Joanne Simpson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joanne Simpson
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Simpson bent over reams of images of clouds that she filmed during long flights between islands in the tropical Pacific.
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| Born |
Joanne Gerould
March 23, 1923 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
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| Died | March 4, 2010 (aged 86) Washington, D.C., U.S.
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| Known for | Tropical meteorology and tropical cyclone research |
| Spouse(s) |
Victor P. Starr
(m. 1944)Willem Malkus
(m. 1948) |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Meteorology |
| Thesis | Certain Features of Undisturbed and Disturbed Weather in the Trade-Wind Region (1949) |
| Doctoral advisor | Herbert Riehl |
Joanne Simpson (born Joanne Gerould) was a very important American scientist. She was the first woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. (a high-level university degree) in meteorology. Meteorology is the study of Earth's atmosphere and weather. She received her degree in 1949 from the University of Chicago.
Joanne Simpson spent her career studying the atmosphere. She taught at many universities and worked for the U.S. government. She made big contributions to understanding weather, especially in tropical areas. She studied hot towers, hurricanes, and how the ocean and air interact. She also helped create the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite.
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Her Career in Science
Joanne Simpson taught and did research at many famous places. These included the University of Chicago and New York University. She also worked at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Later, she joined government science agencies. These included the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA is the U.S. space agency.
Discoveries About Weather
In 1958, Joanne Simpson worked with another scientist, Herbert Riehl. They studied something called "moist static energy" in the atmosphere. This energy helps explain how air moves and forms clouds.
They found something surprising: above a certain height, this energy actually increased. This had never been seen or explained before. They realized it was because of powerful, rising columns of moist air. These columns started near the ground and rose very high.
They called these clouds "undiluted chimneys." Today, we know them as hot towers. Hot towers are tall, powerful thunderstorms in tropical regions. They help move heat and moisture from the Earth's surface high into the atmosphere. Simpson and Riehl estimated that just a few thousand of these towers each day could explain the energy patterns they observed.
By 1966, Simpson became the director of Project Stormfury. This project tried to weaken hurricanes by seeding them with chemicals. She later became NASA's main weather researcher. She wrote or co-wrote over 190 scientific papers.
Awards and Honors
Joanne Simpson received many awards for her amazing work:
- 1954: She received the Guggenheim Fellowship. This is a special award for talented people in arts and sciences.
- 1962: She won the Melsinger Award from the American Meteorological Society (AMS).
- 1963: The Los Angeles Times newspaper named her "Woman of the Year" in Science.
- 1967: She won a Department of Commerce Silver Medal. This was for her work in experimental meteorology.
- 1968: She was chosen as a fellow of the AMS. This means she was recognized as a top expert in her field.
- 1983: She received the AMS's Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal. This is the highest honor given by the AMS. It was for her "outstanding contributions to man's understanding of the structure of the atmosphere."
- 2002: She was given the important International Meteorological Organization Prize. This award comes from the World Meteorological Organization.
Her Life and Family
Joanne Simpson once said that winning the Rossby Medal made her feel like "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." This shows how much that recognition meant to her.
However, she also shared that her career came with personal costs. She said, "My personal and married life and child raising have surely suffered from the professional attainments I have achieved." This reminds us that even great achievements can have challenges.
Her brother, Daniel C. Gerould, was a professor of theater. Her husband, Robert Simpson, was also a famous hurricane expert. Another former husband, Willem Van Rensselaer Malkus, was a professor at MIT.
Joanne Simpson passed away on March 4, 2010, in Washington D.C. She was surrounded by her family.
See also
In Spanish: Joanne Simpson para niños
