Subdivision
| • | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | [X] |
| | 41 | Name: | Dr. Warren M. Washington | | | Institution: | National Center for Atmospheric Research | | | Year Elected: | 2003 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1936 | | | | | | |
Warren Washington is a consultant and advisor to a number of government officials and committees on climate system modeling. From 1978 to 1984, he served on the President's National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere. He participated in several panels of the National Research Council and chaired its Advisory Panel for Climate Puzzle, a film produced for the 1986 PBS television series Planet Earth. Washington was a member of the Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board from 1990 to 1993 and has been on the Secretary of Energy's Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee (BERAC) since 1990. Washington was elected President of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in 1994 and was Past President in 1995. Washington received the Charles Franklin Brooks Award from the AMS for outstanding services to the Society in January 2007.
He served on the Modernization Transition Committee and the National Centers for Environment Prediction Advisory Committee of the U.S. National Weather Service. In 1998, he was appointed to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency Science Advisory Board. In May of 1995, he was appointed by President Clinton to a six-year term on the National Science Board, which helps oversee the National Science Foundation and advises the Executive Branch and Congress on science related matters. In March 2000 he was nominated by President Clinton for a second six-year term and was confirmed by the Senate in September 2000. In May 2002, The National Science Board (NSB) elected Washington as its new Chair. He was re-elected to a second term two year term in May of 2004. The National Science Board has dual responsibilities as national science policy adviser to the president and Congress and as governing board for the National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency. Washington's term ended on 10 May 2006.
He is a Fellow of the AMS and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and from 1991 to 1995 he was a member of the AAAS Board of Directors. Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009. He is a Distinguished Alumnus of Pennsylvania State University and Oregon State University, an Alumni Fellow of Pennsylvania State University and Oregon State University, a Fellow of the African Scientific Institute, and a member of the American Geophysical Union, In 1995 Washington received the Le Verrier Medal of the Societe Meteorologique de France. In February 1997, he was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences Portrait Collection of African Americans in Science, Engineering, and Medicine and in May 1997, he was awarded the Department of Energy Biological and Environmental Research Program Exceptional Service Award for Atmospheric Sciences in the development and application of advanced coupled atmospheric-ocean general circulation models to study the impacts of anthropogenic activities on future climate. Also, in 1998 he delivered the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Walter Orr Roberts Distinguished Lecture and a Rice University Computer and Information Technology Institute Distinguished Lecture. In 1999, Washington received the National Weather Service Modernization Award and the American Meteorological Society's Dr. Charles Anderson Award "for pioneering efforts as a mentor and passionate support of individuals, educational programs, and outreach initiatives designed to foster a diverse population of atmospheric scientists." In March 2000, Washington received the Celebrating 20th Century Pioneers in Atmospheric Sciences Award at Howard University and in April 2000, the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Award "in recognition of significant and unique contributions in the field of science." In 2001, he gave the first Ralph W. Bromery lecture at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
In February 2002, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced that it had elected Washington to its membership "for pioneering the development of coupled climate models, their use on parallel supercomputing architectures, and their interpretation." That same year, he was appointed to the Science Advisory Panel of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the National Academies of Science Coordinating Committee on Global Change. On April 26, 2003 Washington was elected to the American Philosophical Society. In August 2004 Washington received the Vollum Award for Distinguished Accomplishment in Science and Technology from Reed College in Portland, Oregon. The Vollum Award winners are selected for the perseverance, fresh approach to problems and solutions, and creative imagination. In June 2006, Washington was the commencement speaker and recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Science at Oregon State University. In 2010, he was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Obama and in 2019 was awarded the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, often referred to as the 'Nobel Prize for the environment'. In honor of his immense achievements a building in Penn State's Innovation Park was named the Warren M. Washington Building. In 2020 the American Meteorological Society created the Warren Washington Medal, to be awarded to individuals recorgnized for highly significant research and distinguished scientific leadership. He received the NCSE Lifetime Achievement Award for Science, Service, and Leadership in 2021. His current research involves the use of the Community Climate System Model (CCSM) for studies of future climate change. He currently serves as a co-chair of the Climate Change Working Group within CCSM. His research is supported by NSF and the DOE. | |
