Gerbrand Komen obtained his PhD in 1972 from the University of
Amsterdam on the basis of work done mainly at the International Centre
for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste. After a fellowship
at CERN, Geneva, and a postdoc position in Leiden, he joined the
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) in 1977, where he would
remain until his retirement.
The first 15 years at KNMI he worked on ocean
waves and storm surge prediction. Some of this work was done in the United Kingdom,
Malaysia, Italy, Germany and Canada. Later, when he became
Head of the Oceanographic Research
Division, his interest shifted to air/sea interaction and climate. He
gave invited lectures in more than 20 countries.
In 2001 he became
Head and later Director of Climate Research and Seismology, and in 2004 deputy
Director General. He also is emeritus professor of Climate Dynamics at
Utrecht University. He was involved with many national and
international panels and projects, published several books and numerous
scientific papers. From 2001 until 2007 he was Dutch focal point for
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Until 2009 he was
active as a member of the Earth and Life Science Board of the
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).
Currently, he is enjoying his retirement.
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