H. Julian Allen Award (1983, 1988) NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement (1983, 1989) Arthur Flemming Award (1985) Leo Szilard Award for Physics in the Public Interest (1986) Robert L. Stearns Award (2009) Roger Revelle Medal (2011)
His research on the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs led to the discovery of nuclear winter due to the major decrease in temperature.[3] The effects of nuclear winter were re-examined in a 2006 presentation at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, where Toon and colleagues found that even a regional nuclear war could prove deadly for a large number of people.[4] They calculated that as few as fifty detonations of Hiroshima-size bombs could kill as many as twenty million people, although it would not produce a nuclear winter.[5] The atmospheric effects of a regional nuclear war would last several years, and would be strongest at mid-latitudes, including the United States and Europe.[6]
In 2022, Toon was among eight recipients of the 2022 Future of Life Award. The honor was bestowed upon Toon for "reducing the risk of nuclear war by developing and popularizing the science of nuclear winter."[7]
Brooks SD, Toon OB, Tolbert MA, et al. (2004). "Polar stratospheric clouds during SOLVE/THESEO: Comparison of lidar observations with in situ measurements". J. Geophys. Res. 109 (D2): D02212. Bibcode:2004JGRD..109.2212B. doi:10.1029/2003JD003463.
Colarco PR, Toon OB, Reid JS, et al. (2003). "Saharan dust transport to the Caribbean during PRIDE: 2. Transport, vertical profiles, and deposition in simulations of in situ and remote sensing observations". J. Geophys. Res. 108 (D19): 8590. Bibcode:2003JGRD..108.8590C. doi:10.1029/2002JD002659.
^Johnson, John (13 December 2006). "Global hell of limited nuclear conflict". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 March 2009. 'These results are quite surprising,' Dr Toon said. Regional nuclear conflicts 'can endanger entire populations' the way it was once thought only worldwide conflict could.
^Erickson, Jim (12 December 2006). "Even limited nuclear war would have global effects, CU prof says". Rocky Mountain News. Archived from the original on 29 July 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2009. 'The current combination of nuclear proliferation, political instability and urban demographics forms perhaps the greatest danger to the stability of society since the dawn of humanity,' Toon said Monday during a news briefing at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
^Richard A. Lovett (13 December 2006). "Small Nuclear War Would Devastate Global Climate, Scientists Warn". National Geographic News. Archived from the original on December 15, 2006. Retrieved 11 March 2009. 'Regional-scale nuclear war can cause casualties similar to those previously predicted for a strategic attack by the U.S.S.R on the U.S.,' Toon said.