Milanković, Milutin
(1879 - 1958)
Milanković

Modern Era
Contributors to Meteorology
(post World War I)


Below are checklists of Modern Era Contributors to Meteorology on postal items (stamps, souvenir sheets, aerogrammes, postal cards, etc.) and numismatic items (banknotes and coins). Catalog numbers, years of issue, and notes on the items featured are given when available. If readers know of additional information or images, please contact the authors using the e-mail addresses at the bottom of this page.

Contributors to MeteorologyTime Period CoveredNumber
Ancient and pre-RenaissanceThrough 1300s AD32
Precursor EraRenaissance [~1400 AD] through World War I216
Modern Era (this page)Post World War I122
Chronological and Alphabetical Indexes370


Modern Era Contributors to meteorology covered:


The Contributors on this page are listed in alphabetical order above, and are presented in chronological order below.


Bjerknes

Bjerknes, Vilhelm
(1862 - 1951)

Vilhelm Bjerknes was a Norwegian meteorologist. Early in his scientific career, beginning in 1890, he worked as assistant to Heinrich Hertz, and contributed to Hertz' work on electromagnetic resonance. This work eventually led to the development of radio.

Bjerknes is an important figure in 20th century meteorology: he introduced many of the common techniques and ideas used by modern meteorologists and weather forecasters. He was one of the originators of the Bergen classical school of thought in meteorology (also referred to at times as the Norwegian school). In the Bergen model, fronts are considered to be the sloping boundaries between cold and warm airmasses. They therefore have a three-dimensional structure, which was a new idea at the time.

Bjerknes was also a professor of meteorology, and published papers and books on dynamic meteorology and hydrodynamics. For example, in the paper On the Dynamic Principle of Circulatory Movements in the Atmosphere (Monthly Weather Review, October 1900), Bjerknes applied fundamental theorems in fluid motion by Helmholtz, Kelvin and Silberstein, along with others of his own discovery, to atmospheric circulation. This was one of the first papers to study dynamic meteorology in its modern framework.

In 1917, Bjerknes founded the Geophysical Institute of Bergen, with the goal of improving the country's meteorological forecast service. He established a large network of observing stations, mostly in southern Norway, that followed what was known as the "indirect" reporting method, in which detailed cloud observations were made in an attempt to compensate for the lack of upper-level sounding information (Bjerknes knew that information from upper levels was as important as information from the surface, but the modern radiosonde network had not yet been established). Starting in 1918, Bjerknes made analyses of his synoptic (i.e. large scale) weather maps, in which he integrated the available observations over large areas into complete meteorological patterns that included smaller scale features such as cold and warm fronts and their associated circulations. From his analyses, Bjerknes built a model of the cycle of the birth, development and decay of mid-latitude low pressure systems and their associated fronts. This was useful because the model could then be applied to observed patterns in order to forecast the evolution of the weather. This work was the foundation of what came to be known as the Bergen School of Meteorology. This idea still lies at the heart of the modern practice of weather forecasting.

While at the Institute, Bjerknes wrote his book On the Dynamics of the Circular Vortex with Applications to the Atmosphere and to Atmospheric Vortex and Wave Motion. It was published in 1921.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Norway403 (Mi466)1962100th anniv. birth
Norway404 (Mi467)
Norway404 cardInformation card


Eckener

Eckener, Hugo
(1868 - 1954)

Hugo Eckener was the commander of the German airship Graf Zeppelin.

In 1926 Fridtjof Nansen founded the International Association for Exploring the Arctic by Means of Airship (commonly known as "Aeroarctic"). According to its statement of purpose, Aeroarctic would support "the scientific investigation and permanent control of the Arctic by means of explorations (voyages) and by the disembarking and support of wireless stations". To this end, in 1928 Nansen discussed with Eckener the idea that Aeroarctic might sponsor the Graf Zeppelin in an Arctic mission. Through Eckener's knowledge of airships and Nansen's knowledge of weather, the two agreed that such a voyage would be feasible. Nansen wrote that "it may be understood that the object of the expedition with the Graf Zeppelin … is not merely to fly across the North Polar region and to take a few accidental observations, but it is an important link in a great scientific programme, and will give results of importance to science". He expected that such a scientific program would provide information useful in weather forecasting, agriculture, shipping, trade and air traffic, but unfortunately died before it could take place.

