Sean A. Twomey

Sean Twomey was my role model as a scientist. He was equally at home in theory or in constructing experiments and he had one of the best scientific intuitions that I have ever seen. He was also a fine and very real human being. I miss him.

I have fond memories of a visit in 1987 during which I could personally express my great admiration for what still is my standard book on "atmospheric aerosol" and their effects on climate. My admiration grew when I learned that that the work had been concipiated on the long bus rides commuting to and from work during his sabbatical at CSIRO.
At this very moment I am scanning in his 1991 article "Aerosols, Clouds and Radiation", which is for me the best introduction to Global Warming. This...

Dr. Twomey was always an inspiration - the smartest man I ever knew. I helped him grade freshman meteorology exams, and found myself surprised that what he thought simple often befuddled poor grad student me.

Dr. Twomey was always approachable. When I had a question he would mull it over for a second, gesture towards the library, and reply "Have you looked in the big black book?" (meaning Pruppacher & Klett), or sometimes the "big red book" (meaning Abramowtiz & Stegun), or "the big...

Dr. Twomey was on my doctoral committee in 1975. His insight and insistence on doing science the right way made me a better thinker and a better human being. May his soul be bound up in the bonds of life.