#  Michael B. McElroy (1939 - 2026) 

Former Chair, Harvard-China Project

Gilbert Butler Professor of Environmental Studies, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

 

 

 



   ![Michael B. McElroy](/sites/g/files/omnuum3496/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2025-03/Mike%20McElroy%20Headshot%20v3%20copy.jpeg?itok=BJvmM7k4) 

 



 

 laptop\_windows [Michael B. McElroy's Harvard Gazette Obituary |](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2026/01/michael-mcelroy-pioneering-atmospheric-scientist-dies-at-86/) 

 laptop\_windows [Michael B. McElroy's China Project Publications](https://chinaproject.harvard.edu/publications?f%5B0%5D=bibcite_reference_hwp_c_publicationauthors%3A151471) 

 

 



 

The late Michael B. McElroy (1939 - 2026) received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Mathematics at Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1960 and 1962 respectively. From 1970 to 1996, he was Abbott Lawrence Rotch Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at Harvard University, and since 1996 until his passing in 2026, was the Gilbert Butler Professor of Environmental Studies at Harvard University.

He authored more than 250 journal articles, 3 books, 3 edited books and more than 30 articles in Nature and Science. His research interests included atomic physics, planetary science, atmospheric chemistry, climate science, global climate change mitigation, power and energy science and policy, and the challenges posed for sustainable development in China.

At Harvard, he chaired the Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economy and Environment until his passing in 2026. The Harvard-China Project has collaborated for more than 20 years with colleagues in China to advance this last objective. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science, the American Association for the Advanced of Science, the American Geophysical Union, and Royal Irish Academy of Arts and Science. He formerly served at Harvard University as Director of the Center for Earth and Planetary Physics, as founding Director of the Harvard University Center for the Environment, and as founding Chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. He served for 8 years from 1997 to 2006 as a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), and served another 5 year term beginning in December 2017. CCICED is a body constituted in 1992 to advise China’s top leaders on these important interconnected issues.



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Research Interests
    
     [Climate Change & Air Pollution](/research-area/air-pollution-greenhouse-gases-climate) [Energy Systems](/research-area/energy-grid)
- ## Role
    
     [Faculty and Senior Researcher](/role/faculty-and-senior)