| 42 | Name: | Dr. Gerald J. Wasserburg | | | Institution: | California Institute of Technology | | | Year Elected: | 1982 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1927 | | | Death Date: | June 13, 2016 | | | | | | |
Gerald Joseph Wasserburg was born on March 25, 1927 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the son of Charles Wasserburg and Sarah (Levine) Wasserburg. He attended New Brunswick public schools and served in the U.S. Army as a rifleman with the 23rd Reg., 2nd Division. He was discharged in 1946 and attended Rutgers University for two years and then the University of Chicago, where he obtained a B.Sc. in physics in 1951 and an M.Sc. in geology in 1952. He served on the Juneau Ice Field Research Project under Henri Bader in 1950 and served as a consultant at the Argonne National Laboratory from 1952-55. He conducted graduate research at the University of Chicago under H. C. Urey and M. G. Inghram III and received his Ph.D. in 1954. He also served as a research associate at the university's Institute for Nuclear Studies from 1954-55. Dr. Wasserburg then moved to the California Institute of Technology, where, in the course of five decades of service, he was assistant professor (1955-59), associate professor (1959-62), professor of geology and geophysics (1962-82), John D. MacArthur Professor of Geology and Geophysics (1982-2001), Chairman of the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences (1987-89) and Professor Emeritus, (2002-). Dr. Wasserburg also undertook extensive work for NASA as an advisor (1968-88) and as a member of the Lunar Sample Analysis Planning Team (LSAPT), Manned Spacecraft Center (1968-71), the Lunar Sample Review Board (1987-88), the Facilities Working Group of LSAPT, Johnson Space Center (1972-present); the Science Working Panel for Apollo Missions (1971-73); the Physical Sciences Committee (1971-75); and the Lunar Base Steering Committee (1984). He also chaired the Lunar Sample Analysis Planning Team (1970) and the Committee for Planetary and Lunar Exploration (1975-78). Dr. Wasserburg was a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (president, planetology section, 1976) and the Geological Society of America, a member of the Meteoritical Society (vice president, 1985, president, 1987-88) and the American Chemical Society and a former member of the American Physical Society, the U.S. National Committee for Geochemistry, the Committee for Planetary Exploration Study, the National Research Council, and the Advisory Council of the Petroleum Research Fund. He was also the associate editor of the Journal of Geophysical Research (1967-74) and the editor of Earth and Planetary Science Letters (1968-71) and served on the Space Science Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Wasserburg's research interests included geochemistry, geophysics and astrophysics; the use of the methods of chemical physics to problems in the evolution of the earth and the solar system; and the development of ultra-high precision and high sensitivity mass spectrometric and chemical techniques, and the application of these techniques to determine the time scales of formation of the solar system from the interstellar medium, and the evolution of planets including the earth, moon and meteorites. His major research includes short-lived radioactive nuclei in the early solar system (in particular 26Al and 107Pd); the time scales of nucleosynthesis, chemical evolution of the interstellar medium and the IGM, connections between the interstellar medium and the solar system, and the isotopic records of planetary evolution and chemical differentiation. He had also conducted general study of processes using long- and short-lived natural radioactivities, including the interaction of water and rock and the origin of natural gases, and the application of thermodynamic methods to geologic systems. Dr. Wasserburg's professional honors include membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1967) and the National Academy of Sciences (1971); NASA's Exceptional Scientific Achievement Award (1970); the Arthur L. Day Medal from the Geological Society of America (1970); NASA's Medal for Distinguished Public Service (1972 & 1978); the J. F. Kemp Medal for Distinguished Public Service from Columbia University (1973); Meteoritical Society's Leonard Medal (1975); the V. M. Goldschmidt Medal of the Geochemical Society (1978); the Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship, National Academy of Sciences (1981); a John D. MacArthur Professorship (1982); a Regents Fellowship, Smithsonian Instit.; the J. Lawrence Smith Medal of the National Academy of Sciences (1985); the Geological Society of London's Wollaston Medal (1985); the Senior U.S. Scientist Award, Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung (1985); the Harry H. Hess Medal of the American Geophysical Union (1985); the Crafoord Prize, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1986); the Holmes Medal, European Union of Geosciences (1987); and the Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal (1991). He received the Bowie Medal of the American Geophysical Union in 2008. He was also a fellow of the Geological Society of London (honorary, 1995) and the Geochemical Society and the European Association for Geochemistry (1996). Dr. Wasserburg married Naomi Z. Orlick in 1951. The couple have two children: Charles David and Daniel Morris. Gerald Wasserburg died June 13, 2016, at the age of 89. | |
| 43 | Name: | Dr. George W. Wetherill | | | Institution: | Carnegie Institution of Washington | | | Year Elected: | 1998 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1925 | | | Death Date: | July 19, 2006 | | | | |
