Howard Thomas Orville (June 16, 1901 – May 24, 1960) was an American naval officer and meteorologist.

Naval career

He was born in

Saratoga, Wyoming Saratoga is a town in Carbon County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 1,690 at the 2010 census. Saratoga is the home of the Steinley Cup microbrew festival and competition, usually held in August at Veterans Island Park, a playground ...

, the son of William Orville and Lucy Dale (Wiant). After attending the Army and Navy Preparatory School during 1918–19, he matriculated to the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

, graduating in 1925. Thereafter he studied at the Naval Postgraduate School 1928–29 and spent a year of study at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 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 ...

, where he was awarded a master's degree in 1930. In 1935, Lt. Orville served as the meteorologist for the U.S. Navy's sole entry in the James Gordon Bennett International Balloon Race held in Warsaw, Poland. The pilot was Lt. Raymond E. Tyler, an experienced airship man with a service record dating back to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Despite making a good team, the two men came in last place. In 1940 he was named head of the Naval Aerological Service, a post he would hold until 1943 when he became Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he was notable for charting the weather for the 1942

Doolittle Raid The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first American air operation to strike the Japa ...

. He served as weather adviser for naval operations in the Pacific Ocean and for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. In 1946, he served on the Special Subcommittee on the Upper Atmosphere. The following year, Captain Orville designed the meteorological program used during the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition, which was headed up by Finn Ronne. From 1945–47 (and later from 1950–54) he served as a councilor to the

American Meteorological Society The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is the premier scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic sciences. Its mission is to advance th ...

and was elected president of the society for the 1948–49 term. In 1950 he retired from the Navy and was named director of engineering for the Friez Instrument Division of

Bendix Aviation Corporation Bendix Corporation is an American manufacturing and engineering company which, during various times in its existence, made automotive brake shoes and systems, vacuum tubes, aircraft brakes, aeronautical hydraulics and electric power systems, av ...

Post-retirement

Project Cirrus was an attempt by the United States government in 1947 to modify a

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

seeding The term seeding and related terms such as seeded are used in several different contexts: *Sowing, planting seeds in a place or on an object *Cloud seeding, manipulating cloud formations *Seeding (computing), a concept in computing and peer-to-pee ...

the clouds with silver iodide. Orville served as a member of the project's steering committee. However, by 1950 the American Meteorological Society concluded that seeding attempts had not conclusively demonstrated any useful results. Congress wanted to pursue the concept of weather control and in 1953 they created the U.S. Advisory Committee on Weather Control. President Dwight Eisenhower signed the law and named Orville to chair the committee. The committee studied the idea of cloud seeding and cautiously concluded that, under certain circumstances, cloud seeding could "increase precipitation by 10 to 15 percent". On May 11, 1953, a

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

student observed some unusual cloud activity on a 10 cm radar system and recorded it with a picture. A few minutes later a tornado was spawned from the clouds over

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

, killing 110 people. Meteorologists from Texas A&M concluded that the radar echo could serve as advance warning of a pending tornado event. The president of the university contacted Orville and together they proposed a Texas radar network to track tornadoes, to be modeled after the Florida hurricane network. By 1958, Orville became an advocate for researching the use of weather control as a weapon, fearing that the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

may develop the technology before the U.S. The final report of Orville's Advisory Committee on Weather Control, issued in January 1958 just a few months following the launch of Sputnik, stated that they believed the Soviets had already such a program in place. Orville died suddenly on May 24, 1960 and was buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

. During his career, Orville became notable for being the first person to advocate a national array of radar stations to monitor severe weather patterns.

Orville Coast Orville Coast is that portion of the coast of Antarctica lying west of Ronne Ice Shelf between Cape Adams and Cape Zumberge. It was discovered by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (RARE), 1947–48, under Ronne, who named this coast for Capta ...

in Antarctica was named after him, as was the Howard T. Orville Scholarship in Meteorology, established in 1964 by the American Meteorological Society.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Orville, Howard Thomas 1901 births 1960 deaths People from Saratoga, Wyoming American meteorologists United States Naval Academy alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni United States Navy officers Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Bendix Corporation people