Talk:Harrison Schmitt

Trivia
Schmitt, while on the Moon, allegedly said, "You see one Earth, you've seen them all."

And, of Schmitt, it's allegedly said, "If God had meant Man to fly, He would never have made Jack Schmitt."
 * Trekphiler 22:45, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

In from the earth to the moon he, perhaps somewhat tongue in cheek, argues with Gene Certain about who was the last man on the moon. Harold argues that he was the twelfth man to step on the moon's surface - and because there have only been twelve - he was the last! Ig2d (talk) 04:56, 5 October 2017 (UTC)

German
Anyone know of a good source? Michael 02:58, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

His "I was strolling on the moon..." Song
Should his little ditty be mentioned outside of the embedded video? I suspect it is the second most played Apollo soundbite but of course I have no way to prove that. Of course really it's hardly notable next to all his other achievements, but nearly everybody with a television must have heard it, even though they probably have no idea which mission it was from. --130.88.161.173 (talk) 19:55, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Add it if you want. I think the "there is ORANGE SOIL" ("Hey it is! I can see it from here!") clip and Al Shepard's golf shot are probably in competition for the second most viewed Apollo clips after Neil Armstrong's first steps. :-) --Jatkins (talk - contribs) 13:23, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

Global warming denier?
He's also been prominent in denying global warming, should that be mentioned? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.132.222.135 (talk) 21:12, 4 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Why? A recent poll showed that over 72% of Americans think global warming is a hoax. That puts those who believe in global warming, anthropogenic or otherwise, into the lunatic fringe conspiracy theorist category, like you, anonymous commenter, and Jack Schmitt squarely in the mainstream.  Since his views are mainstream, I don't think they need special mention here.&mdash;QuicksilverT @ 01:51, 26 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Cut the bullshit. These recent polls sure as hell doesn't have anything near that. The mainstream scientific view is that there is anthropogenic climate change. Reywas92 Talk 03:08, 26 August 2010 (UTC)
 * And when did the validity of a premise - especially in the sciences - ever depend upon counting noses? -- Tucci78 (talk) 08:24, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

Citation for Dr. Schmitt's "[t]he CO2 scare is a red herring" remark (primary source Fox Business Network interview conducted by Stuart Varney on 22 December 2009) inserted as requested. URL links to a video of the interview embedded on the FBN Web site. Interesting discussion provided by Dr. Schmitt, especially in light of the Climategate information released the month before. Might we incorporate in the article other remarks voiced by Dr. Schmitt in that interview? -- Tucci78 (talk) 08:24, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

Harrison Schmitt is clearly a climate change denier. Key Indicators of Climate Change: http://climate.nasa.gov/keyIndicators/. If a Rasmussen poll showed that 72% of Americans believed the world was flat, would that make it so?

"Martinez’s pick for enviro chief: Environmentalists are communists" http://newmexicoindependent.com/68690/martinezs-pick-for-enviro-chief-environmentalists-are-communists — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cfoxwiki (talk • contribs) 17:43, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

I don't know how to integrate this into the article, but Schmitt is a member of the board of directors of the Heartland Institute, per http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Board%20Directory%2001-18-12.pdf -- for more info see http://www.desmogblog.com/heartland-insider-exposes-institute-s-budget-and-strategy 74.67.225.15 (talk) 22:40, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

Climate Change Denial
Harrison Schmitt has taken the position that climate change is not caused by human activity. "[The] global warming scare is being used as a political tool to increase government control over American lives, incomes and decision-making." http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,493624,00.html--Cfoxwiki (talk) 18:06, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

That section title is not a proper, WP:NPOV title for an article section. (It also is not suupposed to capitalize every word.)
 * "Climate change" vs. "Global warming": Schmitt has not said anything in denial of the climate changing; the issue is known as global warming, and the controversy is about whether or not it is anthropogenic (man-made).
 * "Denial": This is not the Holocaust we're talking about; the subject is politically charged (not just a "scientific consensus") and highly controversial. Many people don't buy it, and they can't just be arrogantly dismissed as "denialists" or purveyors of a fringe theory. Keep in mind, this is a person's biography and not a forum on the subject of global warming.

And the source used for the latest IP 50.158.111.41 revision, "DeSmog Blog", is not an impartial, unbiased source, and shouldn't be used for an unquoted description of a person's comments, which is supposed to be in Wikipedia's neutral voice. Please also read the WP:WEIGHT policy for how to cover controversial topics. JustinTime55 (talk) 16:51, 15 May 2013 (UTC)


 * It's politically charged only in the US, to most of the rest of the world and most scientists, it's just denialism. The scientific consensus is pretty well established, and it is much like denying evolution in the US (it's politically controversial but accepted by scientists). Removing mentions of the Scientific opinion on climate change because it doesn't suit your beliefs is just too bad, IRWolfie- (talk) 13:36, 20 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Poor Harrison. It seems his mind has gotten fuzzy, as happens with many older people. 73.151.67.233 (talk) 01:06, 29 October 2023 (UTC)

Correction
Update, Feb. 10:

