Verner Suomi

As the space age got under way in the wake of Sputnik, one of the earliest areas of science to take advantage of the new observational opportunities was the study of climate and weather. This book tells the story of Finnish-American educator, inventor, and scientist Verner Suomi, whose early work in a depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps camp led to an opportunity to attend teaching college; then during WWII he became a meteorological trainee in the University of Chicago’s Cadet program. He steadily advanced in academia and went on to found the Space Science and Engineering Center at University of Wisconsin–Madison, where many of today’s major observing systems for spacecraft, aircraft, and ground-based platforms are developed.

In the early days of space science, Suomi brought his pragmatic engineering skills to bear on finding ways to use our new access to space to put observational instruments into orbit. In 1959, his work resulted in the launching of Explorer VII, a satellite that measured Earth’s radiation budget, a major step in our ability to understand and forecast weather. Today, NOAA’s GOES system continues his legacy by providing a continuous stream of environmental data from space.

Drawing on personal letters and oral histories, this biography presents a complete picture of the well-rounded man who launched the field of satellite meteorology and in the process changed forever the way we understand and interact with the world around us.