Colin O'Dowd


Colin Dermot O'Dowd is an Irish physicist and atmospheric scientist.

Biography

O'Dowd matriculated in 1984 at NUI Galway, and graduated there in 1987 with a B.Sc. in physics. He received his Ph.D. in 1992 from University of Manchester [Institute of Science and Technology|UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology)]. He was from 1992 to 1996 a research associate at UMIST and from 1996 to 2001 a senior research fellow at the University of Sunderland. At the University of Helsinki, he was from 2000 to 2001 a senior scientist and from 2001 to 2002 a professor of physics. At NUI Galway, he was from 2001 to 2004 an adjunct professor of physics, from 2004 to 2005 a lecturer, and from 2006 to 2009 a senior lecturer and is since 2009 a personal professor of physics. There he is also the director of the Centre for Climate and Air Pollution Studies.
He has been, for a number of years, a highly-cited researcher and is the author or co-author of over 250 scientific publications. From 2000 to 2008 he was the co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Geophysical Research. He has done research on air-sea exchange, atmospheric composition, aerosols, and pollutants, climate change, and biogeochemical cycling.
O'Dowd was elected in 2002 a fellow of the Institute of Physics, in 2003 a fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, in 2011 a member of the Royal Irish Academy, and in 2018 a member of Academia Europaea. He received in 2004 the Smoluchowski Award of the Gesellschaft für Aerosolforschung, in 2012 the Institute of Physics Edward [Appleton Medal and Prize|Appleton Award] of the Institute of Physics, in 2013 the Gold Medal in Geosciences of the Royal Irish Academy, and in 2016 the Mason Medal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

Selected publications

  • 1997
  • 2002
  • 2002
  • 2003
  • 2004
  • 2006
  • 2007
  • 2008
  • 2009
  • 2012
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