Nigel Calder facts for kids

Nigel David McKail Ritchie-Calder (born December 2, 1931 – died June 25, 2014) was a British science writer. He was known for his books and TV shows about science. He also had different ideas about climate change.

Early Life and Education

Nigel Calder was born on December 2, 1931. His father was Ritchie Calder and his mother was Mabel Jane Forbes McKail. He had four brothers and sisters. One of his brothers was the historian Angus Calder.

Nigel went to Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood. Later, he studied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

Career as a Science Writer

From 1956 to 1966, Nigel Calder wrote for the magazine New Scientist. He became the editor of the magazine in 1962 and stayed in that role until 1966.

After leaving New Scientist, he became an independent writer. He also wrote scripts for TV shows. He created and wrote thirteen major documentaries and series. These shows were about popular science topics. They were shown on the BBC and Channel 4 in London. He also wrote books to go with these TV series.

In 1972, he won the Kalinga Prize for making science popular. In 2004, his book Magic Universe was chosen as a finalist for The Aventis Prizes for Science Books.

Views on Climate Change

Nigel Calder had strong opinions about climate change. He believed that some ideas about man-made global warming were not correct.

As early as 1980, he made a prediction. He thought that by 2030, the Earth would not get warmer because of carbon dioxide. Instead, he believed people would start worrying about the Earth getting cooler. He even thought a new ice age might be coming.

Calder helped make a film called The Great Global Warming Swindle. He also wrote a book called The Chilling Stars with Henrik Svensmark. He said that governments were trying to make all scientists agree. He felt they were silencing scientists who had different views. He even said that Albert Einstein might not have received money for his research under such a system.

Personal Life

Nigel Calder was married to Elisabeth Palmer. She used to advise on language teaching. They had five children together. These included two sons, one of whom is the travel writer Simon Calder, and three daughters.

Death

Nigel Calder passed away on June 25, 2014. He was 82 years old. He died in Crawley, West Sussex, England.

Books and Works

Nigel Calder wrote and edited many books during his career. Here are some of them:

• 1957 Electricity Grows Up
• 1957 Robots
• 1958 Radio Astronomy
• 1965 The World in 1984 (editor)
• 1967 The Environment Game
• 1968 Unless Peace Comes (editor)
• 1969 The Violent Universe
• 1969 Technopolis
• 1970 The Mind of Man
• 1970 Living Tomorrow
• 1972 The Restless Earth
• 1973 Nature in the Round (editor)
• 1973 The Life Game
• 1974 The Weather Machine
• 1976 The Human Conspiracy
• 1977 The Key to the Universe
• 1978 Spaceships of the Mind
• 1979 Einstein's Universe
• 1979 Nuclear Nightmares
• 1980 The Comet is Coming!
• 1983 Timescale: Atlas of the Fourth Dimension
• 1983 1984 and Beyond
• 1986 The English Channel
• 1986 The Green Machines
• 1988 Future Earth (contributing editor)
• 1990 Scientific Europe (general editor)
• 1991 Spaceship Earth
• 1992 Giotto mission to the Comets
• 1993 Hubble Space Telescope: The Harvest So Far
• 1994 Comets: Speculations and Science
• 1995 Beyond This World
• 1997 The Manic Sun
• 1999 Success Story: 30 Discoveries (compiler, for European Space Agency)
• 2003 Magic Universe: The Oxford Guide to Modern Science
• 2005 Einstein’s Universe (updated)
• 2005 Albert Einstein: Relativity (introduction)
• 2007 The Chilling Stars (joint author with Henrik Svensmark)