The Aeroarctic/Graf Zeppelin Arctic expedition took place in 1931 with Eckener in command. The trip was a success on all fronts. A large amount of information was gathered related to meteorology, terrestrial magnetism and oceanography. Weather records were kept throughout the trip and meteorological isobaric maps were constructed three times per day. Molchanov sounding balloons were successfully launched from the airship near Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya and Vaigach Island. These balloons carried small radio transmitters that relayed measurements of temperature, pressure and humidity back to the airship.

Eckener would later write of the voyage that "my expectations, in so far as they were surpassed, were realized when I saw that, respecting the Arctic in summer, no anxieties need be felt regarding meteorological disturbances. Temperatures in the upper air regions are such that fears that an ice cap can be formed on the ship can be avoided by proper navigation".

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Antigua and Barbuda1632 (Mi?)1992(125th anniv. birth, in 1993)
Antigua and Barbuda1711 (Mi?)1993125th anniv. birth
Antigua and Barbuda1712 (Mi?)
Antigua and Barbuda1716 (Mi?)
Antigua and Barbuda1718 (BL?)SS1
Azerbaijan513 (BL?)SS11995(40th anniv. death, in 1994)
Bequia (St. Vincent)400c (Mi?)One of MS3 (400 (a-c))2007Eckener
Dominica1568 (Mi?)1993125th anniv. birth
Dominica1570 (Mi?)
Dominica1573 (Mi?)
Dominica1576 (BL?)SS1
Gambia1380 (Mi?)1993125th anniv. birth
Gambia1382 (Mi?)
Gambia1383 (Mi?)
Gambia1387 (BL?)SS1
GermanyNoneCancel on cover1925
GermanyNoneCinderella1936
GermanyNoneCommemorative card, also back1938
Germany (West)NoneCachet on cover1976
GermanyNoneCancel on postal card1993(125th anniv. birth)
Ghana1551A (Mi?)1993125th anniv. birth
Ghana1553 (Mi?)
Ghana1560 (Mi?)
Ghana1562 (BL?)SS1
Grenada1794 (Mi?)1990Eckener (at left)
Grenada2272 (Mi?)1993125th anniv. birth
Grenada2273 (Mi?)
Grenada2274 (Mi?)
Grenada2275 (BL?)SS1
HungaryC390 (Mi3235)1977(110th anniv. birth, in 1978)
Lesotho940 (Mi?)1993(125th anniv. birth)
Mauritania346 (Mi540)
i346

Imperforate
1976
Nicaragua1989a (Mi?)From MS16 (1989 (a-i))1994(125th anniv. birth, in 1993)
Nicaragua1989e (Mi?)
Nicaragua1989o (Mi?)
Nicaragua1991 (BL?)SS1
St. Vincent1866 (Mi?)1993125th anniv. birth
St. Vincent1869 (Mi?)
St. Vincent1870 (Mi?)
St. Vincent1873 (BL?)SS1
St. Vincent1873 fdcSS1 on FDC
Upper VoltaC237 (BL42)Imperforate SS1 + 3 labels1976Eckener (on one label)
United StatesC11 fdc (Mi? fdc)Cachet (signature) on FDC1928
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1930
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1933
Uruguay1519 (BL60)
i1519
On one of MS4 (1519 (a-d)), stamps-on-stamp: Germany C39 and Uruguay C426c
On one of imperforate MS4 (i1519 (a-d))
1993125th anniv. birth


Bonnel

Bonnel, Ferdinand
(1869 - 1945)

Ferdinand Bonnel, born in France near the border with Belgium, was a Jesuit priest and educator who worked in Sri Lanka. He founded St. Michael's College, which became known for its programs in meteorology and astronomy. Bonnel was the College director for more than 40 years.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Sri Lanka870 (Mi?)1988(120th anniv. birth, in 1989)


Wilson

Wilson, Charles Thomson Rees
(1869 - 1959)

Charles Wilson was a Scottish physicist best remembered for his cloud chamber and for his work in atmospheric electricity.

After his studies at Cambridge University, Wilson spent a short time as a volunteer at the Ben Nevis Observatory in 1894. Ben Nevis is the highest point in Scotland, and the observatory was at the summit. Wilson found the glories (philatelic examples 1 and 2) and coronas (philatelic examples 1 and 2) in the clouds and mists of the mountain particularly beautiful and was inspired to study them. The thunderstorms he experienced there may have been the seeds of his later interest in atmospheric electricity.

