffen, along with other dismissed commissioners such as professor Tim Flannery, professor Lesley Ann Hughes, and CEO Amanda McKenzie, launched a new independent organisation — the Climate Council — in Australia's largest crowdfunding, raising over $1 million in one week. Steffen remained a climate councillor with the Climate Council. In 2018, he was an author of the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C published by the IPCC. Steffen died from pancreatic cancer in Canberra on 29 January 2023, at age 75. He was married to Carrie for 51 years, and they had a daughter named Sonja.

Some publications

Notes

External links

Professor Will Steffen Archived 4 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine Australian Climate Commission Dr William Steffen Archived 13 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine Australian National University Profile: Will Steffen Sydney Morning Herald, 6 July 2011. Whiteboard seminar with Will Steffen: Planetary boundaries on climate change and land change Stockholm Resilience Centre. Updated 23 September 2009. Nature as a model for economic systems Beyond the Line . Professor Will Steffen joins Lateline Lateline. 11 March 2009 Will Steffen — The Anthropocene TED video. Will Steffen — Shaping Ideas on YouTube video.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Will Steffen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Will Steffen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Will Steffen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Will Steffen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Will Steffen

In research: Will Steffen appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Will Steffen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Will Steffen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1947 births, 2023 deaths, Academic staff of the Australian National University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Will Steffen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Will Steffen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Will Steffen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Will Steffen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Will Steffen in simple terms?

Why does Will Steffen matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Will Steffen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Will Steffen.