The American Physical Society (APS) has overwhelmingly rejected a petition by a group of physicists asking the organization to reverse its position on climate change.

The petition was signed by 160 physicists including Nobel laureate Ivar Giaever. If you don’t feel like reading the thing, it essentially says that there has been a lot of natural variation in climate change over the past centuries, and that natural variation can explain the recent rise in global temperatures. The statement also points out what it calls the “beneficial effects of increased levels of carbon dioxide for both plants and animals.”

The group has been bullish on the hopes of changing the APS’s minds. They even wrote us a letter in July, noting that they had prompted an APS review of its climate change position. “We hope it will lead to meaningful change,” they said in the letter.

But no such luck. The society review, lead by nuclear physicist Daniel Kleppner from MIT, recommended that no changes be made, and on 10 November, the council accepted their recommendation.

As interesting as the petition is, there’s an equally fascinating analysis of the signers that’s doing the rounds. John Mashey, a computer scientist and APS member, has done a thorough analysis of who was involved. It’s not the easiest to read, but it starts getting interesting around section 4 or 5. Mashey breaks down the signers by age, political contributions and geographic area. He also does some network analysis to show who was involved with the petition at different stages.

He finds that the signers tend to be predominately older and big contributors to the Republican and Libertarian parties. More interestingly the supporters seem to be centered around the Northeast, particularly Princeton University’s department. Again, not surprising considering that one of the main organizersis Will Happer, a well-respected Princeton physicist and long-time climate change sceptic who, in 1993, was pushed out of his position at the Department of Energy after rowing with then vice president Al Gore over the significance of the ozone hole (see our rival for a little background).

The petition wasn’t a total flop, the APS says its Panel on Public Affairs should “examine the statement for possible improvements in clarity and tone.” Happer called the decision a “”https://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/40916">big victory" for the petitioners.