Tim Samaras: The Great Storm Chaser

In this installment of ‘Profiles in History,’ we learn that a classic movie inspired a boy to one day seek out and study storms.

A pair of tornadoes near Cherokee, Oklahoma. Eugene R Thieszen/Shutterstock

“Follow the yellow brick road!” Tim Samaras (1957–2013) begrudgingly sat in front of the television. His mother had convinced him to watch “The Wizard of Oz” with her. The movie’s impact was less about the yellow brick road, Dorothy, or her meeting the Wizard of Oz. Rather it was the mode of transportation which brought Dorothy to the color-filled world that fascinated him: the tornado.

Samaras was born in Colorado, the state directly west of Dorothy’s Kansas. As a young boy, he was inquisitive about how things worked. At night, he snuck small home-appliances into his room and dismantled them to study how they worked.  This displeased his parents, but it quickly became obvious he possessed an engineer’s mind. He decided early on that college was not for him. His engineering education came from his own research, study, and application.

A Non-Academic Academic

By the age of 21 , he joined the academic realm, though not to pursue a degree. His engineering brilliance landed him a job as a staff engineer with the Denver Research Institute at the University of Denver, a position he held from 1978 to 1996. After his time with the Institute, he joined Applied Research Associates (ARA) as an engineer, where he specialized in blast testing and quickly became involved in the investigation of the TWA 800 explosion. The explosion of the Boeing 747, on July 17, 1996, killed all 230 crew members and passengers. The National Transportation Safety Board awarded Samaras with a service commendation for his contribution to the investigation.