Joanne Simpson Explained

Joanne Simpson
Birth Name:Joanne Gerould
Birth Date:23 March 1923
Birth Place:Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Death Place:Washington, D.C., U.S.
Fields:Meteorology
Thesis Title:Certain Features of Undisturbed and Disturbed Weather in the Trade-Wind Region
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Thesis Year:1949
Doctoral Advisor:Herbert Riehl
Known For:Tropical meteorology and tropical cyclone research
Awards:Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal
Spouse:
    Children:3

    Joanne Simpson (formerly Joanne Malkus, born Joanne Gerould; March 23, 1923 – March 4, 2010) was the first woman in the United States to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, which she received in 1949 from the University of Chicago.[1] [2] [3] Simpson received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Chicago, and did post-doctoral work at Dartmouth College.[4] Simpson was a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and taught and researched meteorology at numerous universities as well as the federal government. Simpson contributed to many areas of the atmospheric sciences, particularly in the field of tropical meteorology. She has researched hot towers, hurricanes, the trade winds, air-sea interactions, and helped develop the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM).

    Academic life

    Her teaching and research career at universities includes time at the University of Chicago, New York University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, UCLA, the Environmental Satellite Services Administration (ESSA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), University of Virginia, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

    Research

    In 1958, Malkus collaborated with Herbert Riehl and calculated the average moist static energy and how it varied vertically throughout the atmosphere. They noted that at altitudes up to approximately 750 hPa the moist static energy decreased with height. Above 750 hPa, the moist static energy increased with height which had neither been observed or explained before. Riehl and Malkus realized that this must be due to moist convection that started near the surface that continued rising relatively adiabatically to near 50000feet. They called these clouds "undiluted chimneys" but they would later be commonly referred to as hot towers.[5] They estimated that it would take less than 5,000 of these towers daily throughout the tropics to result in the moist static energy profile they observed.

    By 1966, she became the director of Project Stormfury while chief of the Experimental Meteorology Branch of the Environment Satellite Services Administration's Institute for Atmospheric Sciences.[6] She eventually became NASA's lead weather researcher and authored or co-authored over 190 articles.

    Awards

    Personal

    She is quoted as saying winning the Rossby Medal in 1983 made her feel "it isn't really so ridiculous that I did all of this. I'm not really a freak; I am a member of the community."

    Yet, poignantly, in an article published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, she was quoted as saying "I am not convinced that either the position, rewards or achievements have been worth the cost. My personal and married life and child raising have surely suffered from the professional attainments I have achieved."

    Her brother Daniel C. Gerould was the Lucille Lortel Distinguished Professor of Theatre and Comparative Literature at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and Director of Publications of the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center. Her husband was hurricane expert Robert Simpson. Her former husband Willem Van Rensselaer Malkus (1923-2016) was a professor of applied mathematics at MIT.

    Simpson died March 4, 2010, in Washington D.C., surrounded by her family.

    Further reading

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Welcome to the University of Chicago College Report Online . Magazine.uchicago.edu . 2019-03-20.
    2. The Research of Dr. Joanne Simpson: Fifty Years Investigating Hurricanes, Tropical Clouds, and Cloud Systems . Tao . W.-K. . Halverson . J. . LeMone . M. . Alder . R. . Garstang . M. . Houze Jr. . R. . Pielke Sr. . R. . Woodley . W. . Meteorological Monographs . 29 . 51 . 2003 . 1–16 . Cloud Systems, Hurricanes, and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM): A Tribute to Dr. Joanne Simpson . 2003MetMo..29....1T . 10.1175/0065-9401(2003)029<0001:CTRODJ>2.0.CO;2 . 2024-07-19 . 2060/20020011611 . 4897945 . free .
    3. Atlas D and Lemone MA (2011) Joanne Simpson, Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering, 15, 368-375.
    4. Web site: Meet Dr. Joanne Simpson: Chief Scientist Emeritus for Meteorology, Earth Sun Exploration Division . Gutro . Rob . 2005 . nasa.gov . 19 May 2016 .
    5. Riehl . H. . J.S. . Malkus . 1958 . On the heat balance in the equatorial trough zone . Geophysica . 6 . 503–538.
    6. Project Stormfury. ESSA World. Herbert Leib. 4. October 1966.
    7. Joanne Simpson. ESSA World. Herbert Leib. 7. October 1966.
    8. ESSA World. 34–35. 23 Medals Awarded to ESSA Employees. Staff. April 1967.
    9. ESSA Scientists Receive Honors. 33. ESSA World. Staff. April 1968.
    10. Web site: Winners of the IMO Prize . World Meteorological Organization . 8 December 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20151122014635/http://www.wmo.int/pages/about/awards/winners_imo_en.html . 22 November 2015 .