He invented a computer model that made it possible to measure human-induced climate change. He also helped break a color barrier in science. Warren M.

Warren Washington, Groundbreaking Climate Scientist, Dies at 88

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2024-11-06 19:30:05

He invented a computer model that made it possible to measure human-induced climate change. He also helped break a color barrier in science.

Warren M. Washington, a scientist who helped invent one of the first computer models of the earth’s atmosphere, paving the way to accurately measure human-induced climate change, died on Oct. 18 at his home in Denver. He was 88.

His death was confirmed by a spokesman for the National Center for Atmospheric Research, where Dr. Washington was a senior scientist and had worked for more than 50 years.

The son of a Pullman-car porter in Portland, Ore., he became the second Black student in the United States to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology.

He was also one of the country’s first and most influential climate scientists, advising five presidents on climate change and serving as a mentor to generations of researchers who followed him.

In 1964 — the same year Dr. Washington received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University — he and Akira Kasahara, a colleague at the Center for Atmospheric Research, created a computer model replicating aspects of the earth’s atmosphere and climate. Although it was built on a rudimentary early computer, it could be used to demonstrate the effects of human-induced changes on the planet.

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