The Fabric of a Vision
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BJERKNES – LIKE FATHER – LIKE SON by Doria B. Grimes U.S. Dept
BJERKNES – LIKE FATHER – LIKE SON By Doria B. Grimes U.S. Dept. of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Central Library [email protected] A comparison of the lives of the Bjerknes family of researchers – Carl Anton (1825- 1903), Vilhelm (1862-1951), and Jakob (1897-1975) reveal unique parallelisms that are significant to the history of meteorology and to this great family legacy of scholars. Some of these parallelisms were caused by international events, while others were by personal choice. In the following presentation, I will four notable occurrences: 1) personal decisions to postpone scholarship to support a father’s research 2) relocations due to international conflicts 3) establishment of world renowned schools of meteorology and 4) funding from the Carnegie Institute of Washington. 1. Personal Choice Both Vilhelm and Jakob willingly postponed their education and personal research interests in order to support their respective father’s scientific investigations. Vilhelm During the 1980’s and 1880’s Carl Anton Bjerknes worked in relative isolation on hydrodynamic analogies. In 1882, Carl represented Norway at the Paris International Electric Exhibition where he gained international recognition on his electromagnetic theory and analogies which was successfully demonstrated by his son, Vilhelm. Vilhelm continued to assist his father until 1889, when at the age of 27 he “had to get away … to develop his own skills and career opportunities.”1 Vilhelm earned a Norwegian Doctorate in 1892 at the age of 30. He preferred electromagnetic wave studies above his father’s interest in hydrodynamic theory. Through Carl Anton’s influence, a position was created at the Stockholm H»gskola. -
Biographical Memoirs V.68
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/4990.html We ship printed books within 1 business day; personal PDFs are available immediately. Biographical Memoirs V.68 Office of the Home Secretary, National Academy of Sciences ISBN: 0-309-56440-9, 400 pages, 6 x 9, (1995) This PDF is available from the National Academies Press at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/4990.html Visit the National Academies Press online, the authoritative source for all books from the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council: • Download hundreds of free books in PDF • Read thousands of books online for free • Explore our innovative research tools – try the “Research Dashboard” now! • Sign up to be notified when new books are published • Purchase printed books and selected PDF files Thank you for downloading this PDF. If you have comments, questions or just want more information about the books published by the National Academies Press, you may contact our customer service department toll- free at 888-624-8373, visit us online, or send an email to [email protected]. This book plus thousands more are available at http://www.nap.edu. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF File are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Distribution, posting, or copying is strictly prohibited without written permission of the National Academies Press. Request reprint permission for this book. Biographical Memoirs V.68 http://www.nap.edu/catalog/4990.html i Biographical Memoirs NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES riginal paper book, not from the the authoritative version for attribution. -
Calculating the Weather Meteorology in the 20Th Century
Calculating the Weather This is Volume 60 in the INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICS SERIES A series of monographs and textbooks Edited by RENATA DMOWSKA and JAMES R. HOLTON A complete list of books in this series appears at the end of this volume. Calculating the Weather Meteorology in the 20th Century Frederik Nebeker IEEE CENTER FOR THE HISTORY OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING RUTGERS UNIVERSITY NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY ACADEMIC PRESS San Diego New York Boston London Sydney Tokyo Toronto Front cover photograph: NOAA-8 visual imagery of Hurricane Gloria, September 25, 1985, at 12:39 GMT. The islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico are faintly visible near the bottom of the print. Courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service; National Climatic Data Center; and Satellite Data Services Division. This book is printed on acid-free paper. (~) Copyright 9 1995 by ACADEMIC PRESS, INC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Academic Press, Inc. A Division of Harcourt Brace & Company 525 B Street, Suite 1900, San Diego, California 92101-4495 United Kingdom Edition published by Academic Press Limited 24-28 Oval Road, London NW1 7DX Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Nebeker, Frederik. Calculating the weather : meteorology in the 20th century / Frederik Nebeker. p. cm. -- (International geophysics series : v. 60) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-12-515175-6 1. Meteorology--Methodology. -