The Cloud Chamber

Wilson worked from 1895 to 1900 as a researcher at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University. His starting point was the work of John Aitken (1839 - 1919), a Scottish atmospheric physicist who cooled a sample of air in an expansion chamber to cause condensation and showed that the resulting water droplets formed on small atmospheric particles such as dust. Such particles are now known as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Wilson developed an updated expansion chamber that came to be called the "cloud chamber" and used it to show that water droplets would also form in pure air (with no dust) if it was cooled enough to attain a very high humidity. He noticed that such droplets reacted to an electric field and hypothesized that the nuclei on which they had formed must therefore be ions (charged particles). Wilson then passed X-rays (discovered late in 1895) through the cloud chamber and found a resulting large increase in the number of cloud droplets. This experiment confirmed his hypothesis, since other researchers had established that the passage of X-rays through air makes it electrically conductive, and furthermore that air conductivity was due to the presence of ions.

Wilson demonstrated the cloud chamber to some other interested scientists in the late 1890s, including Kelvin, who had previously made some measurements of the atmospheric electrical field.

Wilson had some hopes of using his cloud chamber results as a basis for linking the behaviour of ions with the formation of clouds in the real atmosphere. In this he was unsuccessful. Such a link may not even be possible, since the conditions in the cloud chamber differ greatly from those in the real atmosphere.

In 1911, Wilson was the first to observe and photograph the tracks of alpha- and beta-particles and electrons in the cloud chamber. He described them as "little wisps and threads of clouds". The cloud chamber later provided other discoveries in the field of nuclear physics. As a result, Wilson, together with Arthur Compton, received the 1927 Nobel Prize for Physics. Wilson was cited for the invention of the cloud chamber, which the Nobel committee described as being at the heart of "his method of making the paths of electrically charged particles visible by the condensation of vapour".

Atmospheric Electricity

Wilson's interest in atmospheric electricity grew in the late 1890s. Then in 1900 he was asked by the Meteorological Council of the Royal Society to do some scientific work on the subject. To start, he made observations of the atmospheric electric field in 1900 and 1901 in Peebles, Scotland, where he used captive balloons and kites to measure the electric field strength at various heights, and also made improvements to the Kelvin electrograph technique. Within a few years he had constructed an instrument to measure the atmospheric electric potential gradient and the vertical flow of current in fair weather. Those measurements allowed him to calculate the electrical conductivity of the air. Of this work Wilson would reminisce, in an article published posthumously in 1960:

"I remember the satisfaction I had when my work led to the fulfilment of my dream of isolating a portion of the Earth's surface and measuring the charge upon it and the current flowing into it from the atmosphere".

His instrument, later called the "Wilson apparatus" by the Meteorological Office, became a standard for measurements of atmospheric electricity. Instruments with the same basic design were used at the Kew Observatory until 1979. Interestingly, data from the Wilson apparatus has also been used to reconstruct historic air pollution data in England.

Since atmospheric conductivity is almost exclusively due to the presence of ions, Wilson's measurements of electrical conductivity allowed him to calculate the concentration of those ions. He was also able to examine them in the cloud chamber. He published papers describing the cloud chamber and its uses in 1911 and 1912. In subsequent years he continued to make observations of atmospheric electricity and worked on droplet charging, thunderstorm electrification and the development of a capillary electrometer. In 1913 he was appointed Observer in Meteorological Physics at the Cambridge Solar Physics Observatory, where he carried out in particular work on thunderstorm electricity. In 1918 he was appointed Reader in Electrical Meteorology at the Cavendish Laboratory, and he was the Jacksonian Professor at Cambridge from 1925 until his retirement in 1935.

In the years after WWI, Wilson turned to the question of why the Earth's surface should retain an overall negative charge despite the observed electrical gradient (positive charge in the atmosphere, negative at the surface) which at first glance should neutralize the surface negative charge. It was known that there were electrical discharges associated with thunderstorms, and this led to the suggestion that lightning might be the replenishing agent of the surface negative charge. Wilson's cloud chamber experiments suggested another mechanism: they showed that if the CCN on which cloud droplets formed were negatively charged, more vapour would condense onto them than if they were positively charged. He therefore suggested that raindrops descending to the ground in thunderstorm areas (or possibly in other areas of unsettled weather with rain) were negatively charged, so that lightning and raindrops together could act to continuously replenish the observed surface negative charge in the presence of the overall atmospheric positive charge. To complete the picture, it was necessary to postulate that a vertical charge separation occurs in thunderstorms: negative at the base and positive at the top. The high level positive charge could migrate upward to a conducting layer (the ionosphere) which then would transfer it to all the remaining areas without thunderstorms, thus maintaining the observed electrical structure of the atmosphere and the surface. This theory has come to be known as the global atmospheric electrical circuit, and current flowing in the circuit is referred to as the Wilson current. Even today all the details have not been worked out, but the general theory is well-accepted. Wilson published these ideas in various papers including those of 1921, 1929 and 1956.

