Gentilli, Joseph Hefetz (1912 - 2002)

Summary

Joseph Hefetz Gentilli was a key figure in Australian climatology and an equally capable geographer. Gentilli migrated to Australia as a war refugee in 1939 and soon gained employment as a lecturer in statistics at the University of Western Australia (1940). He remained at the University for over fifty years and was founder of its Department of Geography. Gentilli was one of the first to report on the Northwest Cloudbands which originate over the Indian Ocean and occasionally blow across Australia, sometimes bringing with them widespread rain and storms to the south. He also made some of the earliest studies of Western Australia's climate records looking for evidence of changes which may have influenced an increase in soil salinity (1952) and in 1977 was part of a world panel of climatologists who examined the phenomenon of climate change and its possible impacts. Joseph Gentilli published widely, in four different languages, and received many honours and awards including an appointment as a Commander Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). He was also involved in many professional scientific bodies, was President of the Geographical Society of Western Australia and a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society (FRMetS) and the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS).

Details

Chronology

1934

Education - Doctorate in Political Science, University of Venice Economics Institute in Italy

1934 - 1935

Career position - Junior Lecturer in Geography, University of Florence

1935 - c. 1936

Life event - Evaded military service by disappearing 'over the mountains' and court-martialled on his return

1939 - 1940

Career position - Lecturer of Statistics (part-time), University of Western Australia

20 August 1939

Life event - Migrated to Australia (Fremantle, Western Australia)

1940 - 1942

Career position - Lecturer in Economics, University of Western Australia

1941 - ?

Career position - Lectured in Geography and introduced Economic Geography to the University of Western Australia

1969

Award - Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic

1977 - c. 1997

Career position - Retired and appointed Honorary Research Fellow, University of Western Australia

1981

Education - Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Western Australia

1988 -

Award - Honorary Life Member of the Institute of Australian Geographers

1993

Award - John Lewis Gold Medal, Royal Geographical Society of Australasia

1996

Award - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)

1998

Award - Griffith Taylor Medal, Institute of Australian Geographers

1998

Career position - Keynote Speaker at the Australia New Zealand Climate Forum in Perth

Published resources

Journal Articles

• Armstrong, Patrick, 'Obituary: Joseph Gentilli', Australian Geographical Studies, 39 (2) (2001), 249-252. Details
• Cramb, J., 'Obituary: Joseph Gentilli 13th March 1912 to 1st August 2000', Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, 13 (2000), 109-111. Details
• Gentilli, J., 'A History of Meteorological and Climatological Studies in Australia', University Studies in History, 5 (1967), 54-88. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q55628254. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/109162211. Details
• 'Gentilli, J (1912-2002)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-475410. Details
• Gentilli, Joseph Hefetz (Italy-Australia 1912-2000), http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/chronob/GENT1912.htm. Details