For accurate metrics on rainfall across the world, NASA turns to the Dr. Theon's achievements as a meteorologist, climate scientist, and former aeronautical engineer.
MCLEAN, VA, August 18, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to name John Speridon Theon a Lifetime Achiever. An accomplished listee, Dr. Theon celebrates many years' experience in his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
For accurate metrics on rainfall across the world, NASA turns to the Dr. Theon's achievements as a meteorologist, climate scientist, and former aeronautical engineer with a legacy of 55 years researching the Earth's atmosphere. He dedicated many years to the service of NASA, and is well known for developing a satellite that measures rainfall directly on a global scale. From 1999 to 2016, Dr. Theon taught at Fairfax County Public Schools, passing on his expertise to the next generation of scientists.
Born in Washington, DC to Lewis and Merope Theon in 1934, Dr. Theon studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Maryland where he received a B.S. and a commission as a U.S. Air Force Reserve Officer in 1957. While awaiting call to active duty, he worked for the Douglas Aircraft Company in Santa Monica, CA for almost one year on the DC-8 airliner development. Upon being called to active duty, the USAF chose him to serve as a weather officer, thus sending him to study at the Pennsylvania State University for training in meteorology. Upon completion of his concentrated 14 months of meteorological training at Penn State, he was awarded a B.S. in meteorology and served as a USAF Weather Officer at the U.S. Airbase in Athens, Greece until March 1960. Upon returning to civilian life, he was awarded a scholarship to return to Penn State where he earned an M.S. in meteorology in February 1962. He worked briefly as an engineer on the development of ship launched atmospheric sounding rockets at the U.S. Naval Ordnance Research laboratory in White Oak, MD. He joined NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center at Greenbelt, MD in August 1962, where he conducted research on the structure and circulation of the upper atmosphere which was accessible only by using large, two stage sounding rockets. By 1972, he was assigned as the Project Scientist for the Nimbus series of research satellites which developed new remote sensing techniques for observing the Earth and its atmosphere. In 1974, he was promoted to serve as Head of the meteorology Branch at GSFC. He was appointed as the assistant chief of the Laboratory in 1977. The following year, he was offered a position at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC, where he was assigned as Program Scientist of the NASA Global Weather Research Program to develop new and improved satellite observing techniques for the Weather Service to aid in making weather forecasts. In 1982, he was selected to serve in the NASA Federal Executive Service as Chief of the Atmospheric Dynamics and Radiation Program which included all of NASA's atmospheric research except atmospheric chemistry. Satellite borne observations have revolutionized weather forecasting by providing observations of the entire atmosphere on an unprecedented basis that serves to make model forecasts more accurate. Satellite observations are also very valuable in storm forecasting, thus saving many peoples' lives, and have aided in the understanding of climate change. By 1963, he became involved in many international space activities, and under the sponsorship of NASA, he worked toward his doctorate at the University of Tennessee Space Institute which was awarded in 1985. For several years, he has worked concurrently as the Program Scientist for the SpaceLab 3 mission which was launched that year aboard the Space Shuttle. The mission was useful for studying the effects of microgravity on a number of experiments prior to the development of the International Space Station.
Dr. Theon went on to lead the development of active remote observation techniques from above the rain clouds, first proving the technique from high flying aircraft, then persuading the NASA management that it was feasible. He then was able to enlist the Japanese Space Agency as a cost sharing partner to develop the space bourne mission. The satellite, called the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), was approved in 1987, and it was launched by the Japanese from Tanegashima island in 1997. Its prelaunch success criterion was established as providing three years of global scale rainfall observations. It was an enormous success, as it operated for more than a decade, providing unprecedented global scale rainfall information that has proven to be very valuable in many applications. TRMM has proven so worthwhile that a follow on satellite, the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM), an advanced version of TRMM, is now continuing to observe global rainfall in a polar orbit!
As the NASA Mission to Planet Earth Program was initiated, Dr. Theon became the Chief of the Climate Processes Research Program and on went on to serve concurrently on the Interagency Task Force on Observation and Data Management. In 1995, he retired from NASA, but continued to serve as a consultant to the agency.
Dr. Theon is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, and has lent his expertise to a number of institutions, including the George Washington University, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Cal Tech, the Institute of Global Environmental Strategies, and the Orbital Sciences Company. In 2016, he appeared in the films "The Global Warming War" and "Climate Hustle" as a climate expert. He has been commended by NASA for many years of service with a 1978 Goddard Exceptional Performance Award, as well as a 1986 NASA Exceptional Performance Award, and the 1995 Radio Wave Award presented by the Minister of the Posts and Telecommunications Agency of Japan.
In 1989, the University of Tennessee named Dr. Theon a distinguished alumnus. He was selected for inclusion in numerous volumes of Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the South and Southwest, two volumes of Who's Who in the World, and two volumes of Who's Who in Science and Engineering from 2011 to 2017. Dr. Theon is married to Joanne Edens, and the couple has had two children together: Christopher James and Catherine.
In recognition of outstanding contributions to his profession and the Marquis Who's Who community, Dr. Theon has been featured on the Marquis Who's Who Lifetime Achievers website. Please visit www.ltachievers.com for more information about this honor.
About Marquis Who's Who :
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America , Marquis Who's Who has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
# # #