S. Ichtiaque Rasool (1933–2016) was chief scientist for global change at the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the United States's civil space program, aeronautics research and space research. Established in 1958, it su ...

(NASA). His main research interests were in the fields of physics of

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

s and

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

of planets and Earth. He was a senior research scientist at NASA's

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...

and visiting professor at the Complex Systems Research Center of the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

. From 1990 to 1997 he directed the

International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) was a research programme that ran from 1987 to 2015 dedicated to studying the phenomenon of global change. Its primary focus was coordinating "international research on global-scale and regi ...

-Data and Information System (IGBP-DIS) program.

Education and early work

Rasool was born in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

, India. He earned his doctorate in atmospheric sciences in 1956 from the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

. He moved to the U.S. in 1961 at the invitation of

Robert Jastrow Robert Jastrow (September 7, 1925 – February 8, 2008) was an American astronomer and planetary physicist. He was a NASA scientist, populist author and futurist. Education Jastrow attended Townsend Harris High School. He also attended the ...

of the

Goddard Institute for Space Studies The Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) is a laboratory in the Earth Sciences Division of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center affiliated with the Columbia University Earth Institute. The institute is located at Columbia University in Ne ...

(GISS) and began a long career with the

(NASA).

Career

After joining GISS he collaborated on several planetary atmosphere studies, including

Mariner A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor' ...

radio occultation measurements of the atmospheres/ionospheres of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

and

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

. He became editor of the ''

Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences The ''Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences'' (until 1962 titled ''Journal of Meteorology'') is a scientific journal published by the American Meteorological Society. It covers research related to the physics, dynamics, and chemistry of the atmosphe ...

'' and actively solicited papers on planetary atmospheres. In 1968 he spent a sabbatical year in Paris, during which he gave lectures and helped form a planetology group at the

Paris Observatory The Paris Observatory (, ), a research institution of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centres in the world. Its historic building is on the Left Ban ...

. He wrote one of the early papers on the

runaway greenhouse effect A runaway greenhouse effect will occur when a planet's atmosphere contains greenhouse gas in an amount sufficient to block thermal radiation from leaving the planet, preventing the planet from cooling and from having liquid water on its surface. ...

on Venus. With Stephen Schneider he was involved in an early controversy over the effects of CO and atmospheric

aerosol An aerosol is a suspension (chemistry), suspension of fine solid particles or liquid Drop (liquid), droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be generated from natural or Human impact on the environment, human causes. The term ''aerosol'' co ...

s on

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 ...

. He became a U.S. citizen in 1970, and in 1971 he moved to

NASA Headquarters The Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building at 300 E Street SW in Washington, D.C. houses NASA leadership who provide overall guidance and direction to the US government executive branch agency NASA, under the leadership of the NASA administ ...

as the deputy director for Planetary Programs. At this time NASA's "Grand Tour" mission was under consideration. This was cancelled but then resurrected as

Voyager 1 ''Voyager 1'' is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and the interstellar medium, interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. It was launched 16 days afte ...

and

Voyager 2 ''Voyager 2'' is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, as a part of the Voyager program. It was launched on a trajectory towards the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) and enabled further encounters with the ice giants (Uranus and ...

. During this period the launches and landings of the

Viking 1 ''Viking 1'' was the first of two spacecraft, along with '' Viking 2'', each consisting of an orbiter and a lander, sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program. The lander touched down on Mars on July 20, 1976, the first successful Mars lan ...

and

Viking 2 The ''Viking 2'' mission was part of the American Viking program to Mars, and consisted of an orbiter and a lander essentially identical to that of the '' Viking 1'' mission. ''Viking 2'' was operational on Mars for sols ( days; '). The ''V ...

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...

took place. Later, Rasool served as Noel Hinners' deputy in the Office of Space Science before moving to work on NASA's

earth science Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

programs. Throughout his career Rasool was a strong advocate for international cooperation in Earth and planetary sciences. As Chief Scientist in the

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 ...

Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications, he was responsible for assuring the scientific integrity of NASA's programs in earth observations, including giving testimony to Congress. He also served as chief scientist for

global change Global change in broad sense refers to planetary-scale changes in the Earth system. It is most commonly used to encompass the variety of changes connected to the rapid increase in human activities which started around mid-20th century, i.e., the G ...

programs in the Office of Space Science and Applications. Rasool was a co-founder of the International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (chairman from 1981 to 1992), and was one of the founders of the

(IGBP). He was instrumental in establishing the NASA Pathfinder program for global data sets and became director of the IGBP Data and Information System in 1990. He was editor of the ''

'' and co-editor of ''

Space Science Reviews ''Space Science Reviews'' is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal of space science Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dime ...

''.

Honors

Rasool was the recipient of the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1974, the COSPAR William Nordberg Medal in 1988, and the William T. Pecora Award in 2002.

Selected publications

* Rasool, S. I. (1961): Structure of planetary atmospheres. * Rasool, S. I. and C. De Bergh (1970): The runaway greenhouse and the accumulation of CO in the Venus atmosphere. * Rasool, S. I. and S. H. Schneider (1971): Atmospheric carbon dioxide and aerosols: Effects of large increases on global climate. * Rasool, S. I. (1999): Scientific responsibility in global climate change research.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rasool, S._Ichtiaque 1933 births 2016 deaths Indian scientists NASA people University of Paris alumni Scientists from Lucknow