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Warren Washington

Overview

Warren Morton Washington (August 28, 1936 – October 18, 2024) was an American atmospheric scientist, the second African American to earn a doctorate in meteorology, and a pioneer in climate computer modeling. He spent over six decades at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, where he co-developed one of the first global general circulation models (GCMs) of the atmosphere. He served as a scientific adviser to six U.S. presidents (Carter through Obama), received the National Medal of Science in 2010, and his work contributed to the IPCC assessment that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Early Life

  • Born: August 28, 1936, in Portland, Oregon
  • Father: Edwin Washington Jr., who had hoped to become a schoolteacher, but in the 1920s Portland would not hire African Americans to teach in public schools. Instead, he supported Warren and his four brothers by working as a Pullman porter on the Union Pacific Railroad, waiting tables in Pullman cars.
  • Mother: A nurse
  • Washington’s interest in science developed early:
    • At Jefferson High School in Portland, he cultivated a facility for mathematics and a love of scientific research
    • A chemistry teacher inspired him by refusing to directly answer his question about why egg yolks were yellow, instead encouraging Washington to study chicken diets and learn about the chemistry of sulfur compounds
    • Despite his aptitude for science, his high school counselor advised him to attend a business school rather than college
    • Washington’s dream was to be a scientist; he ignored the counselor’s advice

Education

  • B.S. in Physics, Oregon State University (OSU), 1958
  • M.S. in General Science (with focus on meteorology), Oregon State University, 1960
  • Ph.D. in Meteorology, Pennsylvania State University, 1964
    • Became the second African American in the United States to earn a doctorate in meteorology
    • The first was Charles E. Anderson (1919–1994), a former Tuskegee Airman, whom Washington credits as his role model
    • Washington arrived at Penn State in 1960 to study under meteorology faculty

Career at NCAR

Joining NCAR (1963)

  • Joined NCAR in 1963 as a research scientist, even before completing his doctorate
  • NCAR had been founded only three years earlier (1960) in Boulder, Colorado
  • Advanced to senior scientist in 1975
  • Remained at NCAR for over 60 years until his death in 2024

The First NCAR GCM (1964–1967)

  • In 1964, Washington and Akira Kasahara initiated NCAR’s general circulation model (GCM) effort
  • Found an ally in Philip Thompson, NCAR’s associate director, who helped arrange computing time on the center’s first computer, a Control Data Corporation 3600
  • Published the landmark paper: Kasahara, A., and W. M. Washington, 1967: “NCAR Global General Circulation Model of the Atmosphere,” Monthly Weather Review, 95, 389–402
  • A distinguishing feature of their model: used height rather than pressure as the vertical coordinate
  • The Kasahara-Washington model was among the earliest GCMs developed anywhere, alongside models at GFDL (Smagorinsky/Manabe) and UCLA (Mintz/Arakawa)

Coupling the Ocean and Atmosphere

  • As his research developed, Washington worked to incorporate the oceans and sea ice into climate models
  • This work led to one of the first coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation models
  • In May 1997, Washington received the Department of Energy Biological and Environmental Research Program Exceptional Service Award for development of coupled atmospheric-ocean GCMs to study anthropogenic impacts on future climate

Community Climate Model and CCSM

  • In the late 1970s, NCAR gradually abandoned the Kasahara-Washington model
  • In its place, NCAR developed the Community Climate Model (CCM), intended to serve not only NCAR modelers but the large constituency of affiliated universities associated with UCAR
  • CCM0 was publicly released in 1982, CCM1 in 1987, CCM2 in 1992
  • The CCM evolved into the Community Climate System Model (CCSM) and then the Community Earth System Model (CESM)
  • Washington’s later research used the Parallel Climate Model (PCM) and CESM

Connection to Supercomputing

  • Washington was at NCAR when each successive supercomputer arrived:
    • CDC 3600 (early 1960s) – the machine on which the first NCAR GCM ran
    • CDC 6600 (late December 1965)
    • CDC 7600 (May 1971)
    • Cray-1 serial #3 (July 1977) – the machine that enabled “significant advances in the modeling of climate and severe storms”
    • Cray X-MP, Cray Y-MP, and successors through the 1990s
  • In February 2009, elected to the National Academy of Engineering specifically “for pioneering the development of coupled climate models, their use on parallel supercomputing architectures, and their interpretation”
  • Led the team that created the DOE-NCAR Parallel Climate Model – one of the world’s first advanced models designed for parallel supercomputers

Scientific Contributions

Key Publications

  1. Kasahara and Washington (1967): “NCAR Global General Circulation Model of the Atmosphere” – Monthly Weather Review
  2. “An Introduction to Three-Dimensional Climate Modeling” – considered essential reference material in climate science (textbook, multiple editions)

IPCC Contribution

  • Washington’s research was part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) work
  • The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore
  • Washington’s climate models were among those used in IPCC assessments to project future warming scenarios

Presidential Advising

  • Served as scientific adviser to six U.S. presidential administrations: Carter, Reagan, Bush (H.W.), Clinton, Bush (W.), and Obama
  • Published autobiography: “Odyssey in Climate Modeling, Global Warming, and Advising Five Presidents” (with Mary C. Washington; 3rd edition exists as of 2024)

