14 Facts About Willie Soon

Willie Soon co-wrote a paper whose methodology was widely criticised by the scientific community.

Willie Soon is nonetheless frequently cited by politicians opposed to climate-change legislation.

From 2005 to 2015, Willie Soon had received over $1.2 million from the fossil fuel industry, while failing to disclose that conflict of interest in most of his work.

Willie Soon attended Khoon Aik Primary School in Kangar, Perlis, then Sekolah Menengah Syed Sirajudin Secondary School in Jejawi, Perlis, and Sekolah Menengah Dato Sheikh Ahmad Secondary School in Arau, Perlis.

Willie Soon has since been doing research there in astrophysics and Earth science, now as an externally funded employee.

Willie Soon was for shorter periods an astronomer at the Mount Wilson Observatory a senior scientist at a conservative think tank, the now defunct George C Marshall Institute, the chief science adviser to the oil industry-funded Science and Public Policy Institute, and an Adjunct Professor of the Faculty of Science and Environmental Studies of the University of Putra, Malaysia.

In 2003, Willie Soon was first author on a review paper in the journal Climate Research, with Sallie Baliunas as co-author.

In 2011, it emerged that Willie Soon received over $1 million from petroleum and coal interests since 2001.

The Center's spokesman said "Willie Soon's opinions regarding climate change are his personal views not shared within our research organization".

Willie Soon said that the Heartland Institute had provided funding to make the paper available to the public on the journal's website.

On February 21, publications including The Guardian and The New York Times reported that Willie Soon had failed to disclose conflicts of interest in at least 11 papers since 2008, and alleged that Willie Soon had violated ethical guidelines of at least eight of those journals publishing his work.

On March 2,2015, The Heartland Institute conservative think tank released a statement by Willie Soon, which said he had "been the target of attacks in the press by various radical environmental and politically motivated groups".

Willie Soon requested that journalists who had reported on his actions similarly examined disclosure by other scientists.

Unlike Willie Soon, who had approached private funders directly, their funding was almost entirely obtained through open competitive peer-reviewed applications to public bodies.