James L. Powell

In a self-published 2020 book, Powell defended the controversial Younger Dryas impact hypothesis which has been rejected by the mainstream scientific community. In 2022 he published a paper in the journal Scientific Progress, writing that this scientific rejection was premature.

In November 2019, Powell published "Scientists Reach 100% Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming." He reviewed over 11,600 peer-reviewed articles published in the first seven months of 2019 but found none that rejected anthropogenic global warming.

In 2015, Powell was named a fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He resigned in March 2022 in protest against the publication of an article in Skeptical Inquirer by CSI fellow Mark Boslough regarding the Bunch et al. Tall el-Hammam airburst paper,, which had been based on research funded by the Comet Research Group (see below) and authored primarily by its members. He stated that it "violates nearly every tenet of proper skepticism" as defined by CSICOP and CSI, citing CSI-co-founder and executive council member Ray Hyman.

In a 2014 editorial, Powell urged the university presidents of Brown University and Harvard University to change course by divesting their institutions from fossil fuels. A New York Times editorial co-authored by Powell and Michael E. Mann recommended that the American Museum of Natural History remove Rebekah Mercer from their board as her family foundation supported climate change denialism.

While agreeing that the consensus on AGW is high, other scientists have argued that the consensus is closer to 97%. The debate centers around the selection of scientific papers identified as supporting AGW and therefore included in the study. For example, in their 2013 study, Cook et al. excluded 66.4% of the papers examined because the abstracts did not endorse AGW either explicitly or implicitly. Powell reviewed the abstracts of hundreds of articles on plate tectonics, evolution, and impact cratering to show that scientists almost never directly affirm the ruling paradigm of their discipline. On that basis, Powell included papers in the study as long as the abstracts did not explicitly reject AGW.

Powell has researched the scientific consensus view of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) in a series of studies evaluating the peer-reviewed literature. In 2012, Powell reviewed 13,950 peer-reviewed publications between 1991 and 2012 with "global warming” or “global climate change" as keywords. Evaluating this dataset, Powell showed a 99.97% scientific consensus view supporting AGW. In 2016, Powell duplicated this method on articles published during 2013 and 2014. In this set, Powell found a 99.99% consensus "verging on unanimity" by the scientific community.

Powell served 12 years on the National Science Board first appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1986 and serving as its vice chair in 1990.

Following a 20-year career at Oberlin, Powell served as president of Franklin and Marshall College from 1983 to 1988, then president of Reed College from 1988 to 1991. Powell left academia to preside over the Franklin Institute (1991-1994) followed by the National History Museum of Los Angeles (1994-2001). Since 2001, Powell has been serving as the executive director of the National Physical Science Consortium.

Powell is the recipient of several honorary degrees. Oberlin College awarded Powell an honorary doctorate of science in 1983. The Tohoku Gakuin University of Japan honored Powell with a Doctor of Humane Letters in 1986. Beaver College and Berea College (his alma mater) have also honored Powell with honorary degrees.

Powell began his career at Oberlin College in 1962 where he held the position of chair of the geology department from 1965 to 1973. He became the associate dean of arts and science in 1973, then vice president and provost in 1975. After serving two years as a visiting administrator at Stanford University, Powell returned to Oberlin to serve as its acting president from 1981 to 1983.

Powell earned a BA degree in 1958 from Berea College, a private liberal arts college located in Powell's home town of Berea, Kentucky. Powell then received a PhD in Geochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1962.

James Lawrence Powell (born July 17, 1936 in Berea, Kentucky) is an American geologist, writer, former college president and museum director. He chaired the geology department at Oberlin College later serving as its provost and president. Powell also served as president of Franklin & Marshall College as well as Reed College. Following his positions in higher education, Powell presided over the Franklin Institute and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.