| 44 | Name: | Dr. Robert M. White | | | Institution: | National Academy of Engineering & University Corporation for Atmospheric Research & H. John Heinz Center for Science, Economics, and Environment & Washington Advisory Group | | | Year Elected: | 1991 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1923 | | | Death Date: | October 14, 2015 | | | | | | |
Robert M. White advises on environment, energy, climate change, and development and management of organizations and research programs for the Washington Advisory Group, of which he was one of the founders and its first president. He was president of the National Academy of Engineering from 1983-95. Previously, he was president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), chief of the U.S. Weather Bureau, U.S. Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission, U.S. Permanent Representative to the World Meteorological Organization, and the first Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Prior to government service, he founded one of the first corporations devoted to environmental science and services. | |
| 45 | Name: | Dr. M. Gordon Wolman | | | Institution: | Johns Hopkins University | | | Year Elected: | 1999 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1924 | | | Death Date: | February 24, 2010 | | | | | | |
M. Gordon Wolman is the B. Howell Griswold, Jr. Professor of Geography and International Affairs at The Johns Hopkins University. A native of Baltimore, Dr. Wolman was educated at Johns Hopkins (B.A., 1949) and Harvard University (Ph.D., 1953) and has taught at Johns Hopkins since 1962, prior to which he worked for the U.S. Geological Survey. Dr. Wolman's research has focused on human activities and their interactions with the natural processes impacting the earth's surface, specifically, the control of quantity and quality of streamflow and the behavior of rivers. His studies of environmental processes have involved him in work on environmental policies dealing with water, land and energy resources. Dr. Wolman's work has been recognized with many awards including the Cullman Geography Medal of the American Geography Society, the Rachel Carson Award, the Ian Campbell Medal of the American Geological Institute, the Penrose Medal of the Geological Society of America and the Horton Medal of the American Geophysical Union. A past president of the Geological Society of America, Dr. Wolman was elected to the National Academy of Science in 1988 and the National Academy of Engineering in 2002. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1999. | |
| 46 | Name: | Dr. Carl Wunsch | | | Institution: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | | | Year Elected: | 2003 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1941 | | | | | | |
Carl Wunsch received his Ph.D. in geophysics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1967. He joined the faculty that same year as assistant professor of oceanography and has remained at M.I.T. throughout his distinguished career. He is currently the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physical Oceanography. Dr. Wunsch is the author of (with W. Munk, P. Worcester) Ocean Acoustic Tomography (1995), The Ocean Circulation Inverse Problem (1996), and Discrete Inverse and State Estimation Problems (2006). Carl Wunsch has probably worked on as broad a set of problems in physical oceanography as anyone now active, from seagoing to theory to data analysis to instrument development. He brought inverse methods to solving the ancient oceanographic problem of determining the general circulation. Walter Munk and Carl Wunsch invented ocean acoustic tomography. Dr. Wunsch proposed and helped organize the World Ocean Circulation Experiment, the largest and probably most successful of all oceanographic experiments. It included the remarkably successful use of altimetric satellites, which owes something to Wunsch for seeing what they could do. In recent years, Dr. Wunsch has begun trying to use what was learned about the modern ocean to bear on the interpretation of the paleoceanographic record. Dr. Wunsch received the Founder's Prize of the Texas Instruments Foundation in 1975, the A.G. Huntsman Prize from the Bedford Institute of Oceanography and Government of Nova Scotia in 1988, the Maurice Ewing Medal from the American Geophysical Union and U.S. Navy in 1990, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Public Service Medal in 1993, and the Henry Stommel Research Prize from the American Meteorological Society in 2000. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the Royal Society of London. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2003. | |
| 47 | Name: | Dr. Hatten S. Yoder | | | Institution: | Carnegie Institution of Washington | | | Year Elected: | 1979 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1921 | | | Death Date: | August 2, 2003 | | | | |
| 48 | Name: | Dr. Maria T. Zuber | | | Institution: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | | | Year Elected: | 2005 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1958 | | | | | | |
Maria Zuber is E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics and Vice President for Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A world leader in the study of planetary topography and interior structure, she co-led the team that produced the topographic map of Mars that is more accurate than Earth's. Her team also developed the first reliable models of the interiors of the moon and Mars that showed that both bodies cooled rapidly after accretion. Dr. Zuber also served on the Presidential Commission tasked with implementing President Bush's space exploration plan and has authored or co-authored over 140 peer-reviewed publications. In 2002 she was named to Discover magazine's list of the 50 most important women in science. | |
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