Schaefer, Vincent Joseph

Vincent Joseph Schaefer, (born July 4, 1906, Schenectady, New York, U.S.—died July 25, 1993, Schenectady), American research chemist and meteorologist who in 1946 carried out the first systematic series of experiments to investigate the physics of precipitation. From an aircraft over Massachusetts he seeded clouds with pellets of dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) and succeeded in producing snow, initiating the science of experimental meteorology and weather control.

Schaefer attended classes at Union College in New York and graduated in 1928 from the Davey Institute of Tree Surgery. From 1933 to 1954 he worked in research at General Electric Laboratories, where his efforts during the war were directed specifically toward aircraft icing. Studies showed that when sufficient numbers of ice particles were present in clouds to eliminate the hazardous supercooled water conditions, ice ceased to form on airplane bodies. Using dry ice, Schaefer discovered by chance how to produce this condition artificially.

In 1959 Schaefer joined the faculty of the State University of New York at Albany, and was professor of atmospheric science there from 1964 to 1976. He was appointed fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he received an award in 1957 and a special citation in 1976 from the American Meteorological Society.