One of the world’s largest and most prestigious prizes has been awarded to the climate researcher who is credited with coining the term “global warming.” The geochemist from Columbia University, Wallace S. Broecker, receives the $885,000 Balzan Prize for his breakthrough studies in climatology and his early warnings about changes in the climate.

In 1987, Broecker proposed that ocean currents interact with the atmosphere and, like a global conveyor belt, transport heat around the planet. Broecker is the author of over 400 scientific articles and several textbooks. In his recent book Fixing Climate (Hill and Wang, 2008), he advocated removing large amounts of carbon dioxide from the air and storing it underground to avert a climate catastrophe.

Broecker teaches at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

He was the recipient of the 1996 National Medal of Science and the 2006 Crafoord Prize in Geosciences from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Broecker will receive the Balzan Prize at ceremonies in Rome on November 21.