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CONTENTS EDITORIAL TEAM EUROPEAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ROBIN WILSON Department of Pure Mathematics The Open University Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK e-mail: [email protected] ASSOCIATE EDITORS STEEN MARKVORSEN Department of Mathematics Technical University of Denmark NEWSLETTER No. 43 Building 303 DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark March 2002 e-mail: [email protected] KRZYSZTOF CIESIELSKI Mathematics Institute EMS Agenda ................................................................................................. 2 Jagiellonian University Reymonta 4 Editorial ........................................................................................................ 3 30-059 Kraków, Poland e-mail: [email protected] Executive Committee Meeting – Brussels ...................................................... 4 KATHLEEN QUINN The Open University [address as above] e-mail: [email protected] EMS News ..................................................................................................... 7 SPECIALIST EDITORS INTERVIEWS EMS-SIAM Conference .................................................................................. 8 Steen Markvorsen [address as above] SOCIETIES Aniversary - Niels Henrik Abel ................................................................... 12 Krzysztof Ciesielski [address as above] EDUCATION Interview - Sir John Kingman...................................................................... 14 Tony Gardiner University of Birmingham Birmingham B15 2TT, UK Interview - Sergey P. Novikov -
Mathematik in Norwegen I Ein Land
Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze Abel-Skulptur von Gustav Lærum, 1902. Heute in Abels Sterbehaus in Froland, Sudnorwegen¨ Mathematik in Norwegen I Ein Land mit sehr wenig Poeten und allzu vielen Mathematikern“? ” von Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze In einer Folge von historischen Artikeln soll die Entwicklung von Forschung, Lehre, Publikationswesen, An- wendungsgebieten und internationalen Beziehungen der norwegischen Mathematik vor dem Zweiten Weltkrieg in Uberblicken¨ dargestellt werden, wobei die Relation zu Deutschland besondere Beachtung finden wird. In den zukunftigen¨ Beitr¨agen werden weitere wichtige Akteure wie B. M. Holmboe, J. A. Bonnevie, E. B. Holst, A.S.Guldberg,P.Heegaard,A.Thue,C.Størmer,T.Skolem,R.FrischundØ.OreindasBildtreten. Der nachfolgende Artikel dagegen konzentriert sich auf einige Hauptpersonen der norwegischen Mathematik des 19. Jahrhunderts (u. a. Abel, Hansteen, Broch, Sylow, Lie), deren Laufbahn einen ersten Eindruck von den Entwicklungsbedingungen des akademischen Fachs Mathematik“ (weniger des Schulfaches) im Norwegen des ” 19. Jahrhunderts geben kann.1 Zweihundert Jahre nach der Geburt von Niels Hen- damit gr¨oßere Verantwortung fur¨ die Pflege der im- rik Abel (1802–1829) hat das norwegische Parlament, mer noch ungenugend¨ gewurdigten¨ Kulturkraft und das Storting, den hochdotierten, aus einem Kapital Grundlagenwissenschaft Mathematik. von 200 Millionen Kronen (etwa 25 Mio. Euro) ge- Es besteht kein Zweifel und es ist kein Makel, dass speisten Abel-Preis gestiftet. Dieser ist inzwischen bei der Stiftung des Abel-Preises nationale Strategi- im Juni 2003 erstmals vergeben worden, und zwar en von norwegischer Seite, die Besinnung auf natio- an den franz¨osischen Ausnahmemathematiker Jean- nales Erbe und die gerade in letzter Zeit von norwe- Pierre Serre (geb. 1926), der 1954 bereits Fields- gischen Wissenschaftspolitikern verst¨arkten Interna- Preistr¨ager gewesen ist. -
Bernt Michael Holmboe's Textbooks
BERNT MICHAEL HOLMBOE’S TEXTBOOKS and the development of mathematical analysis in the 19th century Andreas CHRISTIANSEN Stord/Haugesund University College Faculty of Teacher and Cultural Education Klingenbergvegen 8, N–5414 Stord, Norway e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Bernt Michael Holmboe (1795–1850) was a teacher at Christiania Kathedralskole in Norway, from 1818 till 1826. After that he was lecturer at the University of Christiania until 1834, when he was appointed professor in pure mathematics, a position he held until his death in 1850. Holmboe wrote textbooks in arithmetic, geometry, stereometry and trigonometry for the learned schools in Norway, and one textbook in higher mathematics, and some of them came in several editions. This paper will focus on the first three editions of the textbook