Warren, Herbert Norman (1888 - 1950)

Summary

Herbert Warren was Director, Bureau of Meteorology, from 1940 until his death in 1950. He was an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Details

Born 6 April 1888. Died 5 August 1950. OBE. Educated University of Melbourne. Joined Electoral Branch of Department of Home Affairs, Victoria, 1914. Senior Clerk Electoral and Service Branches, Tasmania, 1919. In 1924 transferred to Commonwealth Public Service Board for special duties in connection with classification and organisation of Commonwealth departments. Appointed Commonwealth Electoral Officer for Tasmania in 1934 and also Public Service Inspector.

Warren was Public Service Inspector for Tasmania before being appointed as Assistant Director of the Bureau in 1938 and shortly thereafter as Director of Meteorology. Almost immediately, as Group Captain Warren, he was called on to manage the transformation of the Bureau into the RAAF Meteorological Service. After return of the Bureau to civilian status in 1946, he became deeply involved in international meteorology, chairing the committee which drafted the final text of the WMO Convention in Washington DC in October 1947. He died in office on his way home from a session of the WMO Executive Committee in August 1950. A Hundred Years of Science and Service, Bureau of Meteorology, 2001.

Published resources

Books

• Day, David, Weather watchers: 100 years of the Bureau of Meteorology (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 2007), 530 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Johnson, N. K., 'H. N. Warren - obituary', The Meteorological Magazine, 79 (1950), 303-304. Details

Resources

• 'Warren, H N (1888-1950)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-575888. Details

See also

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