# Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary

US SOC code 25-1051. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/25-1051

Also called: Geology professor, Meteorology professor, Oceanography professor, Astronomy professor, Atmospheric sciences professor.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **9,900** US postsecondary atmospheric, earth, marine, and space sciences teachers, with median pay of **$103,170** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the highest was **11,770**, in May 2023. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://www.brynmawr.edu/bulletin/pioneer-geology-fieldwork-education) of **800** from 1900, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era in this work: Cloud geoscience platforms, 2003 to 2020.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 2.4% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=25-1051&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **40%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend.

## Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1845
- Latest US employment: 9,900 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [7]
- Latest US median pay: $103,170 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [11]
- Outlook: +2.4% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [28]

### All 31 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1900 | 800 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Bryn Mawr College [1] |
| 1920 | 1,400 (estimate) | n/a | Est., American Meteorological Society [2] |
| 1950 | 3,200 (estimate) | n/a | Est., National Academies Press [3] |
| 1960 | n/a | $7,200 (estimate) | Est., University of Missouri Libraries [8] |
| 1970 | 7,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., U.S. Senate [4] |
| 1980 | n/a | $25,000 (estimate) | Est., University of Missouri Libraries [9] |
| 1990 | 10,500 (estimate) | n/a | Est., NASA [5] |
| 2000 | 11,800 (estimate) | $60,000 (estimate) | Est., O\*NET 25-1051.00 [6] |
| 2003 | 8,420 | $63,310 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [7] |
| 2004 | 8,660 | $65,350 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [7] |
| 2005 | 8,810 | $65,720 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [7] |
| 2006 | 8,670 | $69,300 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [7] |
| 2007 | 9,030 | $73,280 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [7] |
| 2008 | 9,650 | $76,050 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [7] |
| 2009 | 9,900 | $78,660 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [7] |
| 2010 | 10,680 | $82,840 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [7] |
| 2011 | 10,660 | $83,140 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [7] |
| 2012 | 10,930 | $82,180 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [7] |
| 2013 | 10,690 | $81,640 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [7] |
| 2014 | 10,890 | $81,780 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [7] |
| 2015 | 10,890 | $83,150 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [7] |
| 2016 | 10,850 | $85,410 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [7] |
| 2017 | 10,730 | $87,380 | BLS OEWS May 2017 [7] |
| 2018 | 11,020 | $90,860 | BLS OEWS May 2018 [7] |
| 2019 | 11,020 | $92,040 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [7] |
| 2020 | 11,750 | $94,520 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [7] |
| 2021 | 10,250 | $98,070 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [7] |
| 2022 | 11,150 | $97,770 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [7] |
| 2023 | 11,770 | $100,690 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [7] |
| 2024 | 11,480 | $101,390 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [7] |
| 2025 | 9,900 | $103,170 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [7] |

## Sources (98)

### Employment series

1. [Bryn Mawr College — "A Pioneer in Geology Fieldwork and Education" (Florence Bascom; context for 1890s-1900s geoscience academic hiring)](https://www.brynmawr.edu/bulletin/pioneer-geology-fieldwork-education), Bryn Mawr College
2. [American Meteorological Society — History of the AMS (founding December 29, 1919; early membership from Signal Corps and Weather Bureau rather than academia)](https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/about-ams/ams-history/history-of-the-ams/), American Meteorological Society
3. [NCBI Bookshelf / National Academies Press — "Education in Oceanography: History, Purpose, and Prognosis" (50 Years of Ocean Discovery): pre-1946 oceanography faculty near zero; rapid NSF/ONR-driven expansion in the 1950s](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK208816/), National Academies Press
4. [U.S. Senate — "Sputnik Spurs Passage of the National Defense Education Act" (NSF appropriations, 1957-1959; federal science education investment)](https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Sputnik_Spurs_Passage_of_National_Defense_Education_Act.htm), U.S. Senate Historical Office
5. [NASA — "This Week in NASA History: Hubble Space Telescope Launches, April 24, 1990" (context for 1990-era astronomy faculty expansion at US universities)](https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/this-week-nasa-history-hubble-space-telescope-launches-april-24-1990/), NASA
6. [O\*NET 25-1051.00 — Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary (employment context, BLS OEWS tracking began under 2000 SOC)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-1051.00), O\*NET / BLS
7. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Wage series

8. [University of Missouri Libraries — "Prices and Wages by Decade: 1960-1969" (AAUP faculty salary data; context for 1960 science professor compensation)](https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1960-1969), University of Missouri Libraries / AAUP historical sources
9. [University of Missouri Libraries — "Prices and Wages by Decade: 1980-1989" (AAUP faculty salary data; context for 1980 postsecondary science compensation)](https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1980-1989), University of Missouri Libraries / AAUP historical sources
10. [O\*NET 25-1051.00 — BLS OEWS employment context and wage series (2000 SOC introduction; wage anchor for early OEWS period)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-1051.00), O\*NET / BLS
11. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
12. [BLS OEWS May 2024, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Tool eras

