The Penn State community is remembering the life of Warren M. Washington, an acclaimed climate science pioneer who got his PhD at Penn State in 1964 after attending Oregon State for his lower degrees. He was the second African American in the United States to earn a doctorate in meteorology. He died last month in his Denver, Colorado home. He was 88.
Colorado Public Radio's Ryan Warner spoke with Washington in 2019 about his legacy, including what it was like to advise six presidents on climate change.
RYAN WARNER
You were first tapped to be on a science advisory board by George H.W. Bush. I think this was in 1989, and I wonder what the questions were then about climate change?
WARREN WASHINGTON
That was an interesting situation. I was at a meeting and someone had said, "you, you've been referred to in Newsweek magazine. The chief of staff, well, the president, said that you're wrong."
RYAN WARNER
About what?
WARREN WASHINGTON
Essentially about a changing climate. And so I sent a telegram to him at the White House to John Sununu. And I said, "No, you misinterpreted our research." And then when I got home, I got the telephone call and it was John Sununu. He says, "What do you mean, I was wrong?" Well, I explained it to him, and then he says, "I don't know anything about climate models. Can you send me your book on climate change?" So I sent it to him in an overnight mail. He was very impatient because he called back and said, "It didn't get here today." He took a position that climate change is not true, is not good science or whatever.
RYAN WARNER
You were the first Black president of the American Meteorological Society. It was in 1994. But I think further back to 1964, when you earned your doctorate in meteorology (at Penn State), only the second African-American in the United States to do so. What was it like to see so few faces of color alongside you in the classroom, in laboratories?
WARREN WASHINGTON
Well, I've gotten used to it. As a way to say, in those days, I went to Oregon State (for undergrad). Most of the of the African-Americans on campus were on the football team. I was a physics major. There were some advantages of being Black. I could get into athletic events by just telling them I played tackle, even though I weighed 150 pounds.
RYAN WARNER
It's interesting. You say it's something you've gotten used to, which makes me think that, even today, you don't see as many faces of color as you'd like.
WARREN WASHINGTON
I think we've made significant progress. We had a American Meteorological Society meeting in January, and at the end of the banquet, all of the African Americans had a photograph. I didn't count them all, but I think there's roughly over 100 people in that one photograph.
RYAN WARNER
Now, if you'd have taken that photograph, say, 30 years ago, how many?
WARREN WASHINGTON
It would have been 3 or 4.
RYAN WARNER
You still spend two days a week at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder advising younger scientists. And is there something you notice in particular about the young people, like what's driving them?
WARREN WASHINGTON
Some of them are becoming very aware of climate change, for example, and are asking, "How can I contribute to making climate models and observations more consistent and helping convince the public that we have a serious problem? And I'm going to help solve it."
RYAN WARNER
In other words, they want to build on the work that you helped begin.
WARREN WASHINGTON
I think so.
RYAN WARNER
Thank you so much for being with us.
WARREN WASHINGTON
Thank you.
You can find the full interview here on Colorado Public Radio's website.
