The feature story in the winter edition of the St. Thomas Magazine highlighted for me one more example of why I am proud to be a part of the University of St. Thomas community. Assistant professor of mechanical engineering John Abraham took up the global-warming torch and presented the scientific case against Christopher Mockton of Scotland, one of the world’s most verbal and prominent global-warming skeptics.
After watching a You-tube video of a talk Mockton presented in 2009, Abraham knew he had to speak up and spent the next year carefully researching each of Mockton’s points on his own time. He then put his 83 minute calm and cogent rebuttal into video format and made it available online. When Mockton discovered the video, he turned it into a world-wide sensation by attacking Abraham’s character with name-calling and threatening legal action. Even Father Dease did not escape Mockton’s vitriol.
While Abraham’s dedication to science and search for truth is reason enough to be proud, the response from Father Dease and the UST community supporting Dr. Abraham really struck me. Take a few minutes and read the full story, with or without your purple shirt.