Gibbs, William James (Bill) (1916 - 2005)

Summary

Bill Gibbs was Director of the Bureau of Meteorology from 1962 to1978 and first Vice-President of the World Meteorological Organization from 1967 to 1975.

Details

Educated Fort Street High School; MSc, University of Sydney; MSc, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1952; Hon. DSc, University of Melbourne 1968. Joined the Bureau of Meteorology Sydney Divisional Office on 6 November 1939 and transferred to Melbourne headquarters in March 1940. Meteorologist, RAAF, 1941-1946, in Port Moresby and later in Allied Headquarters, Brisbane. Conceived and founded the Tropical Weather Research Bulletin, which became the Weather Development and Research Bulletin, later known as the Australian Meteorological Magazine. Supervising Meteorologist (Research), Bureau of Meteorology, appointed 1948. Harkness Fellowship, Commonwealth Fund of New York, 1951-1952. Assistant Director Research, 1958-1962, and Director, 1962-1978 (retired) Bureau of Meteorology. International Meteorological Organization Medal 1982. W J Gibbs Prize named after him and established in 1996. After his retirement Bill, as Bureau archivist, initiated the Metarch (meteorological archives) Project and personally compiled Metarch Papers No 1 containing details of historical references in Weather News Nos 1-262 (1956-82). He was also Executive Editor of Metarch Papers from 1986 to 1999, persuading many to write reminiscences, and was author of Metarch Papers 7, 12 and 13.

Bill was no ordinary meteorologist and certainly no ordinary public servant. When it was in the interests of the Bureau and the Australian community that he work closely with other individuals and organisations, he did so with boundless energy, enthusiasm and goodwill. When it was necessary to fight uncompromisingly on issues of principle and in defence of the long-term good of the Bureau and the betterment of Australian meteorology, he did so with a strength of will and resilience that few could match. John Zillman, Metarch Papers 13, 1999

Chronology

1939 - 1940

Career position - Meteorologist, Bureau of Meteorology Sydney Divisional Office (five months)

1940

Career position - Meteorologist, Bureau of Meteorology at their Melbourne headquarters

1941 - 1946

Career position - Meteorologist, Royal Australian Air Force in Port Moresby and later in Allied Headquarters, Brisbane

1948 - c. 1958

Career position - Supervising Meteorologist (Research), Bureau of Meteorology

c. 1949

Education - Master of Science (MSc), University of Sydney

1951 - 1952

Award - Harkness Fellowship, Commonwealth Fund of New York received

1952

Education - Master of Science (MSc), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

1958 - 1962

Career position - Assistant Director (Research), Bureau of Meteorology

1962 - 1978

Career position - Director (Research), Bureau of Meteorology

1967 - 1975

Career position - Vice-President, World Meteorological Organization

1968

Education - Doctor of Science (DSc), honoris causa, University of Melbourne

1968

Award - Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) - Director of the Bureau of Meteorology

1978

Life event - Retired

1982

Award - International Meteorological Organization Medal

1986 - 1999

Career position - Executive Editor, Metarch papers

1996

Award - W. J. Gibbs Prize established in his honour

1997 - 2005

Award - Honorary Member, Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society

Related entries

Archival resources

Bureau of Meteorology, National Meteorological Library

• The W.J. Gibbs collection, VCMB MS 23; Bureau of Meteorology, National Meteorological Library. Details

Published resources

Books

• Day, David, Weather watchers: 100 years of the Bureau of Meteorology (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 2007), 530 pp. Details
• Gibbs, W. J., A Glimpse of the RAAF Meteorological Service, Metarch Papers No. 7 (Bureau of Meteorology, 1995). Details
• Gibbs, W. J., A mini-history of meteorology in Australia (Melbourne: Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, 1996). Details
• Gibbs, W. J., The Origins of Australian Meteorology, Metarch Papers No. 12 (Bureau of Meteorology, 1998). Details
• Gibbs, W. J., A Very Special Family: Memories of the Bureau of Meteorology 1946 to 1962, Metarch Papers No. 13 (Bureau of Meteorology, 1999). Details

Book Sections

• Gibbs, W. J., 'A mini-history of meteorology in Australia' in Windows on Meteorology: Australian Perspective, Webb, Eric K., ed. (Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, 1997), pp. 81-104. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Dr (W.J.) Bill Gibbs, Director, Bureau of Meteorology, 1962-1978', Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, 11 (4) (1998), 78-82. Details
• Gibbs, W. J., 'Meteorology at Heard and Macquarie Islands', The Meteorological magazine, 79 (1950), 168-70. Details
• Gibbs, W. J., 'A Perspective of Australian Meteorology - 1939-1978', Australian Meteorological Magazine, 30 (1982), 3-17. Details
• Gibbs, W. J., 'Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology', World Meteorological Organization Bulletin, 32 (1983), 309-313. Details
• Gibbs, William James, 'R D Queensland Retires', Weather News, 240 (November 1977) (1977), 3. Details
• Morgan, Helen, 'Bill Gibbs and the Origins of Australian Meteorology', Australasian Science, 22 (6) (2001), 46. Details
• Zillman, J., 'A fascination with the atmosphere and its ways - the life of W. J. Gibbs', Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, 18 (2005), 34-8. Details

Newspaper Articles

• Zillman, John, 'Towering figure in world weather watch', The Age (2005), 12. Details

Resources

• Inspiration for Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society awards, Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, 2022. https://www.amos.org.au/activities/awards/inspiration-for-awards/. Details
• 'Gibbs, W J (1916-2005)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-595899. Details

Resource Sections

• Gibbs, W. J., 'A Very Special Family: Memories of the Bureau of Meteorology 1946 to 1962', in Federation and Meteorology, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/0830.html. Details
• Gibbs, W. J., 'A Glimpse of the RAAF Meteorological Service', in Federation and Meteorology, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/0362.html. Details
• Gibbs, W. J., 'The Origins of Australian Meteorology', in Federation and Meteorology, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/0805.html. Details

See also

• Federation and Meteorology, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/index_g.html. Details
• Zillman, John, 'The Australian role in 150 years of international cooperation in meteorology', Australian physics, 60 (2) (2023), 17-22. Details