Wendell Tangborn Biography

Wendell Tangborn was born in Sioux City Iowa in 1927.  He grew up on a small farm in Northern Minnesota until 1951 when he was drafted into the US Army.  From 1953 to 1958 he attended University of Minnesota and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Geological Engineering. 

He worked as a Research Hydrologist with the US Geological Survey from 1958 to 1979, working mostly  as a glaciologist on Pacific Northwest glaciers.  

Much of his USGS work was dedicated to measuring glacier mass balance, runoff and related variables, primarily at South Cascade Glacier, located in the North Cascade Range of Washington State. Tangborn's interest in computer modeling began in 1975 when the combination of accessible computers and the vast network of weather and streamflow stations created an ideal situation for modeling. 

He retired from USGS in 1979 and founded Hymet Inc. and has worked since then as a consulting engineer and scientist for the hydroelectric industry, universities, and government agencies. Main research efforts have been relating climate to glaciers and streamflow by developing computer programs that use large quantities of hydrometeorological observations combined with topographic data.

More by Wendell Tangborn

Glaciers by Wendell Tangborn, illustrated by Marc Simont (for children ages 4-8)  (pdf 753kb)

The South Cascade Glacier Express  by Wendell Tangborn (pdf 135kb)

90th Division Memorial Tour - by Wendell Tangborn and Andrea Lewis (pdf 1755kb)

Bitter Experience - by Wendell Tangborn (pdf 184kb)

Wallah Hut Walk - by Harvey Manning (pdf 9kb)

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