Penny Whetton (5 January 1958 – 11 September 2019) was a

climatologist Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric ...

and an expert in regional climate change projections due to

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

and in the impacts of those changes. Her primary scientific focus was

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Early life

Whetton was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria, on 5 January 1958. She held a Bachelor of Science (Honours), majoring in physics, and an honours year in meteorology, from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. She received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the same university in 1986.

Career

Whetton started her career in the late 1980s as a researcher in the Department of Geography at

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

Clayton, Victoria Clayton is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 19 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District,CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

(later becoming CMAR CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research). Whetton became a research leader in 1999 and a research program leader in 2009. Whetton was a Lead Author on the

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

, Fourth, and Fifth Assessment Reports of the UN

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World Met ...

(IPCC). The Fourth Assessment Report of which was awarded the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

in 2007. Whetton was an invited speaker at various climate change conferences such as the Aspen Global Change Institute, Four Degrees Or More? Australia in a Hot World at the University of Melbourne in 2011, and the Greenhouse 2011: The Science of Climate Change conference. Whetton published numerous scientific journal articles on climate change as well as a contribution to more popular publications.

Personal life

Whetton lived in

Footscray, Victoria Footscray ( ) is an inner-city Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Maribyrnong Loca ...

, with her wife

Janet Rice Janet Elizabeth Rice (born 18 November 1960) is an Australian former politician. She served as a senator for Victoria from 2014 until 2024. She was a co-founder of the Victorian Greens and also served on the Maribyrnong City Council from 2003 ...

, a Greens Senator and former Mayor of Maribyrnong, and their two sons. In 2003, Whetton underwent

gender-affirming surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associated ...

. Whetton died on 11 September 2019 in

Sisters Beach, Tasmania Sisters Beach is a locality and small town located in the Waratah-Wynyard municipality of Tasmania within fifteen minutes of Wynyard, in Tasmania's North West. It is located within the Rocky Cape National Park and is situated on the old horse t ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whetton, Penny Australian climatologists Women climatologists Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead authors 1958 births 2019 deaths University of Melbourne alumni Transgender scientists Australian LGBTQ scientists 21st-century Australian scientists Australian transgender women Transgender academics Scientists from Melbourne Academic staff of Monash University