Sir John Theodore Houghton (30 December 1931 – 15 April 2020) was a Welsh atmospheric physicist who was the co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) scientific assessment working group which shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with Al Gore. He was lead editor of the first three IPCC reports. He was professor in atmospheric physics at the University of Oxford, former Director General at the Met Office and founder of the Hadley Centre.
He was the president of the John Ray Initiative, an organisation "connecting Environment, Science and Christianity", where he has compared the stewardship of the Earth, to the stewardship of the Garden of Eden by Adam and Eve. He was a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion. He became the president of the Victoria Institute in 2005.
Born in Dyserth, John Theodore Houghton was the second of the three sons of Sidney and Miriam (née Yarwood) Houghton. His older brother, David (died 2015), became a meteorologist. The third and youngest brother, Paul Houghton, became a lecturer in engineering and was treasurer and company chairman of the John Ray Initiative, connecting the environment, science and Christianity.
The family moved to Rhyl when John was two, and he attended Rhyl Grammar School where he discovered his interest in science. He continued his education at Jesus College, Oxford, gaining a BA in 1951, MA (Oxon) and DPhil in 1955.
He was brought up as an evangelical Christian by devout Christian parents and believed in science and Christianity as strengthening each other, as well as Christianity and environmentalism. Houghton's evangelical Christianity combined with his scientific background made him a significant voice in evangelical Christian circles. He was a supporter of and advisor to the international Christian relief and development agency Tearfund. He was also an elder at Aberdovey Presbyterian Church.
In 1962, Houghton married Dr Margaret Broughton, daughter of a mill owner in Colwyn, Lancashire, and they had two children and seven grandchildren. Following her death from cancer in 1986, he set up the Margaret Houghton Memorial Fund, a research unit on medical nursing in her memory. He married his second wife, Sheila Thompson, in 1988.
a Member of the UK Government Panel on Sustainable Development (1994–2000)
Chairman, Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (1992–98)
Chairman or co-chairman, Scientific Assessment Working Group, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (1988–2002)
Director General (later Chief Executive), UK Meteorological Office (1983–91)
Director Appleton, Science and Engineering Research Council (also deputy director, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)(1979–83)
Professor of Atmospheric Physics, Oxford University (1973–83).
He was knighted in 1991. Houghton was an Honorary Scientist of the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research at the Met Office (since 2002); Honorary Scientist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (since 1991); a Trustee of the Shell Foundation (since 2000); Chairman of the John Ray Initiative (since 1997) and in 2013 was announced as an advisory board member for Sure Chill Technology. He moved back to Wales and lived in Aberdyfi. In 2007 he criticised the controversial documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle for its inaccuracies.
He died of complications from Alzheimer's disease and COVID-19 in hospital at Dolgellau on 15 April 2020, aged 88.
Albert Einstein World Award of Science (2009)
International Meteorological Organization Prize (1998)
American Meteorological Society, Honorary Member (1998)
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1995)