A leading glaciologist, Claude Lorius has died, Claude whose expeditions helped prove that humans were responsible for global warming, It was during one trip to Antarctica in 1965 that an evening of whiskey with ice cubes led him to prove humankind’s role in the heating of the Earth’s surface.
Claude LLorius’s cause of death: How did Claude Lorius die?
Lorius died on Tuesday morning in the French region of Burgundy. Claude Lorius was 91 years old at the time of his death, based on his age he may die of natural causes, but the family is yet to reveal the cause of death.
In 1956, just out of university, he joined an expedition to Antarctica. Temperatures there were as low as -40C (-40F). Despite this, Lorius and two other people lived there for two years, surviving with limited supplies and a faulty radio.
The more polar expeditions he led to the continent, the more he became fascinated with Antarctica’s mysteries. In 1965, Lorius had a revelation by gathering ice samples and dropping them in whiskey. He spoke about it half a century later.
“One evening, after deep drilling, in our caravan we drank a glass of whiskey in which we had put ice cubes of old ice,” he said. “Seeing the bubbles of air sparkling in our glasses, I came to the idea that they were samples of the atmosphere trapped in the ice.”