Schmitt was NOMINATED, not appointed to be head of NM EMNRD. He withdrew his nomination after refusing to agree to a background check. — Preceding unsigned comment added by N2ic (talk • contribs) 14:04, 12 February 2011 (UTC)

moonwalk falling video
Why is the only moonwalk clip on this article of him falling over? Seems to be an odd choice... Wingman4l7 (talk) 00:13, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Harvard.
The article says he got a PhD from Harvard, but doesn't list Harvard under alma mater. Is there a reason for that (something related to the work being done at University of Oslo, perhaps) or it just an omission? ColinClark (talk) 18:37, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

The only geologist to have walked on the moon.
The article has this line: "Schmitt is also the only geologist as well as the only person to have walked on the Moon who was never a member of the United States Armed Forces, although he is not the first civilian, since Neil Armstrong left military service prior to his landing in 1969." It has obvious grammatical problems and in my fix I was going to remove the mention of him being the only geologist to walk on the moon. It doesn't seem worthy of mention to me. Since only 12 people have walked on the moon, each of them is certainly "the only " to have done so. Anyone feel strongly about this? ColinClark (talk) 18:45, 29 October 2013 (UTC)


 * While the grammar certainly needs to be improved, I don't think your point is valid, for two reasons. First, it was a very big deal to the community of lunar geologists who supported the program, that he was the only professional geologist on the Moon. He was the first of a small class of scientist astronauts (non-professional pilots) to fly, and was originally assigned to Apollo 18, which was cancelled along with two other flights. The geologists (non-astronauts) felt so strongly about the value of Schmitt being on the ground to collect samples, that they lobbied successfully to get the original Apollo 17 LMP bumped so Schmitt could fly. (The article needs to spell this out more clearly.)


 * Secondly, the other eleven (potentially thirteen, counting Lovell and Haise who didn't get to land on Apollo 13) were all either military or civillian professional pilots of high-speed aircraft; it can't be said that they came from random walks of life. JustinTime55 (talk) 14:24, 30 October 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the response. I totally agree with you. First, it was hugely important that he was a geologist on an Apollo mission. The article makes that clear, and anything you mentioned above that's not in the article should be added. I just find it unnecessary to mention in the lead that he was the only geologist. If another geologist had gone up on Apollo 18 it wouldn't have diminished or changed anything Schmitt did.


 * Secondly, it is hugely important that he was the first on Apollo without a military flight background, and I never thought of removing that part. It's equally important that he was a scientist and was chosen specifically to do scientific research on the mission. The fact he was a geologist and not, say, a physicist or electrical engineer, seems secondary or even tertiary in my opinion.


 * If others feel strongly, though, I have no real problem with it being mentioned. ColinClark (talk) 18:34, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

Blog comment removed per WP:BLP
I removed the following,


 * The progressive organization Media Matters for America responded to the column with criticism based on information from a July 1, 2010 Skeptical Science blog.

As blog comments aren't allowable per WP:BLP. --Pete Tillman (talk) 00:18, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

BLP noticeboard
Section = 109 BLP articles labelled "Climate Change Deniers" all at once. This article was placed in a "climate change deniers" category. After discussion on [//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons/Noticeboard/Archive232#109_BLP_articles_labelled_.22Climate_Change_Deniers.22_all_at_once WP:BLPN] and [//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Categories_for_discussion/Log/2015_October_16#Category:Climate_Change_deniers WP:CFD] the category was deleted. Peter Gulutzan (talk) 17:21, 20 December 2015 (UTC)

Keep nickname in lead
I reverted the deletion of the nickname "Jack" from the lead; I think it's important enough to keep there because it is not based on Schmitt's real names. (Granted, "Gene" and "Ron" are obviously based on the given names Eugene and Ronald, and thus not necessary to include because they can be assumed.) If you are going by WP:NICKNAME, notice that guideline is meant to apply to the article titles, not the article text. JustinTime55 (talk) 16:38, 28 September 2017 (UTC)

I've reverted this back in again, but it keeps being removed with "NICKNAME applies". I am aware that it does, and it has in fact been followed correctly. It is relevant, it was used commonly and publicly as his moniker, even the headline of multiple sources (have a look), so reverting it back in again. If GiantSnowman wishes to engage in discussion rather than simply revert again, here is the place. 208.127.199.200 (talk) 10:34, 24 February 2023 (UTC)


 * If 'Jack' is his common name, then move the article there, and then 'Jack' would correctly be in the middle of his name. Otherwise this is just an informal nickname like Gazza or Dubya. GiantSnowman 18:10, 24 February 2023 (UTC)


 * My reading of WP:NICKNAME is that it only applies to the title of the article, that is, without precluding such mention in the article itself: "Article titles are hardly suitable to clarify, explain, or in any other way elaborate on the composition of a name. Any clarification can be placed in the article." It follows that if an adjunct nickname is used in the first sentence of the lead, it must definitely be serious (not Dubya), and cited in-situ. See also Emma Stone, Spike Lee 67.185.21.25 (talk) 22:36, 24 February 2023 (UTC)

On 2024-03-19 I added his commonly used name (e.g. during Apollo 17 missions, etc) into the lead portion of the bio -- NOT the article title -- per reading of the Wikipedia Manual of Style biography guidance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wikifan 1973 (talk • contribs) 18:50, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

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