13. [Harvard College Observatory — History (15-inch Great Refractor, 1847; 600,000 photographic plates 1885-1989)](https://hco.cfa.harvard.edu/about/), Harvard College Observatory / Center for Astrophysics
14. [Bryn Mawr College — "A Pioneer in Geology Fieldwork and Education" (Florence Bascom, field methods, 1895-1930)](https://www.brynmawr.edu/bulletin/pioneer-geology-fieldwork-education), Bryn Mawr College
15. [Penn State Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science — Our History (first BS degrees in Meteorology 1942; WWII training program; radiosonde era)](https://www.met.psu.edu/about/who-we-are/our-history), Penn State University
16. [American Meteorological Society — History of the AMS (WWII expansion of academic meteorology; C.-G. Rossby as AMS president 1944-45; Journal of Meteorology founded)](https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/about-ams/ams-history/history-of-the-ams/), American Meteorological Society
17. [NOAA Heritage — "From Kites to Satellites: A History of Weather and Air Research at NOAA" (ENIAC first numerical forecast, 1950; NWP history)](https://www.noaa.gov/heritage/resource-collections/from-kites-to-satellites-history-of-weather-and-air-research-at-noaa), NOAA
18. [National Weather Service — "History of the National Weather Service" (timeline: NWP operational adoption, 1960s-1970s)](https://www.weather.gov/timeline), NOAA National Weather Service
19. [U.S. Senate — "Sputnik Spurs Passage of the National Defense Education Act" (NSF appropriations surge; 1957-1959 science education investment)](https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Sputnik_Spurs_Passage_of_National_Defense_Education_Act.htm), U.S. Senate Historical Office
20. [NOAA National Weather Service — History (NEXRAD deployment completed 1997; Doppler radar era)](https://vlab.noaa.gov/web/nws-heritage/-/the-national-weather-service-and-the-evolution-of-meteorological-radar), NOAA / NWS Heritage
21. [Google Earth Engine — cloud geospatial analysis platform (context: GIS and remote sensing as standard earth science faculty tools from the late 1980s onward)](https://earthengine.google.com/), Google
22. [NASA — "This Week in NASA History: Hubble Space Telescope Launches, April 24, 1990" (HST launch; mirror corrected 1993; fundamental to observational astronomy teaching)](https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/this-week-nasa-history-hubble-space-telescope-launches-april-24-1990/), NASA
23. [Maunakea Observatories — Wikipedia (Keck I first light 1990, Keck II 1996; largest telescopes on Earth through early 2000s)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauna_Kea_Observatories), Wikipedia
24. [SCEC / Stanford — PhaseNet: deep-learning seismic phase picker; order-of-magnitude increase in phase detections vs. STA/LTA; Geophysical Journal International (2018)](https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggy423), Southern California Earthquake Center / Stanford University
25. [Google DeepMind — GraphCast: AI model for faster and more accurate global weather forecasting (Science, December 2023); outperforms ECMWF IFS on 90% of test variables](https://deepmind.google/blog/graphcast-ai-model-for-faster-and-more-accurate-global-weather-forecasting/), Google DeepMind
26. [Microsoft Research — Aurora: A Foundation Model of the Atmosphere (arXiv:2405.13063, May 2024); 1.3B-parameter ViT; outperforms GraphCast and Pangu-Weather](https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.13063), Microsoft Research
27. [Federal Reserve FEDS Notes — Educational Exposure to Generative AI (February 2026): Life, Physical, and Social Science Teachers in above-average AI-exposure band for postsecondary education](https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/educational-exposure-to-generative-artificial-intelligence-20250226.html), Federal Reserve Board

### Forecasts and exposure studies

28. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 25-1051 Atmospheric, earth, marine, and space sciences teachers, postsecondary (2025: 12.0 thousand; 2035: 12.3 thousand; +2.4%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=25-1051&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
29. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 25-1051.00, human-rated β 0.4)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

30. [Harvard Department of Astronomy — History (context: 1847 Lawrence Scientific School; Harvard College Observatory 15-inch refractor; formalization of academic science professorships)](https://astronomy.fas.harvard.edu/history), Harvard University
31. [Bryn Mawr College — "A Pioneer in Geology Fieldwork and Education" (Florence Bascom, PhD 1893, Bryn Mawr geology department founder 1895)](https://www.brynmawr.edu/bulletin/pioneer-geology-fieldwork-education), Bryn Mawr College
32. [American Meteorological Society — History of the AMS (founded December 29, 1919; early membership from Signal Corps and Weather Bureau)](https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/about-ams/ams-history/history-of-the-ams/), American Meteorological Society
33. [Penn State Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science — Our History (first BS degrees in Meteorology 1942; WWII training program context)](https://www.met.psu.edu/about/who-we-are/our-history), Penn State University
34. [NCBI / National Academies Press — "Education in Oceanography: History, Purpose, and Prognosis" (Scripps awarded only oceanography degrees as of 1950; ONR and NSF-driven expansion)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK208816/), National Academies Press
35. [U.S. Senate — "Sputnik Spurs Passage of the National Defense Education Act" (NSF appropriations: $34M in 1957 to $134M in 1959)](https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Sputnik_Spurs_Passage_of_National_Defense_Education_Act.htm), U.S. Senate Historical Office
36. [NASA — "This Week in NASA History: Hubble Space Telescope Launches, April 24, 1990"](https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/this-week-nasa-history-hubble-space-telescope-launches-april-24-1990/), NASA
37. [Google DeepMind — GraphCast: AI model for faster and more accurate global weather forecasting (Science, December 2023)](https://deepmind.google/blog/graphcast-ai-model-for-faster-and-more-accurate-global-weather-forecasting/), Google DeepMind

