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Penny Whetton
Australian climatologist (1958–2019) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Penny Whetton (5 January 1958 – 11 September 2019) was a climatologist and an expert in regional climate change projections due to global warming and in the impacts of those changes. Her primary scientific focus was Australia.[1]
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Early life
Whetton was born in Melbourne, Victoria, on 5 January 1958. She held a Bachelor of Science (Honours), majoring in physics, and an honours year in meteorology, from the University of Melbourne. She received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the same university in 1986.[2]
Career
Whetton started her career in the late 1980s as a researcher in the Department of Geography at Monash University in Clayton, Victoria.[3]
In 1989, she joined the Atmospheric Research division of CSIRO (later becoming CMAR CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research). Whetton became a research leader in 1999 and a research program leader in 2009.[3] Whetton was a Lead Author on the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Assessment Reports of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).[4] The Fourth Assessment Report of which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.[5]
Whetton was an invited speaker at various climate change conferences such as the Aspen Global Change Institute,[6] Four Degrees Or More? Australia in a Hot World[7] at the University of Melbourne in 2011, and the Greenhouse 2011: The Science of Climate Change conference.[8]
Whetton published numerous scientific journal articles on climate change as well as a contribution to more popular publications.[9]
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Personal life
Whetton lived in Footscray, Victoria, with her wife Janet Rice, a Greens Senator and former Mayor of Maribyrnong, and their two sons. In 2003, Whetton underwent gender-affirming surgery.[10][11]
Whetton died on 11 September 2019 in Sisters Beach, Tasmania.[12]
References
External links
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