Seymour Lester Hess (October 27, 1920 – January 15, 1982) was an American meteorologist and planetary scientist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. After earning a bachelor's degree in chemistry from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

, in 1943 he entered the University of Chicago as an Army Air Cadet. He completed his master's degree in 1945, then, following his release from military service as a lieutenant in the United States Army Air Forces, he became a doctoral student in the meteorology department. In 1948 he explored an interest in planetary meteorology, and spent his time at the

Lowell Observatory Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark ...

Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Coconino County, Arizona, Coconino County in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2019, the city's estimated population was 75,038. Flagstaff's combined metropolitan area has ...

observing Mars. His dissertation was titled, ''Some Aspects of the Meteorology of Mars''. On May 20, 1950, Hess had the unusual distinction of reporting a UFO sighting from Flagstaff, saying it was a bright disk cutting through clouds and "definitely was not an airplane". In 1950, he joined the newly formed meteorology department at

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

, where he would spend the remainder of his career and later twice served as the department chairman. Starting in 1966, he was associate dean at the University for several years. He served as head of the meteorology science team for the Viking landers, and helped design the weather instruments for the Viking 1. On July 21, 1976, he made the first ever extraterrestrial weather report, giving the atmospheric conditions at

Chryse Planitia Chryse Planitia (Greek, "''Golden Plain''") is a smooth circular plain in the northern equatorial region of Mars close to the Tharsis region to the west, centered at . Chryse Planitia lies partially in the Lunae Palus quadrangle, partially in th ...

, Mars. In 1978, he received the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professorship, the highest honor awarded by FSU. His work titled ''Introduction to theoretical meteorology'' was published in 1959; it was reprinted in 1979. He died from complications following surgery for cancer. In 1983, the ''Seymour Hess Memorial Symposium'' was held in his honor by the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hess, Seymour Lester 1920 births 1982 deaths American meteorologists Planetary scientists University of Chicago alumni University of Florida faculty Brooklyn College alumni United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II