Robert M. White, a meteorologist who revolutionized the nation's weather forecasting system, passed away on October 13th, 2015.  He was 92.

Dr. White was the founding administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and warned of climate change long before it was widely recognized.  

During his time leading the federal government's weather agencies in the 1960s and 1970s, he helped construct a sophisticated satellite and computer network that fundamentally changed how the atmosphere is observed.  This lead to major improvements in early warnings for floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes.  

President Kennedy appointed Dr. White director of the U.S. Weather Bureau in 1963.  In 1965, President Johnson merged the U.S. Weather Bureau with the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory.  This group was renamed the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) and Dr. White was appointed director.  This merger allowed Dr. White to add weather observations from ships, aircraft, satellites and radar to the weather forecast process. 

In 1970, ESSA was expanded to include atmospheric and hydrology and gave birth to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  President Nixon appointed Dr. White as NOAA's first administrator.  As NOAA's administrator, he championed marine conservation and helped establish some of the first government marine sanctuaries.  

By using computers to analyze information from satellites and atmosphere information such as wind speed, humidity, and air pressure, Dr. White helped create some of the country's first weather computer models.  This allowed weather forecasts to became more precise.

"When people look at the weather and decide to bring an umbrella with them, they don't think about where the forecast comes from," D. James Baker, a meteorologist who was the administrator for NOAA from 1993 to 2001, said in a New York Times interview.  "It comes from these big billion-dollar satellites and hundred-million dollar computers, and that is all a part of NOAA, which Bob White established." "Because of the foresight and ability of Bob White," Dr. Baker said, "we are right at the forefront of understanding the complex atmosphere, weather, and climate, and without him, we'd be much further behind."

As the chairman of the First World Climate Conference in 1979, Dr. White gave a keynote speech that projected the possible consequences of human-induced warming of the planet.  The speech, according to Dr. Baker, was a turning point in the effort to promote global awareness of climate change. 

Here is a link to the NOAA In Memorium YouTube Video on Dr. White.

Robert M. White in 1963 as Chief of the U.S. Weather Bureau
 

National Weather Service - Milwaukee/Sullivan