Yoram Kaufman; NASA Scientist Studied Atmosphere, Warming

Yoram Kaufman, a leading scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center whose research has led to greater understanding of global warming, died May 31 at Prince George's Hospital Center. He was seriously injured May 26 when he was struck by an automobile while riding his bicycle near the Goddard center's campus in Greenbelt. He died one day before his 58th birthday.

Dr. Kaufman began working at the space flight center in 1979 and spent his entire career there as a research scientist. His primary fields were meteorology and climate change, with a specialty in analyzing aerosols -- airborne solid and liquid particles in the atmosphere. In recent years, he was senior atmospheric scientist in the Earth-Sun Exploration Division and played a key role in the development of NASA's Terra satellite, which collects data about the atmosphere.

Franco Einaudi, director of the division in which Dr. Kaufman worked, said the space flight center had lost "a superstar."

"He's one of those individuals that cannot be replaced," Einaudi said. "He had a combination of characteristics. He was an outstanding scientist, an outstanding communicator and a leader. That's very rare."

From 1997 to 2001, Dr. Kaufman was project scientist for Terra, the flagship satellite of NASA's Earth Observing System, which includes three satellites that monitor conditions affecting the Earth's climate. Dr. Kaufman helped develop the experiments and instrumentation of the $1.3 billion satellite, which was launched in December 1999.

Dr. Kaufman told The Washington Post that Terra was "designed for a comprehensive check-up of planet Earth."

He was especially interested in how aerosols, which can include carbon particles, sea salt and microscopic pieces of silica and dust, affected the climate. Depending on their properties and size, aerosols can either warm or cool the earth; they can increase or diminish precipitation; and they can enhance or suppress the formation of clouds.

"Aerosols are significant because they affect climate, weather and human health," said David Herring, a NASA science writer and outreach coordinator for Terra mission. "It's a multifaceted problem, and it's one of the more important ones facing scientists today."

In the past six years, the satellite has returned a wealth of information to scientists, as well as detailed images of fires, volcanoes, dust storms and other climatological events showing that airborne particles can travel across continents and oceans.

Dr. Kaufman, who wrote more than 200 scientific papers, found ways to measure aerosols to determine whether they were caused by humans or naturally occurring, and he was working to understand their ultimate effect on the Earth's warming climate.

"Yoram was one of the leading scientists in the world studying the role of aerosols in affecting climate," Herring said. "He was there, right at the leading edge."

Yoram Janusz Kaufman was born near Warsaw and moved to Haifa, Israel, when he was 10. After graduating from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, he received a master's degree in laser physics from the same institution in 1974. He received his doctorate in geophysics from Tel Aviv University in 1979.

He then came to Goddard, working under an arrangement with the University of Maryland until after he became an American citizen in 1990. Dr. Kaufman collaborated with scientists from around the world, and his NASA projects took him from Brazil to Norway to France.

His work was often cited by other scientists, and he received six awards from NASA for exceptional achievement. In 2002, he was named a senior fellow of NASA and the Goddard Space Flight Center, and last year he was elected a fellow of the American Meteorological Society.

The society selected Dr. Kaufman to receive its prestigious Verner E. Suomi Award for achievement in atmospheric sciences days before his fatal accident. He did not learn of the award before his death.

Survivors include his wife of 35 years, Jean Kaufman of Silver Spring; two children, Nadav Kaufman of Cranford, N.J., and Daphne Kaufman of Silver Spring; and a brother.