Article
BAMOS Sep 2020
9
AMOS member highlight — an interview with Dick Whitaker
Veronica Tamsitt Education and Outreach Committee Chair
Dick Whitaker is an esteemed meteorologist and author and , after a long career with the Bureau of Meteorology , served as Chief Meteorologist with Sky News Weather from 2012 to 2016 . On top of this , Dick has served as a member of the AMOS Education and Outreach ( E & O ) Committee since 2017 . As an acknowledgement of Dick ' s contributions to the E & O Committee and the greater AMOS community , we are highlighting his career and outreach contributions . Since 2011 , Dick has given more than 200 public lectures and presentations on weather and climate to community groups and schools in the greater Sydney area , including many interesting lectures on the history of weather events and forecasting in Australia . I asked Dick to shed some light on his career and outreach activities , and how he is adapting to doing science outreach during the COVID‐19 pandemic .
How did you end up in a career in weather / ocean / climate science ?
When I was 12 I found a downed weather balloon near our home in Melbourne . I then decided to become a meteorologist .
When and how did you first get involved in doing outreach with community / school groups etc .?
Back in the early 1980 ’ s . Began with talks to schools and Rotary . I was working at the Bureau of Meteorology and we received frequent requests for guest speakers from these groups . Many of these were not met .
What do you enjoy about doing education / outreach with the public ?
People are fascinated with meteorology and those who choose to become meteorologists . Outreach is particularly important today and it is vital that we as scientists are seen to be out there and publicly challenge anti‐science in all its forms .
What are some challenges you are facing doing science outreach during the COVID19 pandemic , and do you have any advice for other AMOS members for how they can continue to engage in education / outreach at this time ?
Some seniors – of the type we encounter in Probus and U3A – are uncomfortable with Zoom . If any scheduled talks are cancelled because of COVID it ' s important we assure the organisers that Zoom works and that other branches of their organisations are using it successfully .
Dick Whitaker ( left ) in 1959 after finding a downed weather balloon at his home near Melbourne .
How have you been adapting your outreach efforts to keep reaching your audience with the current challenges of the COVID19 pandemic ?
Zoom and other video‐conferencing software has proven to be a very good alternative . In some ways not as good as ' face‐to‐face ' but it does greatly improve our reach . We can now talk all over Australia and indeed the world if we so desire . This example received today from Terry Hart :
" I thought you should know , that thanks to modern communication technology , you just gave a presentation on the D‐Day forecasts to members of my U3A Nunawading Understanding Weather Class . There were 13 of us in the class , and all enjoyed it very much , and found it very informative , interesting and well‐presented . They wanted me to pass on their thanks to you .
I wonder if it is worth putting on Dropbox or other cloud storage and informing the others in the AMOS History sub‐group ?
Thank you again for letting me play it to them , and for all the work you did in the presentation ."