Hurricane Pioneer

In 1951, Robert (Bob) Simpson rode a plane directly into the wall of a hurricane—just one of his many pioneering explorations. Bob and his wife Joanne are meteorological icons, particularly with respect to tropical meteorology: Bob was the first director of the National Hurricane Research Project in the late 1950s, and a director of the National Hurricane Center (1968–1973). Along with Herbert Saffir, Bob was the creator of the widely used Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale; today, the public knows well his Categories 1–5. He is an Honorary Member of the American Meteorological Society, the highest honor that is bestowed by the Society.

Bob’s memoirs cover his adventurous early life in Texas, including his family’s encounter with the Corpus Christi hurricane of 1919, just one experience that proved formative. Later, his training and work (including being one of the first scientists to fly directly into the eye of a hurricane) took him far and wide to domestic and international centers of meteorological study right at the time the science was developing. In his career, Bob intersected with other paragons who would become fellow pioneers in a host of specialties and roles in the weather enterprise at large. He is truly one of the greats.