References (some scientific papers by Wilson)

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
LiberiaMi2903From and in (left) margin of MS17 (Mi2893-2909 + label)2000(Charles) Wilson's cloud chamber
LiberiaMi2905Charles Wilson
LiberiaMi2907Photograph from (Charles) Wilson's cloud chamber


Aston

Aston, Francis W.
(1877 - 1945)

Francis Aston was a British chemist who invented the mass spectrometer. Modern measurements of atmospheric CO2 concentration have been done by gas chromatograph and laser absorption techniques, but can also be done using mass spectrometers (Bender, M.L., Sowers, T., Barnola, J.-M., Chappellaz, J. Geophys. Res. Lett., 1994; 21: 189).

Aston's research was interrupted by WWI. During the war years he studied the effects of atmospheric conditions on the fabrics and dopes used in airplanes, as part of the war effort.

He won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1922.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Gabon804h (Mi?)One of MS9 (804 (a-i))1995(50th anniv. death)


Gökmen

Gökmen, Fatin
(1877 - 1955)

Fatin Gökmen was a Turkish mathematician and astronomer. From 1904 to 1910, he was professor of Astronomy and Mathematics at the University of Istanbul.

The Imperial Meteorological Observatory had been established in 1868 but was destroyed in the uprising of March 1909. The new government formed after the uprising appointed Gökmen director of the Imperial Observatory and charged him with finding a location for a new building. He established the new Observatory, named Kandilli, in 1911. A class 1 meteorological observing station was set up there, and from 1 July 1911 continuous weather observations were made and recorded there. Also from that time, daily weather forecasts for Istanbul were prepared at the Observatory. Magnetic observations were introduced by Gökmen in 1927. The modern Observatory has maintained its meteorological function, but other geophysical and astronomical areas of study have been added to its responsibilities over the years, including, most recently, the study of earthquakes.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
TurkeyB83 (Mi1812)1961Gökmen; 50th anniv. Kandilli Observatory
Turkey1674 (BL?)SS1, stamp-on-stamp: B83 (detail) partially reproduced in (right) margin1964(10th anniv. death, in 1965)


Terada

Terada, Torahiko
(1878 - 1935)

Torahiko Terada was a Japanese meteorologist and university professor. He established the Earth Sciences Department at Tokyo University, where he taught meteorology. One of his students was Sakuhei Fujiwara, who became well-known for his research on what came to be called the "Fujiwara effect" in tropical cyclones.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Japan496 (Mi?)1952


du Toit

du Toit, Alexander Logie
(1878 - 1948)

Alexander Du Toit was a South African geologist who was one of the strongest early supporters of Wegener's theory of continental drift. Du Toit's arguments were mostly geological, but he also was intrigued by the observations that some fossils from tropical plants had been found in Antarctica, and glacial deposits had been found in Africa. Like Wegener, du Toit realized that historical climate change could be explained if the continents had drifted from one climatic zone to another, and furthermore that a rearrangement of the Earth's continents and oceans could act to change climate patterns.

In his 1937 work Our Wandering Continents: A Hypothesis of Continental Drifting, du Toit expressed these climate-related ideas: he stated that different continents could show "in their fossil remains common or allied forms of terrestrial life, possessed during certain epochs of climates that may have ranged from glacial to torrid or pluvial to arid, though contrary to meteorological principles when their existing geographic positions are considered".

