Career
Oeschger was the first to date the "age" of Pacific deep water. The Oeschger counter was the leading instrument for many years which enabled the Oeschger"s team to measure the activity of naturally occurring radioisotopes (3H, 14C, 26Al, 37Ar, 39Ar, 81Kr, 85Kr). Oeschger was a pioneer and leader in ice core research.
In collaboration with his colleagues he was the first to measure the glacial-interglacial change of atmospheric Carbon dioxide.
They showed in 1979 that the atmospheric concentration of Carbon dioxide during the glacial was almost 50% lower than today. Hans Oeschger was deeply troubled by the potential of an increased greenhouse effect caused by the steady increase of atmospheric Carbon dioxide.
He said: “The worst for me would be, if there were serious changes in the next 5 to 10 years and we scientists are helpless and did not have the courage to point at these dangerous developments early.”
He was a Lead Author of the First Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The European Geophysical Society established the Hans Oeschger Medal in his honour in 2001.
The centre of excellence for climate research at the University of Bern (Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research ), which was founded in 2007, is named after Hans Oeschger.