namely high-energy cosmic rays. An article in Geoscience Canada explains why he thinks so: the summary is that in the last 200,000 years, there is apparently a high correlation between the temperature and the amount of cosmic rays reaching the Earth, as reconstructed from radioactive isotopes: the more cosmic rays you face, the colder climate you get. Cold eras also occur whenever the geomagnetic field - a field we can reconstruct - was less efficient in screening the cosmic rays.
A larger group of people is apparently getting convinced that it is "certain" that the climate is primarily dictated by high-energy cosmic rays that determine the rate of cloud formation.
The Royal Society of Canada called [Veizer] "one of the most creative, innovative and productive geoscientists of our times," and added: "He has generated entirely new concepts that have proven key in our understanding the geochemical history of Earth."
He won the 1992 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, worth $2.2 million Cdn, representing the German government's highest prize for research in any field. The prize ended up financing his research.
The judges said he "has in front of his eyes the overall picture of the Earth during its entire 4.5 billion years of evolution," and he is "one of the most creative ... geologists of his time."
Yet, for years he held back on his climate doubts. "I was scared," he says.
Well, I am surely not certain that the theory is correct but given the credentials of my generalized countrymate, it may be worth thinking about it. Well, Veizer has also written an article in 2000 that presented evidence of decoupling of CO2 and the climate during the Phanerozoic eon. See also here.
