John Stewart Marshall(18 July 1911 – 20 March 1992) was a Canadian physicist and meteorologist. Researcher for the Canadian government during theSecond World warand then professor atMcGill Universityfrom 1945 until his retirement in 1979, he was renowned for his research incloud physicsandprecipitation,but especially for being a pioneer ofweather radar.
J. Stewart Marshall | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 July 1911 Welland |
| Died | 20 March 1992(aged 80) Montreal |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | |
| Employer | |
| Awards |
|
Biography
editEarly life
editStewart Marshall was born on July 18, 1911, inWelland, Ontario,Canada. He attendedQueen's UniversityinKingston,where he got in 1931 a bachelor's degree in Physics and Mathematics, and graduated a master's degree in 1933 with a dissertation on scattering of electrons by metallic foils.[1]After pausing to curetuberculosis,he enteredCambridge Universityon a scholarship to studynuclear physics.[1]
Second World War
editMarshall was recalled to Canada in 1939 to join theNational Research Council of Canadain Ottawa and participate in the war effort. In Canada, he first worked on ballistics problems, then on experiments with a brand new invention, theradar.He was among the first to recognize that anartifactthat sometimes obscured ships and planes on radar data was caused by rain and snow.[1]In 1943, Marshall underwent thoracic surgery to fight a reappearance of tuberculosis and then took the lead of the "Stormy Weather" project by theCanadian Department of National Defensewhose purpose was to find a use for these parasitic echoes.[1]The analysis of precipitationbackscatterproperties made it obvious that the undesirable interference provided a new way to observe the atmosphere.
Career at McGill
editJust after the war, Marshall and R. H. Douglas formed the "Stormy Weather Group" atMcGill Universityand continued their work.[1][2]Different instruments were used by the group in research on the fundamental properties of precipitation. They were mounted atDawson College,just south of the university's main campus.
In the mid-1950s, the Stormy Weather Group's contribution included the study of cloud physics, radar precipitation echo properties, early radar application to storm surveys, and precipitation monitoring at wider scale.[1]Some of the topics closely associated with Marshall are theraindrop size distribution,the study of the snowvirgaslope, radar signal fluctuation,coalescenceand radar displays likeCAPPIandHARPI.[1]In 1968, the need for a more permanent radar led to the construction of the current observatory, which was named theJ. S. Marshall Radar Observatorya little later in honor of the founder of the research group.
At the same time Marshall was leading the research group, he was a professor of physics and meteorology at McGill University. The activities of the "Stormy Weather Group" attracted more and more graduates and, in large part, enabled the formation of the full-fledgedmeteorological departmentin 1959, the first in Canada. As director and founder, Stewart Marshall has profoundly influenced the teaching of meteorology, his department serving as a model for the creation of half a dozen programs across Canada.[1]
Dissemination of knowledge
editMarshall and R. C. Langille, a colleague from Ottawa, were the only Canadians to attend the first radar meteorology conference at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) in 1947.[1]He organized the third conference at McGill in 1952 with two of his first PhD students: Walter Hitschfeld and Kenrick Gunn. Marshall also organized the 11th conference in Boulder in 1964, co-sponsored by theAmerican Meteorological Society(AMS) and theInternational Union of Radio Science(IURS), and the 13th conference in 1968, again in Montreal.[1]
Recognition
editStewart Marshall and his doctoral student, Walter Palmer, became famous for their work on the distribution of mid-latitude raindrops that led to the relationship between radar return (Z for reflectivity) and precipitation rate (R): the ZR relation.[3]
Marshal has published many articles. He has served on numerous scientific and educational committees in Canada and the United States. He was aFellow of the American Meteorological Societyand served a term on the AMS Board from 1965 to 1967.[1][4]He was elected aFellow of the Royal Society of Canadain 1953.[1]
He has received several awards:
- In 1961, thePatterson Medalof theCanadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society[1][5]
- In 1982, the Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Advance of Applied Meteorology by the AMS[6]
- The Hugh Robert Mill Medal of theRoyal Meteorological Society[1]
References
edit- ^abcdefghijklmn"John Stewart Marshall (1911-1992)"(pdf).Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.Necrologies.73(9): 1464–1466. September 1992.doi:10.1175/1520-0477-73.9.1464.RetrievedNovember 5,2018.
- ^"Stormy Weather Group".McGill University.2000. Archived fromthe originalon February 12, 2007.RetrievedNovember 5,2018..
- ^Marshall, J. S.; Palmer, W. McK. (August 1948)."The Distribution of Raindrops with Size".Journal of Meteorology.5(4): 165–166.Bibcode:1948JAtS....5..165M.doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1948)005<0165:TDORWS>2.0.CO;2.ISSN0095-9634.
- ^"List of AMS Fellows".American Meteorological Society.RetrievedNovember 5,2018.
- ^"1961 Patterson Medal Winners".Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society.RetrievedNovember 5,2018.
- ^"Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Advance of Applied Meteorology".American Meteorological Society.RetrievedNovember 5,2018.
- David Atlas(1990).Radar in Meteorology: Battan Memorial and 40th Anniversary Radar Meteorology Conference.Boston:American Meteorological Society.p. 806.ISBN0-933876-86-6.AMS Code RADMET
Also
editRelated articles
editExternal links
edit- Works by or about J. Stewart Marshallat theInternet Archive
- "Papers of J. S. Marshall".American Meteorological Society.