Hales, J. Vern, 1917-1997

J. Vern Hales was born in Provo, Utah, on July 21, 1917. He died at his residence in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 29, 1997.

Hales began his education at Brigham Young University in his home state, receiving a B.S. in physics and mathematics in 1938. He continued his graduate studies at the California Institute of Technology, receiving an M.S. in meteorology in 1941, and in 1952 he received a Ph.D. in meteorology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Between his undergraduate and graduate degrees, Hales worked in the government sector as a weather observer for the U.S. Weather Bureau. After receiving his M.S., he entered the private sector for a short time, working as a meteorologist for Pan-American-Grace Airways, Inc. He then joined the war effort, enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps, where he served as a weather officer from 1942 to 1946. He was a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve from 1946 until his death.

Hales became a professor of meteorology at the University of Utah in 1946. He established the Meteorology Department at that time and was the first department head, a position he held until 1963. He founded Intermountain Weather, Inc., in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1954. He was president of the company until 1966, when he left Salt Lake City and moved to Pennsylvania. He worked several years for the General Electric Missile and Space Division in Pennsylvania, and he founded Hales and Company while working there.

A member of the AMS, Sigma XI, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Hales served as chairman of the Committee of the Sciences and the Arts of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Vern was an industrious person, a devoted husband, a father of a large family, a dedicated religious leader in his church, and a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He was strict with himself in meeting deadlines. He had a keen and unusual abiliby to follow details of research projects of graduate students and ongoing research in the consulting firm. He had a remarkable ability for directing the research projects and preparing timely reports of technical research efforts. He seemed to be able to simulate in his mind results of lengthy research efforts and direct timely publication of the results. Numerous theses, technical reports, and published papers in scientific journals have resulted from his knowledge and direction.

Hales directed research in many varied aspects of meteorology. He performed early pioneering work in weather modification, particularly the practical operation of fog seeding to disperse supercooled fog at airports. He directed studies of infrared radiative transfer processes in the atmosphere. These studies assisted with improved understanding of minimum temperature forecasts; fog formation caused by radiative cooling; the influence of clouds, haze layers, and greenhouse gases on infrared radiative transfer processes; and design of infrared sensors on satellite platforms.

Biographical information taken from: Henderson, Donald. J. Vern Hales 1917-1997 Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society; Jan. 1998, Vol. 79 Issue 1, p. 112.

From the guide to the J. Vern Hales professional files, 1943-1976, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)