Background
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Willett grew up on a farm near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Willett grew up on a farm near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Surgery degree from Princeton University in 1924, then worked at the United States. Weather Bureau, and earned a doctorate in meteorology from George Washington University (GWU) in 1929.
He joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) faculty in 1929, where he headed the development and adoption of the polar front theory of five-day weather prediction by the Weather Bureau. He died in West Concord, Massachusetts, after suffering a stroke.