Gentilli, Joseph Hefetz - Bright Sparcs Biographical entry

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Gentilli, Joseph Hefetz (1912 - 2002)

AO, FRMetS, FRGS

Online Sources

Published Sources

Climatologist and Geographer

Born: 13 March 1912 San Daniele del Friuli, Italy. Died: 8 August 2002 Western Australia, Australia.

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).

Career Highlights

Chronology
1934 Doctorate in Political Science completed at the University of Venice Economics Institute in Italy
1934 - 1935 Junior Lecturer in Geography at the University of Florence
1935 - c. 1936 Evaded military service by disappearing ‘over the mountains’ and court-martialled on his return
1939 Migrated to Australia (Fremantle, Western Australia)
1939 - 1940 Lecturer of Statistics (part-time) at the University of Western Australia
1940 - 1942 Lecturer in Economics at the University of Western Australia
1941 - ? Lectured in Geography and introduced Economic Geography to the University of Western Australia
1969 Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
1977 - c. 1997 Retired and appointed Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia
1981 Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) received from the University of Western Australia
1988 - Honorary Life Member of the Institute of Australian Geographers
1993 John Lewis Gold Medal received from the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia
1996 Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)
1998 Keynote Speaker at the Australia New Zealand Climate Forum in Perth
1998 Griffith Taylor Medal received from the Institute of Australian Geographers

Online Sources

Published Sources

Smith, Charles H., Gentilli, Joseph Hefetz (Italy-Australia 1912-2000), http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/chronob/GENT1912.htm. [ Details ]

Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields.

Prepared by: Annette Alafaci
Created: 10 October 2005
Modified: 29 January 2007

Published by The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre on ASAPWeb, 1994 - 2007
Originally published 1994-1999 by Australian Science Archives Project, 1999-2006 by the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre
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Updated: 26 February 2007
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P004623b.htm

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