Why

is Summer Warmer than Winter?

Is the answer worth knowing?
George Philander
10 November 2014.

Why is summer warmer than winter? When twenty-three Harvard University students,
faculty members and alumni, all elegantly attired in colorful caps and gowns, were asked
this question on a sunny graduation day in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1986, all but two
gave the wrong answer. The video that shows their responses has caused dismay --see
Harvard, a Private Universe on YouTube -- but the students seem unconcerned when
told that their answers are wrong. One points out that she had gotten far without having
any scientific background whatsoever. Hers is a valid point. Ignorance of the reasons for
the seasons is not a handicap when trying to cope with the changes in the seasons. All we
need is an accurate calendar. In general, scientific illiteracy is not a serious drawback
when using the products of science calendars, cell phones, computers etc. Why the
concern about scientific illiteracy? Will the concern disappear if all the Harvard students
give the correct answer? The right answer is so dull and uninteresting -- the Earths axis
of rotation tilts towards the sun in summer, away from the sun in winter -- that few
remember it. Is the memorization of tedious facts really important?

The irony of the Harvard video is that it draws attention to how poorly science is
taught by asking a question that exemplifies a serious problem with the teaching of
science. That question, concerning the reason for the seasons, reinforces the
unfortunate misconception that science is a dry-as-dust list of facts and theories
relevant to different natural phenomena. A question has a right answer, and many
wrong answers. Those who know the right answer are applauded; those who dont
are scorned. In reality science is a continual interplay between observations and
theories, an interplay in which the wrong explanation for an observation, rather than
an embarrassment, is merely a hypothesis that has to be tested. The observation that
summer is warm, winter cold, prompts the obvious theory that the changing trajectory of
the Sun across the sky causes the seasons, but what causes the trajectory to change? The
ancient Greeks thought that the Earth is at the center of the universe, and that the Sun
orbits the Earth. The Harvard students are aware that planet Earth orbits the Sun, know
that the orbit is an ellipse, not a circle, and propose that the Earth is closer to the Sun in
summer than winter. The next step is to test this explanation for the seasons, by exploring
implications of the theory.
The theory implies that summer occurs at the same time of the year everywhere on the
planet. Observations indicate that summer in one hemisphere coincides with winter in the
other. When the Earth is furthest from the Sun, in June, it is summer in Boston, but
winter in Buenos Aires. This inconsistency means that the theory needs to be improved.
Could it be that, in addition to having an eccentric orbit, the Earths axis of rotation is
tilted rather than vertical so that, at any time, one hemisphere is favored with more
sunlight than the other? Although this new theory is in accord with the observations, we
once again are obliged to test its implications, for example the implication that the

seasonal cycle should have a huge amplitude in polar regions, a far smaller one in the
tropics. Seasonal temperature fluctuations satisfy this condition, but rainfall is another
story. The rainy season is summer in low latitudes in Pretoria and New Delhi for
example and is winter in Cape Town and Los Angeles. Further poleward, in places
such as Boston and London it rains throughout the year; those cities have no rainy season.
This aspect of the seasonal cycle depends on winds that harvest moisture over the oceans
and deposit it in fantastically-shaped granaries clouds that bring rain to some regions.
We next have to explore the atmospheric circulation, the oceanic circulation, their
interactions that produce El Nino, La Nina


Science is such an engaging, unending interplay between observations and theories
that it prompted Alexander Pope to write that

A little learning is a dangerous thing
drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
and drinking largely sobers us again
An Essay on Criticism, Alexander Pope (1688 -1744)

Pope is not defending ignorance but is proposing that the dangers of a little
learning being too hasty in drawing conclusions from limited information -- can
be overcome by learning more. The seasons are ideal vehicles for learning about
science in general because they are familiar, reliable, accessible, and still pose
challenging puzzles. (The seasonal cycle in rainfall varies significantly from region
to region, but is practically absent from the globally averaged rainfall. This suggests
that different regions communicate with each other. How do they communicate?)

Ignorance of the reason for the seasons is not cause for despair or embarrassment,
but is an opportunity for a dangerous life-long affair with science, an affair that
teaches us to question our assumptions and beliefs. That lesson will prove valuable,
even if we choose to become taxi-drivers or pastry-chefs rather than scientists.
However, the commitment to skepticism that science demands -- scientists are said
to practice organized skepticism -- is also the reason why science has severe
limitations. It is mute on ethical issues and is unable to cope with many problems
that arise in human affairs and that require a commitment to certain principles. We
have ample experience with such difficulties, as becomes evident when we glance at
the calendar and note that the last four months of the year are misnamed.
(December ought to be the tenth, not the twelfth month.) Science is far more than a
list of facts and theories. It has a fascinating history.

Everybody should participate in discussions of global warming because it involves
both science and ethics. That is why everybody should have a rudimentary
understanding of science, its methods and history. An excellent start is to learn the
reasons for the seasons