A view into the history of the Department of Atmospheric Science

Department Ranked Among Top in the United States

History: In 1982, on the occasion of the Department’s 20th Anniversary celebration, a number of leaders in Atmospheric Science in the US provided unsolicited statements and remarks congratulating the Department of Atmospheric Science for ranking among the top three in the US. They were Dr. Earl Droessler, Chief Scientist of NOAA; Dr. Eugene Bierly, Director of the NSF Atmospheric Science Division; Professor Verner Suomi from Wisconsin (an AMS Rossby Award winner); Dr. Richard Hallgren, Director of NOAA’s National Weather Service; and others. (Droessler, Bierly and Suomi all served as Presidents of the AMS and Hallgren later became its Executive Secretary. Dr. Droessler had earlier been one of the NOAA co-founders of CIRA with Professor Vonder Haar and the faculty of 1979-80). In addition, at the 20th Anniversary Dinner, Professor Peter Hobbs of the University of Washington presented Vonder Haar and the faculty with a surprise gift. It was a red and white t-shirt styled after a popular AVIS rental car commercial of the time. It was labeled in bold letters “Number 2”. This ascribed 2nd position to our Department, following, of course, the No. 1 ranked Atmospheric Science Department at Washington, widely recognized as one of the most outstanding in our field.

Check out the full Atmospheric Science Timeline here