Herbert Seymour Saffir (29 March 1917 – 21 November 2007) (
) was an American civil engineer who co-developed (with meteorologist
Robert Simpson) the
Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale for measuring the intensity of hurricanes. As recently as 2005 Saffir was the principal of Saffir Engineering in
Coral Gables, Florida
Coral Gables is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida and is located southwest of Greater Downtown Miami, Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...
. He also published articles on designing buildings for high wind resistance.
Education and early career
Originally from
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, Saffir graduated from the
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...
in 1940 with a B.S. in
civil engineering
Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...
. Saffir worked for
Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County () is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most-populous count ...
beginning in 1947 as an assistant county engineer, and worked on updating the county
building code
A building code (also building control or building regulations) is a set of rules that specify the standards for construction objects such as buildings and non-building structures. Buildings must conform to the code to obtain planning permis ...
. Since that time, he had traveled extensively to study windstorm damage for clues to improvements and has been a tireless advocate for stricter codes in hurricane-prone areas.
Later career
In 1965 Saffir was working on a study of windstorm damage on low-cost housing commissioned by the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
(UN), Saffir developed a scale to categorize the intensity of hurricanes by their maximum
wind speed
In meteorology, wind speed, or wind flow speed, is a fundamental atmospheric quantity caused by air moving from high to low pressure, usually due to changes in temperature. Wind speed is now commonly measured with an anemometer.
Wind spe ...
. In 1969, his friend Bob Simpson, then-director of the
National Hurricane Center
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is the division of the United States' NOAA/National Weather Service responsible for tracking and predicting tropical weather systems between the IERS Reference Meridian, Prime Meridian and the 140th meridian ...
(NHC), added information on the potential
storm surge
A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...
and range of central
pressures
Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and ev ...
for each category, resulting in what later became known as the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale.
Saffir survived the burning of the cruise ship on 8 September 1934. The ship was en route from Havana to New York when it caught fire and burned, killing a total of 137 passengers and crew members.
On 21 November 2007 Herbert Saffir died of a heart attack at South Miami Hospital in
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
according to his son, Richard Saffir. He was 90 years old.
Herbert Saffir, 90; Hurricane Scale Creator
/ref>
See also
* Hurricane engineering
* Structural engineering
Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and joints' that create the form and shape of human-made Structure#Load-bearing, structures. Structural engineers also ...
* Wind engineering
Wind engineering is a subset of mechanical engineering, structural engineering, meteorology, and applied physics that analyzes the effects of wind in the natural and the built environment and studies the possible damage, inconvenience or benefit ...
References
External links
Obituary in ''The Times'', 29 November 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saffir, Herbert
1917 births
2007 deaths
Georgia Tech alumni
Scientists from Brooklyn
American civil engineers
Engineers from New York City
20th-century American engineers