The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The Ship, the Storm, and the Song

Commemorate the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald with Steve Ackerman, Emeritus Professor from UW-Madison, as he discusses the November 1975 catastrophe from his unique perspective as a weather expert. The wreck will be explored through the lens of the weather, the ship, and the 1976 hit song by Canadian folksinger Gordon Lightfoot. 

Steve Ackerman joined the UW-Madison faculty in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences in 1992. Professor Ackerman served as Director of the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) from 1999-2019. This research organization is a collaboration between the UW-Madison, and The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He served as Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education at UW-Madison between 2019-2023. He, along with Professor Jonathan Martin, is one of the ‘weather guys’, who appear monthly on Wisconsin Public Radio to discuss the weather and climate. They also write a weekly blog and a column for the Wisconsin State Journal which answer people’s weather questions.

This event is made possible through the University of Wisconsin-Madison's BadgerTalks, which helps spread the Wisconsin Idea across the state by engaging residents on topics they care about, sharing the latest discoveries of UW faculty, staff and graduate students, and helping spark ideas and conversations on topics of local importance.