Credit: C. Alvarez Zarikian
Gisela Winckler grew up in rural Germany, nowhere near the ocean. As an undergraduate, she chose to major in physics, which she continued to pursue as a Ph.D. at the University of Heidelberg, but she remembers feeling uncertain about how to connect her laboratory studies with something tangible in the real world. It was only when she discovered environmental physics and marine science that her interests started to cohere.
Now, Winckler is a climate scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and professor of climate at the Columbia Climate School. She focuses on the history and causes of past, present and future climate variability, as well as the ocean’s role in the climate system and the carbon cycle. She has sailed on 12 research cruises and led a drilling expedition to the Southern Ocean on the international drill ship Joides Resolution.
Winckler continues to seek innovative ways that connect her scientific research with real-world applications. In 2023, she served as Columbia Journalism School’s first climate scientist-in-residence, and in 2024, she was recognized as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. In the conversation below, Winckler reflects on her career trajectory.
How did you get into science?
My path to science was anything but straight. I had no movie-like moment of picking up a shell at the age of four and picturing myself as a future Sylvia Earle or Marie Curie. In fact, I had never heard of either, and I had never met a scientist until attending university. I grew up in rural Germany—far, far away from the ocean. I went to the local public school, and after graduating from high school in my hometown, I started college at the University of Heidelberg. In the German academic system, you need to pick a major as soon as you start college, and in my case, I chose physics. I stuck with the field to the point that my entire formal academic background is in physics—my bachelor’s, my master’s and my Ph.D., but while my titles seem to show a clear path, it was actually more of a rollercoaster ride.
Traditional physics didn’t seem terribly exciting to me. I was more attracted to applying what I learned and studied to real-world problems, something tangible, than to classical physical research like hunting down elementary particles.
Luckily, I stumbled across a flyer in a hallway looking for a research assistant in environmental physics. I was lucky to get that job, and it turned out to be the ideal place to combine my training in physics with the more tangible field of marine science. The job also meant that I had the tremendous opportunity to go on a research cruise to the tropical Pacific. After that first research cruise, I was hooked. Being on the ocean was a magical experience, and it has stayed with me ever since.
“Being on the ocean was a magical experience, and it has stayed with me ever since.”
Is there a woman in science, from Columbia or otherwise, who inspired you?
Honestly, there is not a single woman in science who inspires me, not at Columbia and not elsewhere. If anything, I have a bias against idealized and idolized figures as inspirations and I tend to struggle with the concept of super women with super powers who somehow beat the odds and become inspirations. Rather, I take inspiration from short moments and longer conversations, from collaborations with colleagues and, most importantly, with students. It might sound like a cliché, but it truly is those interactions that inspire me.
Statistically, women represent only about a third of researchers and tend to receive smaller research grants than their male colleagues. Have you faced such challenges as a woman scientist? Do you see things improving?
Being one of the about eight-percent female minority enrolled in physics in graduate school provided me with an early experience of feeling “marginal.” At the time, I didn’t have the language and experience to describe the impacts this had on me and the vulnerability that came with this experience, but now I do and I am happy to share it, for which I am grateful.
Representation of women in Earth and environmental sciences is better than in physics, but there is still a lot of gender bias. I am thrilled to see the many young women oceanographers and climate scientists in our field, but I also see so many of them opting out of the academic world during or soon after their postdocs. I don’t have much sage advice; it is a struggle. The hurdles we face in advancing our careers may be subtler than in the past, and overt discrimination against women has receded, but the negative impacts of institutional and individual prejudices remain tangible and on the rise in this political climate.
Nonetheless, I think and hope that my experience, as well as that of many others over the last 20+ years, indicates that you can have a successful career as a scientist and have a rewarding personal life without having super powers.
