VIRTUAL | Chasing a Giant – Reginald Sutcliffe and the Invention of Modern Weather Systems Science

Speaker:
Jonathan E. Martin, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1225 W. Dayton St. Madison, WI 53706

Abstract:
It could well be argued that modern synoptic-dynamic meteorology was christened by three intellectual advances; 1) the adoption of isobaric coordinates as a means of simplifying the equation of continuity, 2) the development of the quasi-geostrophic system of equations to approximate and simplify the equations of motion, and 3) the formulation of an omega equation that could both qualitatively and quantitatively diagnose regions of upward and downward vertical motions at the cyclone scale as well as explain the ubiquity of the transverse circulations at fronts. Though many eminent thinkers in our field contributed to these developments in the two decades after WW II, all three of them originated before and during the war from aspects of the work of a single scientist – Reginald C. Sutcliffe.
In this talk I will share the experiences I had over the past six years chasing the scientific and personal history of this giant in the field. His life included moments that testify to the great power of inspirational teachers, the horror and waste of war, the inevitable momentum of good ideas and the necessity of broad vision in both human and scientific affairs that leads to the creation of important and successful institutions. I hope to relate a number of interesting stories from Sutcliffe’s impactful and interesting life as well as from my personal pursuit of his history.

Biography:
Jonathan Martin joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1994 after completing his Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington.

He has earned recognition for his teaching, including the Underkofler Excellence in Teaching Award, a fellowship in UW’s Teaching Academy, the Mark H. Ingraham Distinguished Faculty Award, and the UW Vilas Distinguished Service Professorship.

He was honored by the American Meteorological Society in 2016 as the Society’s recipient of the Edward N. Lorenz Teaching Excellence Award for “outstanding teaching and mentoring that combines boundless enthusiasm with consummate skill to educate and inspire a generation of undergraduate and graduate students.”

His research expertise is in mid-latitude weather systems, and he has authored over 70 scientific papers, as well as the leading textbook on mid-latitude atmospheric dynamics. He recently published a biography of an influential British meteorologist of the mid-20th century – Reginald Sutcliffe and the Invention of Modern Weather Systems Science – and he also appears regularly on Wisconsin Public Radio as part of the two-man “Weather Guys” segment. He served a 9-year term as Chair of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and was named by the Princeton Review as one of the nation’s Top 300 Professors.