in arithmetic, and the way he dealt with the rigour in mathematical analysis. In the first half of the 19th century there was a growing demand for rigour in the foundations and methods of mathematical analysis, and this led to a thorough reconceptualisation of the foundations of analysis. Niels Henrik Abel (1802–1829) complained in a letter to Christopher Hansteen (1784–1873) in 1826 that mathematical analysis totally lacked any plan and system, and that very few theorems in the higher analysis had been proved with convincing rigour. The teaching of mathematics was an important motivation for this rigourisation, and I will try to demonstrate that the textbooks of Holmboe reflected the contemporary development in mathematical analysis. 1 Introduction The 19th century was an important century in the development of the modern number concept. -
Semblanzas De Vilhelm Bjerknes Y Su Legado Capítulo I: Una Vocación Tardía
Semblanzas de Vilhelm Bjerknes y su legado Capítulo I: Una vocación tardía Manuel Palomares Calderón [email protected] Abril de 2009 Vilhelm Bjerknes en Bergen (cuadro del museo de la ciudad) En los tiempos actuales en que la predicción del tiempo y del clima se apoyan en modelos sofisticados que usan datos de la atmósfera, el océano y el suelo recogidos en buena parte por satélites y otros sensores remotos, y los utilizan en diversas integraciones simultáneas con complicados procedimientos probabilísticos y enormes potencias de cálculo, se va olvidando la época en que los meteorólogos trabajaban solo con lápiz y papel y buscaban confirmaciones en los mapas del tiempo de las ecuaciones de la física atmosférica. Sin embargo, aquel trabajo, desarrollado sobre todo en la primera mitad del siglo XX, constituyó el firme cimiento de la meteorología y la climatología actuales, tan asociadas a la tecnología moderna. Bjerknes sigue siendo citado como “el padre de la meteorología moderna” pero muchos estudiantes de doctorado no están seguros de si ese respetuoso título corresponde al padre, al hijo o al nieto y muchos meteorólogos creen que su legado principal fue la teoría de masas de aire y frentes desarrollada por la escuela noruega. Estas líneas están dedicadas al segundo miembro de la saga, Vilhelm Friman Koren 1 Bjerknes, nacido en Christiania (la actual Oslo) el 14 de Marzo de 1862 y fallecido en 1951. Su padre, Carl Anton Bjerknes (1825-1903), fue un profesor de matemática aplicada en la Universidad de Oslo, cuyas ideas científicas influenciaron notablemente la carrera inicial de Vilhelm y el hijo de éste, Jakob (“Jack”) Bjerknes, desarrolló un trabajo de enorme significación para la meteorología y la climatología actuales. -
Jakob Milich Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg Im Breisgau / Universität Wien Nicoló Fontana Tartaglia 1520
Jakob Milich Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau / Universität Wien Nicoló Fontana Tartaglia 1520 Erasmus Reinhold Bonifazius Erasmi Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg Ostilio Ricci 1535 1509 Universita' di Brescia Johannes Volmar Galileo Galilei Valentine Naibod Nicolaus Copernicus (Mikołaj Kopernik) Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg Università di Pisa Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg / Universität Erfurt 1499 1515 1585 Rudolph (Snel van Royen) Snellius Georg Joachim von Leuchen Rheticus Benedetto Castelli Petrus Ryff Universität zu Köln / Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg Ludolph van Ceulen Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg Università di Padova Gilbert Jacchaeus Universität Basel 1572 1535 1610 University of St. Andrews / Universität Helmstedt / Universiteit Leiden 1584 Willebrord (Snel van Royen) Snellius Marin Mersenne Moritz Valentin Steinmetz Adolph Vorstius Emmanuel Stupanus Universiteit Leiden Université Paris IV-Sorbonne Universität Leipzig Evangelista Torricelli Universiteit Leiden / Università di Padova Universität Basel 1607 1611 1550 Università di Roma La Sapienza 1619 1613 Jacobus Golius Christoph Meurer Vincenzo Viviani Franciscus de le Boë Sylvius Georg Balthasar Metzger Johann Caspar Bauhin Universiteit Leiden Gilles Personne de Roberval Universität Leipzig Università di Pisa Universiteit Leiden / Universität Basel Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena / Universität Basel Universität Basel 1612 1582 1642 1634 1644 1649 Frans van -
Scientific Weather Prediction