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
South Africa813 (Mi828)1991du Toit and maps of early continents
South Africa813 maxiStamp and cancel and cachet on maxicard
South Africa810-813 fdcOne of three stamps on FDC


Simpson

Simpson, Sir George Clarke
(1878 - 1965)

Simpson was an English meteorologist. He studied atmospheric electricity in Lapland in 1902 and was appointed meteorological lecturer at Manchester University in 1905. He became the Imperial Meteorologist for the Indian Meteorological Service in 1906, where his responsibilities included inspecting meteorological observing stations in India and Burma. In 1910 he joined Robert Scott's second Antarctic expedition (the British Antarctic Expedition) as expedition meteorologist. He served aboard the ship Terra Nova as it made its way to Antarctica. In Antarctica, he was responsible for one of the continent's first weather observing stations, at the Cape Evans base camp. A knoll just behind the Cape Evans hut, 66 feet above sea level, was named Wind Vane Hill. A run-of-the-wind anemometer and a Stevenson screen were set up on the knoll. Electric wires connected the anemometer cups to a recorder in the hut. The cup rotations were electrically counted; with every four miles of wind a signal sent to the hut caused a pen on a chronograph to register a step. The screen was visited (generally by Simpson) at 0800 each morning, in all weather, and the thermometers (maximum, minimum and present) were read. This BAT stamp shows Simpson standing in front of the screen and recording those temperatures. Furthermore, Simpson made the first Antarctic upper-air measurements using instrumented balloons. This document describes in some detail those measurements. This stamp shows expedition members, including Simpson, launching a weather balloon. Simpson also studied the local meteorological effects of the area. For example, he established that Minna Bluff acts to divide the airflow into two separate currents, which results in the cold and foggy "windless bight" area on the south coast of Ross Island.

Simpson returned to the Indian Meteorological Service early in 1912. There he compiled his notes about Antarctic meteorology. In 1919 he published the first volume of the expedition's meteorological records, entitled British Antarctic Expedition 1910-1913. Meteorology. Two other volumes followed.

Simpson was drafted into WWI military service and served in 1916 as meteorological advisor to the British Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia. In 1920 he became the Director of the British Meteorological Office in London, where he conducted research into atmospheric electricity, ionization, lightning, radioactivity and solar radiation. In 1926 he established a wind force scale known as the Simpson scale, a modification of the Beaufort wind force scale.

Simpson retired from the Meteorological Office in 1938 but was recalled into active service in 1939 because of WWII. He was appointed head of the Kew Observatory, where he continued to study the electrical structure of thunderstorms until 1947. He served as president of the British Meteorological Society from 1940 to 1942.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
British Antarctic Territory426f (Mi534)One of MS8 (426 (a-h)) (Mi529-536)2010Probably Simpson recording temperatures at the Stevenson screen in 1911 near the Cape Evans Hut, during Robert Scott's second Antarctic expedition
British Antarctic TerritoryUnknown b (Mi?)From MS4 (a-d)2011Probably Simpson recording temperatures at the Stevenson screen in 1911 near the Cape Evans Hut, during Robert Scott's second Antarctic expedition
British Antarctic TerritoryUnknown c (Mi?)Simpson's lab in the Cape Evans Hut in 1911 during Robert Scott's second Antarctic expedition. The white vertical drum in the centre of the image rotated and recorded the wind speed measured by an anemometer on a knoll behind the hut known to the expedition as Wind Vane Hill.
British Antarctic TerritoryUnknown c (Mi563)One of MS8 (a-h)2011Simpson (one of two men holding the balloon)


Milanković

Milanković, Milutin
(1879 - 1958)

Milutin Milanković was a Serbian engineeer and mathematician who was intrigued by the ice ages and the climatic changes that must have caused the advance and retreat of the glaciers. His general ideas about this question followed those of the Scot James Croll, who in 1864 had published a paper in the Philosophical Magazine that hypothesized that variations in the Earth's orbit might have caused the ice ages.

In the WWI years Milanković studied the interactions between solar radiation and the temperature of the Earth. His results were published in Paris in 1920 in a monograph entitled Théorie mathématique des phénomčnes thermiques produits par la radiation solaire (Mathematical theory of thermal phenomena caused by solar radiation). In it, he presented a curve describing the solar insolation at the Earth's surface. Köppen and Wegener used it in their 1924 work Klimate der geologischen Vorzeit (Climates of the Geological Past). In 1927 they invited Milanković to collaborate with them on their Handbuch der Klimatologie (Handbook on Climatology). He wrote the introduction to the Handbook: Mathematische Klimalehre und astronomische Theorie der Klimaschwankungen (Mathematical science of climate and astronomical theory of the variations of the climate). The ideas contained therein would form the basis of a theory that he formulated in the 1930s. That theory, which came to be known by the name of "Milanković cycles", presents a relationship between long-term cycles in the Earth's climate and changes in its orbital eccentricity, axial tilt and precession. The precession changes slightly in an approximate 26,000 year cycle. The Earth's orbit about the sun changes in 100,000 year and 400,000 year cycles. The tilt of the Earth's axis changes in a cycle of about 41,000 years. Milanković derived the mathematical formulas that describe these cycles and showed how they can interact so that at some times there is more sunlight striking the Earth, and at others there is less. When there is less, snow and ice can accumulate and glaciers can advance, forming an Ice Age. When there is more, there is warming and the ice retreats. Milanković presented the complete theory in his 1941 work Kanon der Erdbestrahlung und seine Anwendung auf das Eiszeitenproblem (A Study of Insolation reaching the Earth and its Application to the Problem of the Ice Ages).