### Predecessors & successors

38. [NCBI / National Academies Press — "Education in Oceanography" (doctoral and postdoctoral training as the standard path into oceanography faculty positions from the 1950s onward)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK208816/), National Academies Press
39. [American Geosciences Institute — Status of the Geoscience Workforce (federal agency to academic transition as a recognized career path in geosciences)](https://web.archive.org/web/20250325093129/https://profession.americangeosciences.org/research/reports/status-geoscience-workforce), American Geosciences Institute

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3 — Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary (25-1051.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-1051.00), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-24
- [BLS OES May 2025 — Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary (25-1051): median annual wage $106,270](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes251051.htm), accessed 2026-05-24
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Postsecondary Teachers (2024–2034, +7% projected growth, much faster than average)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/postsecondary-teachers.htm), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Federal Reserve FEDS Notes — Educational Exposure to Generative AI (Feb 2026): Life, Physical, and Social Science Teachers in above-average AI-exposure band for postsecondary education](https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/educational-exposure-to-generative-artificial-intelligence-20250226.html), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Google DeepMind — GraphCast: AI model for faster and more accurate global weather forecasting (Science, December 2023); outperforms ECMWF IFS on 90% of test variables; open weights; NOAA supplementary guidance](https://deepmind.google/blog/graphcast-ai-model-for-faster-and-more-accurate-global-weather-forecasting/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Microsoft Research — Aurora: A Foundation Model of the Atmosphere (arXiv:2405.13063, May 2024); 1.3B-parameter ViT; outperforms GraphCast and Pangu-Weather; fine-tuneable for weather, air quality, cyclones, solar wind, ocean waves](https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.13063), accessed 2026-05-24
- [NVIDIA — FourCastNet: AI-based global atmospheric forecast reducing compute from hours to seconds; NVIDIA Earth-2 climate digital twin platform (NVIDIA Developer Blog, Jul 2023)](https://developer.nvidia.com/blog/modeling-earths-atmosphere-with-spherical-fourier-neural-operators/), accessed 2026-06-22
- [Huawei — Pangu-Weather: 3D Earth-specific Transformer for global medium-range weather forecast; 10,000× faster than traditional NWP; published Nature (2023)](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06185-3?error=cookies_not_supported&code=d5d5ba2f-e5e1-433e-9737-4cc99953197e), accessed 2026-05-24
- [SCEC / Stanford — PhaseNet: deep-learning seismic phase picker; order-of-magnitude increase in phase detections vs. STA/LTA; now routine in USGS and global seismic network pipelines (Geophysical Journal International, 2018; in broad operational use 2025)](https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggy423), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Google Earth Engine — cloud geospatial analysis platform with ML classifiers for land cover, climate, and ocean surface monitoring; free for research and education; deployed in 190+ countries (2025)](https://earthengine.google.com/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Planet Labs AI — commercial satellite imagery analytics with AI-powered change detection for land surface, coastal, and ocean monitoring; deep learning and computer vision; used in marine and earth science research (2025)](https://www.planet.com/products/satellite-imagery-analysis/), accessed 2026-06-22
- [AGU Eos — AI in the Geosciences 2025 special issue: multiple peer-reviewed papers on ML tools for geoscience research and teaching, including AI weather forecasting, seismic analysis, and remote sensing education](https://eos.org/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Gradescope — AI-assisted grading: 30–50% grading time reduction; AI-assisted answer grouping for written assignments and short-answer earth-science assessments; 3,000+ institutions (2025)](https://www.gradescope.com/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Elicit — AI research synthesis: 138M+ academic papers; up to 80% literature-review time reduction; used for AGU, AAS, and AMS literature monitoring (2025)](https://elicit.com/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [OpenAI — ChatGPT Edu: CSU system-wide deployment (460k+ users across 23 campuses, Feb 2025); documented use in STEM course material drafting across postsecondary institutions](https://campustechnology.com/articles/2025/02/05/california-state-university-launches-systemwide-chatgpt-edu-deployment.aspx), accessed 2026-05-24

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.