Gerald R. North (June 28, 1938 – ) is Distinguished Professor and Holder of the Harold J. Haynes Endowed Chair in Geosciences at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

, and previous Head of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. His interests include climate change using simplified climate models. North was born in

Sweetwater, Tennessee Sweetwater is a city in Monroe County, Tennessee, Monroe and McMinn County, Tennessee, McMinn Counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the most populous city in Monroe County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population ...

to Sanford and Marjorie Hill North. He grew up in nearby

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

and received his Bachelor's Degree in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

from the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

. In 1966, he earned a Ph.D. in Physics from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

. After a two year post-doc at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, he obtained a tenure track position at the

University of Missouri-St. Louis A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

leading to full professor. He spent 1974–75 as a Senior Visiting Scientist at the

National Center for Atmospheric Research The US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR ) is a US federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and funded by the National Science Foundat ...

. He moved to

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C., in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959, as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC ...

in 1978 where he was the initial proposer and first Study Scientist for the

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) was a joint space mission between NASA and JAXA designed to monitor and study tropical rainfall. The term refers to both the mission itself and the satellite that the mission used to collect data. ...

. He joined Texas A&M University in 1986. In 2005 to 2006 he chaired a

United States National Research Council The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), also known as the National Academies, is a congressionally chartered organization that serves as the collective scientific national academy of the United States. The name i ...

committee investigating surface temperature reconstructions for the last 2,000 years, set up at the request of Representative

Sherwood Boehlert Sherwood Louis Boehlert (September 28, 1936September 20, 2021) was an American politician from New York. He represented a large swath of central New York in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 until 2007. Boehlert, a Republica ...

, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science. Their report, published in July 2006, is known as the North Report. He is the 2008 recipient of the Jule Charney Award of the

American Meteorological Society The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is a scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic sciences. Its mission is to advance the atmosph ...

. He lives in

Kyle, Texas Kyle is a city in Hays County, Texas, United States. Its population grew from 28,016 in 2010 to 45,697 in 2020, making it one of Texas' fastest-growing cities. It is part of the Greater Austin area. History As part of railroad expansion alo ...

with his wife Laura. His Memoir ''The Rise of Climate Science'' was released in Spring 2021

External links

Department of Atmospheric Sciences, College of Geosciences TAMU
1938 births Living people People from Sweetwater, Tennessee American climatologists University of Pennsylvania staff University of Tennessee alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni University of Missouri–St. Louis people Texas A&M University faculty National Center for Atmospheric Research faculty {{climate-bio-stub