Bradley, a Ph.D. in molecular biology, (Daily Inter Lake, Feb. 7 guest opinion) admits he is “not an expert in climate science.” Yet, he makes irrational claims about climate science.

In the 1930s, the Soviet biologist Lysenko made irrational claims. Lysenkoism set back Russian biology some 30 years until 1964.

Bradley promotes “climate Lysenkoism.” He avoids logic and the scientific method. Like Lysenko, he thinks ad hominem attacks make a scientific argument.

Here are Bradley’s unfounded claims followed by the facts as I know them.

Bradley: Berry denies fundamental principles and facts in climate science. Berry never studied statistics. Berry’s climate denials aren’t credible. Berry claims to be a physicist. Berry doesn’t understand that all quantitative scientific models and results are considered correct within a certain probability.

Facts: My physics mentors were the best in the world. My theoretical Ph.D. thesis received instant worldwide attention because it solved a key problem in climate physics. It combines probability, statistics, the scientific method, and numerical mathematics. The director of Nevada’s Desert Research Institute credited my 1965 thesis with putting the institute on the map. Today, 50 years later, after most Ph.D. theses are long forgotten, scientists still cite my thesis every month. Science textbooks discuss my thesis. Geologists, cosmologists, and engineers use my thesis to make calculations.

Bradley: Berry is an anomaly and huge outlier among the vast majority of scientists and particularly atmospheric physicists and climate scientists.

Facts: Only 64 of 11,944 peer-reviewed papers agree with Bradley. On my side are more than 1,000 climate scientists, a huge number in this field. We are the majority. My side includes Dr. Ivar Giaever, a Democrat who won the 1973 Nobel Prize in physics. Giaever concludes Bradley’s climate claims are a religion because its believers reject data that show their belief is wrong.

Bradley: The earth would be an ice-covered planet without CO2.

Fact: The water phase diagram, an elementary concept in climate physics, shows ice sublimation would add enough water vapor to produce today’s greenhouse effect, with or without CO2.

Bradley: The basic science is not very complicated: CO2 traps heat. CO2 has risen dramatically. Those basic facts will convince anyone that human fossil fuel burning causes the earth to warm.

Facts: Only fools believe a complex problem is so simple. The scientific method proves Bradley’s simplistic cause and effect claim is invalid. Dr. Willie Soon’s 2015 peer-reviewed paper shows CO2 does not even correlate with temperature, but solar radiation does.

Bradley: No credible scientist denies that CO2 is one of the most important greenhouse gases.

Facts: Bradley is not a credible scientist. Water vapor is more important than CO2. Data show water vapor and clouds keep the Earth’s average greenhouse effect constant when CO2 changes.

Bradley: Each climate model prediction has a certain high probability of being correct (typically 95 percent or better).

Facts: We have had 37 years to test climate models. The 102 climate model average over-predicts temperature by a factor of 2.5. That is far outside Bradley’s claim of 95 percent accurate, which would be acceptable. If your prediction is wrong, your theory is wrong.

Bradley: Oceans are warming, sea levels are rising, and glaciers are shrinking. We have a serious problem. Ignoring it is disingenuous, irresponsible, and perhaps worse. Doing nothing is not an option. Deniers are either ideologues with rigid minds or on a paid agenda.

Facts: Rate of warming since 1950 is lower than in previous centuries before human CO2. Dr. Murry Salby’s textbook “Physics of the Atmosphere and Climate” shows temperature, not human emissions, causes atmospheric CO2 to rise.

Nature, not our CO2, causes climate change. Bradley is an ideologue with a rigid mind.

See edberry.com for links and references.

Berry is a resident of Bigfork.