Vincent E. Lally (October 13, 1922 – September 20, 2005) received a B.S. in

Meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

in 1944. After service in the Pacific as a meteorologist and radar officer in the

Army Air Corps Army Air Corps may refer to the following army aviation corps: * Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), the army aviation element of the British Army * Philippine Army Air Corps (1935–1941) * United States Army Air Corps The United States Arm ...

, Lally returned to

M.I.T. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

where he received the degrees of B.S. in

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

in 1948 and M.S, in Engineering Administration in 1949. From 1951 to 1958, he worked at the Geophysics Research Directorate of the

Air Force Cambridge Research Center The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research organization operated by the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of aerospace warfighting technologies, pl ...

where he was the leader of the meteorological equipment development program for the Air Force. From 1958 to 1961, he was manager of research at Teledynamics, Inc., and then accepted appointment at the newly formed National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) as Director of the National Scientific Balloon Facility. In 1965, he established the Global Atmospheric Research Program (GARP) to develop long-duration balloons.

Scientific achievements

In addition to leading the national program to develop facilities for scientific ballooning, Lally made a number of major contribution to the use of balloons as a vehicle for atmospheric measurements. The demonstration of the capability to fly superpressure balloons on multiple orbits of the globe was the critical experiment which triggered international support for the Global Atmospheric Research Program. In 1966,

NCAR The US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR ) is a US federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and funded by the National Science Foundatio ...

scientists launched a globe-circling balloon from

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, New Zealand. This was one of a series of global horizontal sounding technique (GHOST) balloons tested in order to collect meteorological data from all of the Earth's atmosphere and predict global weather on a long-range basis. The Rocket-Balloon-Instrument sphere (ROBIN), designed in 1955, was the principal vehicle for rocket soundings of the atmosphere. Lally also developed the technique for reliable erection of space-inflatables. The Radiation-Controlled Balloon (RACOON) demonstrated in 1980 that the radiation-environment rather than ballast could achieve long-duration flight for zero-pressure balloons. It became the standard technique for global flight and recovery of heavy scientific payloads.Vincent Lally Papers
NCAR Archives Digital Collection.

Publications

Lally authored over 30 papers on instrumentation, ballooning, and navigation techniques. he wrote the definitive publication on superpressure-ballooning as well as chapters in several handbooks on ballooning and atmospheric sounding systems.

References

External links

Vincent Lally Papers NCAR Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lally, Vincent E. 1922 births 2005 deaths American meteorologists University of Chicago alumni MIT School of Engineering alumni Harvard University alumni