The history of catastrophe modeling is subsumed under the federal and state efforts to quantify and mitigate natural catastrophe risk. I’ve been lucky to contribute some insights about the foundation and development of the first catastrophe models, and continue studying the topic to understand the role and implications of creating and using cat model-generated information for public disaster mitigation actions.
Dr. Don G. Friedman (B.A. UCLA ’50; M.A. & Sc.D. MIT ‘51,54) was the father of catastrophe modeling. He developed the first models roughly from 1955 to 1965. I’ve been extremely lucky to meet him. Download the paper to learn more about the fascinating story of the early models!
I’ve also worked along wonderful colleagues from the JHU’s MSEL Library and NIST Library to set up exhibits on the history of catastrophe modeling. You can visit it here.