Awards and Honors

Year Award
1997 DOE Biological and Environmental Research Program Exceptional Service Award
1999 Dr. Charles Anderson Award from AMS – for pioneering mentorship efforts and diversity in atmospheric sciences
2000 Appointed to Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee
2002 Elected to National Academy of Engineering
2007 Research included in IPCC assessment sharing Nobel Peace Prize
2009 National Medal of Science from President Obama – “for his development and use of global climate models to understand climate and explain the role of human activities and natural processes in the Earth’s climate system and for his work to support a diverse science and engineering workforce”
2019 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement
  • First African American to serve as president of the American Meteorological Society (AMS)
  • Served on the National Science Board (1994–2006); chaired it 2002–2006
  • Appointed to the NOAA Science Advisory Board (1998)
  • Elected to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Board of Trustees (1999)
  • Multiple honorary doctorates
  • Penn State renamed a building in his honor: the Warren M. Washington Building

Role as a Pioneer for Diversity in Science

  • The second African American to earn a doctorate in meteorology (1964), after Charles E. Anderson
  • His high school counselor’s advice to attend business school rather than college became a recurring story illustrating barriers faced by African Americans in science
  • Over his career, served as a role model and mentor for generations of young researchers from diverse backgrounds
  • Won the AMS’s Dr. Charles Anderson Award (1999) for fostering diversity in atmospheric sciences
  • His autobiography explicitly addresses the struggle for civil rights alongside his scientific career

Personal Life

  • First marriage: LaRae Herring – three children
  • Second marriage: Joan Ann Hunt (died 1987)
  • Third marriage: Mary Curtis Washington (1993)
  • Ten grandchildren, including professional soccer player Reggie Cannon

Death

  • Died: October 18, 2024, at his home in Denver, Colorado, at age 88
  • NCAR/UCAR issued a formal tribute mourning the loss of their Distinguished Scholar

Career Timeline

Year Event
1936 Born in Portland, Oregon
1958 B.S. in Physics, Oregon State University
1960 M.S. in General Science, Oregon State University; enters Penn State for meteorology PhD
1963 Joins NCAR as research scientist
1964 Ph.D. in Meteorology, Penn State; begins GCM development with Kasahara
1967 Kasahara-Washington GCM paper published in Monthly Weather Review
1975 Promoted to senior scientist at NCAR
1977 NCAR receives Cray-1 serial #3 – enabling “significant advances in modeling of climate and severe storms”
1982 NCAR Community Climate Model (CCM0) publicly released
1994 Appointed to National Science Board
1997 DOE Exceptional Service Award for coupled ocean-atmosphere GCM work
1999 AMS Dr. Charles Anderson Award
2002 Elected to National Academy of Engineering; chairs National Science Board
2007 Research part of IPCC Nobel Peace Prize assessment
2009 National Medal of Science from President Obama
2019 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement
2024 Died October 18, Denver, Colorado, age 88

NWP Blog Relevance

Warren Washington connects multiple threads in the NWP history series:

  • NCAR and the Cray-1: He was at NCAR when the Cray-1 arrived and used successive supercomputers throughout his career
  • Climate modeling lineage: His GCM work at NCAR parallels Smagorinsky/Manabe’s at GFDL – both institutions trace their computing lineage to the von Neumann IAS project
  • Diversity in science: A powerful narrative thread – the son of a Pullman porter whose high school counselor told him to attend business school became one of the most influential climate scientists in history
  • Presidential advising: His six-president advisory role shows the policy impact of NWP/climate modeling
  • Connection to Akio Arakawa: Both developed GCMs in the 1960s (Arakawa at UCLA, Washington at NCAR); their approaches differed but both were essential to the field

Sources

  • [A Short Biography of Warren M. Washington UCAR Archives](https://www.archives.ucar.edu/exhibits/washington/bio) – Accessed: 2026-04-16
  • Warren M. Washington - Wikipedia – Accessed: 2026-04-16
  • [Warren Morton Washington (1936–2024) Oregon Encyclopedia](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/washington-warren/) – Accessed: 2026-04-16
  • [Warren M. Washington (1936- ) BlackPast.org](https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/warren-m-washington-1936/) – Accessed: 2026-04-16
  • [NSF NCAR and UCAR mourn the passing of Distinguished Scholar Warren Washington NCAR News](https://news.ucar.edu/132989/nsf-ncar-and-ucar-mourn-passing-distinguished-scholar-warren-washington) – Accessed: 2026-04-16
  • [Dr. Warren M. Washington obituary Legacy.com](https://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/dr-warren-m-washington-1936-2024-scholar-and-climate-scientist/) – Accessed: 2026-04-16
  • [Atmosphere in a box: NCAR’s first GCM NCAR News](https://news.ucar.edu/3256/atmosphere-box-ncars-first-gcm) – Accessed: 2026-04-16
  • [Interview with Warren Washington, Pioneer of Climate Modeling AIP Observer](https://students.aip.org/observer/interview-with-warren-washington-a-pioneer-of-climate-modeling) – Accessed: 2026-04-16
  • [Climate science symposium to honor African-American meteorology pioneer Penn State](https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/climate-science-symposium-honor-african-american-meteorology-pioneer) – Accessed: 2026-04-16
  • [Penn State mourns loss of Warren M. Washington Penn State](https://www.psu.edu/news/earth-and-mineral-sciences/story/penn-state-mourns-loss-climate-science-pioneer-warren-m-washington) – Accessed: 2026-04-16
  • [Honoring a climate model pioneer ASCR Discovery](https://ascr-discovery.org/2010/11/honoring-a-climate-model-pioneer/) – Accessed: 2026-04-16
  • [Kasahara and Washington, 1967 Monthly Weather Review](https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/mwre/95/7/1520-0493_1967_095_0389_nggcmo_2_3_co_2.xml) – Accessed: 2026-04-16