Scientific Weather Prediction: A Newspaper Article on Weather Forecasting by V. Bjerknes In January 1904 Vilhelm F.K. Bjerknes (1862-1951) published a short paper in German in The journal “Meteorologische Zeitschrift”, entitled The Problem of Weather Forecasting from the Standpoint of Mechanics and Physics (Bjerknes 1904a). In this paper Bjerknes introduced hydrodynamics and thermodynamics into meteorology and expressed his vision and programme for weather forecasting (Grønås 2005). This well-known paper is often cited as the beginning of modern weather prediction based on physical principles, i.e. prognosis by computing the change of the state of the atmosphere, diagnosed from observations at synoptic times, using the known conservation laws of momentum, mass and energy (e.g. Lynch 2006). In the same month that his scientific journal paper, Bjerknes wrote an article on the same subject in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, published in three parts over three days. The title was Weather Prediction and the Prospect for its Improvement. The article is about 7000 words, more than twice as long as his paper, and contains some interesting additional points not taken up in the paper, such as the problem of acquiring observations aloft, a discussion of possible future predictability for weather forecasting and the importance of predicting seasonal changes in the ocean circulation using similar methods. We have translated the article from Norwegian (rather Danish, since this language – and gothic letters - was used in most Norwegian newspaper at that time). The English version is available at the website of Geofysisk Institutt, University of Bergen (Bjerknes 1904b). In this short paper we summarize the article and make some general comments. -
Un Paseo Fotográfico Por La Vida De Sophus
Lecturas Matem´aticas Volumen 31 (2010), p´aginas 55–75 ISSN 0120–1980 Un paseo fotogr´aficoporlavidadeSophusLie Juan Nu´nez,˜ Alicia Prieto & Vanesa Sanchez–Canales´ Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Espa˜na Abstract. It is quite a lot scarce the literature on the Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie, in spite of being him, as the great vol- ume of his works demonstrates, one of the most important mathemati- cians throughout the history. In this paper, some of the non well-known photographs related with his life are shown. A particular review of the people and circumstances appearing in each of them is described. Key words and phrases. Sophus Lie; biography, fotography. 2000 AMS Mathematics Subject Classification. 01A55, 01A70 Resumen. No es muy numerosa la documentaci´on escrita existente sobre el matem´atico noruego Sophus Lie,apesardeser´este, por el volumen de sus obras, uno de los m´as importantes matem´aticos de todos los tiempos. En este art´ıculo se muestran algunas de las escasa- mente conocidas fotograf´ıas relacionadas con la vida de Sophus Lie, realiz´andose un detallado estudio de cada una de ellas, con especial menci´on de los personajes que aparecen y de las circunstancias que cada una de ellas refleja. Introducci´on En honor a la verdad, no puede decirse que Sophus Lie sea un matem´atico muy conocido, no ya por la sociedad en general, sino ni siquiera por la comu- nidad cient´ıfica en particular. Lejos este conocimiento del que se tiene de otros matem´aticos, como Euler o Gauss, por ejemplo. Y esto, a pesar de que la obra cient´ıfica de Lie es particularmente extensa y de que tanto sus descubri- mientos como fundamentalmente las aplicaciones de los mismos han marcado un hito en el campo de otras disciplinas, como la f´ısica y las ingenier´ıas, por ejemplo. -
Jacob Bjerknes
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES JACO B A ALL BONNEVIE B J ERKNES 1897—1975 A Biographical Memoir by AR N T E LIASSEN Any opinions expressed in this memoir are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Academy of Sciences. Biographical Memoir COPYRIGHT 1995 NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS WASHINGTON D.C. JACOB AALL BONNEVIE BJERKNES November 2, 1897–July 7, 1975 BY ARNT ELIASSEN ACOB AALL BONNEVIE BJERKNES, or Jack Bjerknes as he was J usually called, was one of the founders of modern me- teorology. He entered the scientific scene at the age of twenty with the discovery of the structure of extratropical cyclones, which became of the greatest importance and formed the starting point of a fruitful development for theo- retical meteorology as well as practical weather forecasting. It was Jack’s father, the famous physicist and geophysicist Vilhelm Bjerknes, who set the stage for the research lead- ing up to this discovery, but Jack was the principal per- former. FAMILY BACKGROUND The name Bjerknes comes from a family farm in south- eastern Norway where some of Jack’s ancestors lived. Jack represented the third generation in a dynasty of scientists. His grandfather, Carl Anton Bjerknes, was professor of math- ematics at the University of Christiania, as the Norwegian capital Oslo was called at the time. He showed both theo- retically and by experiment that an ideal fluid would trans- fer Coulomb-type forces between pulsating spheres and thought that he was on the track of a hydrodynamical ether theory of electromagnetism.