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Joanne Simpson

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(Redirected from Joanne Malkus) American meteorologist (1923–2010)
Joanne Simpson
Simpson in the 1970s
BornJoanne Gerould
(1923-03-23)March 23, 1923
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedMarch 4, 2010(2010-03-04) (aged 86)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Known forTropical meteorology and tropical cyclone research
Spouses
Victor P. Starr ​ ​(m. 1944; div. 1947)​
Willem Malkus ​ ​(m. 1948; div. 1964)​
Robert Simpson ​(m. 1965)​
Children3
AwardsCarl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal
Scientific career
FieldsMeteorology
Thesis Certain Features of Undisturbed and Disturbed Weather in the Trade-Wind Region  (1949)
Doctoral advisorHerbert Riehl

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. Simpson received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Chicago, and did post-doctoral work at Dartmouth College. She 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

Simpson's 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

Simpson bent over reams of images of clouds that she filmed during long flights between islands in the tropical Pacific.

In 1958, Simpson (then 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. The pair realized this must be due to moist convection that started near the surface that continued rising relatively adiabatically to near 50,000 feet (15,000 m). They called these clouds "undiluted chimneys" but they would later be commonly referred to as hot towers. 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, Simpson became the director of Project Stormfury while chief of the Experimental Meteorology Branch of the Environment Satellite Services Administration's Institute for Atmospheric Sciences. She eventually became NASA's lead weather researcher and authored or co-authored over 190 articles.

Honors and awards

Personal

Simpson was married three times. In 1944, she married meteorologist Victor Starr; the two divorced in 1947. In 1948, she married her second husband, physics instructor Willem Van Rensselaer Malkus, who would go on to be a professor of applied mathematics at MIT. She and Malkus divorced in 1964 and, in January 1965, she married meteorologist Robert Simpson, whom she first met in 1943 and with whom she already had a professional relationship.

Simpson 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."

Headstone of Joanne and Robert Simpson in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

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.

Simpson died March 4, 2010, in Washington D.C., at the age of 86 from multiple organ failure. She is buried, along with her husband Robert, at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

References

  1. "Welcome to the University of Chicago College Report Online". Magazine.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  2. Tao, W.-K.; Halverson, J.; LeMone, M.; Alder, R.; Garstang, M.; Houze Jr., R.; Pielke Sr., R.; Woodley, W. (2003). "The Research of Dr. Joanne Simpson: Fifty Years Investigating Hurricanes, Tropical Clouds, and Cloud Systems" (PDF). Meteorological Monographs. Cloud Systems, Hurricanes, and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM): A Tribute to Dr. Joanne Simpson. 29 (51): 1–16. Bibcode:2003MetMo..29....1T. doi:10.1175/0065-9401(2003)029<0001:CTRODJ>2.0.CO;2 (inactive 1 November 2024). hdl:2060/20020011611. S2CID 4897945.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  3. Atlas D and Lemone MA (2011) Joanne Simpson, Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering, 15, 368-375.
  4. Gutro, Rob (2005). "Meet Dr. Joanne Simpson: Chief Scientist Emeritus for Meteorology, Earth Sun Exploration Division". nasa.gov. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  5. ^ Herbert Leib (October 1966). "Joanne Simpson" (PDF). ESSA World: 7.
  6. Riehl, H.; Malkus, J.S. (1958). "On the heat balance in the equatorial trough zone". Geophysica. 6: 503–538.
  7. Herbert Leib (October 1966). "Project Stormfury" (PDF). ESSA World: 4.
  8. Staff (April 1967). "23 Medals Awarded to ESSA Employees". ESSA World: 34–35.
  9. Staff (April 1968). "ESSA Scientists Receive Honors" (PDF). ESSA World: 33.
  10. "certification program for consulting meteorologists". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 66 (8): 1010–1016. 1985-08-01. doi:10.1175/1520-0477-66.8.1010. ISSN 0003-0007.
  11. "announcements". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 56 (6): 592–618. 1975-06-01. doi:10.1175/1520-0477-56.6.592. ISSN 0003-0007.
  12. "Past Presidents Directory". American Meteorological Society. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
  13. "Remarks by Joanne Simpson, Incoming President, at the Annual Business Meeting of the American Meteorological Society, 29 January 1989". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 70 (6): 668–670. 1989-06-01. doi:10.1175/1520-0477-70.6.668. ISSN 0003-0007.
  14. "Winners of the IMO Prize". World Meteorological Organization. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  15. Fleming, James Rodger (2020). First woman: Joanne Simpson and the tropical atmosphere. New York: Oxford university press. ISBN 978-0-19-886273-4.
  16. Sullivan, Patricia (2010-03-08). "World-renowned atmospheric scientist was first female meteorologist to earn doctorate". The Washington Post. pp. B4. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
  17. "Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington DC - Surnames Sea-Sku". www.interment.net. Retrieved 2025-01-03.
  18. "Locate a Loved One". Rock Creek Cemetery. Retrieved 2025-01-03.

Further reading

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