The theory of Milanković cycles remained controversial, but a paper published in the journal Science in 1976 ("Variations in the Earth's orbit: pacemaker of the Ice Ages" by Hayes, Imbrie and Shackleton) confirmed the basic ideas. In it, measurements from deep ocean sediment cores along with new understanding of celestial mechanics were used to show that variations in solar insolation were the main cause of the advance and retreat of ice sheets in the Quaternary period.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serb Admin.)226 (Mi303)Stamp + label, from MS8 + label2004
Serbia374 (Mi174)2007(50th anniv. death, in 2008)
Serbia374 fdc1Stamp on FDC
Serbia374 fdc2Stamp on FDC (different)
Serbia-Krajina (Croat Admin.)Unknown (Mi?)
Unknown imperf
From MS8 + label
Imperforate and label from imperforate MS8 + label
1996
Serbia-Krajina (Croat Admin.)Unknown fdcStamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
Serbia-Montenegro242 (Mi319)2004125th anniv. birth
Serbia-Montenegro242 fdcStamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
Serbia-Montenegro242 var (Mi?)Variety, with the initials of the stamp designer printed in the stamp image
Yugoslavia1432 (Mi1793)
i1432

Imperforate
1979100th anniv. birth
Yugoslavia1432 fdcStamp and cancel and cachet on FDC


Wegener

Wegener, Alfred
(1880 - 1930)

Alfred Wegener was a German geophysicist, Arctic explorer and meteorologist who advanced the theory of continental drift.

Wegener received a doctorate in astronomy in 1904, but found that he was more interested in geophysics, meteorology and climatology. At that time the telegraph, Atlantic cable and wireless were beginning to supply the data necessary for analysis and forecasting of storms. In 1905 he went to work at the Royal Prussian Aeronautical Observatory near Berlin, where he studied the atmosphere with kites and balloons. He was then invited to join a 1906 Danish expedition to Greenland's northeast coast. This was a dream come true for Wegener. In Greenland from 1906 to 1908 Wegener became the first person to use kites and tethered balloons to study the polar atmosphere. From 1909, he lectured on meteorology and astronomy at the University of Marberg. In 1911 he collected his meteorology lectures into a book, Thermodynamik der Atmosphäre (The Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere), which became a standard text in Germany.

Wegener also worked in the area of cloud and precipitation physics. As early as 1784, Benjamin Franklin had speculated that rainfall at the ground began as some form of snow in the clouds. Wegener considered that water can exist in the atmosphere in supercooled liquid form (at a temperature below 0°C), and also that the saturation vapour pressure over liquid water is greater than that over ice. He concluded that as a result, cloud ice crystals would necessarily grow at the expense of supercooled liquid cloud droplets. The resulting large ice crystals would be Franklin's 'snow', which could melt to form raindrops as it fell. These ideas were contained in Thermodynamik der Atmosphäre. Wegener never got the chance to document this process in real clouds, but Tor Bergeron and Walter Findeisen proved the theory in the 1930s. The process, often now known as the Bergeron-Findeisen process, is more correctly referred to as the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process.

Wegener went back to Greenland in 1912-13 and crossed the Greenland ice cap with Danish explorer J.P. Koch and two others in a trip from Dove Bay on the east coast to Upernavik on the west coast. The data that he gathered during this journey made him one of the world's leading experts on polar meteorology and glaciology. According to fellow meteorologist and Greenland explorer Dr. Johannes Georgi, "Wegener was the first to trace storm tracks over the Greenland ice cap". He continued to work at Marburg until 1919, when he was appointed head of the Departement of theoretical meteorology at the German Hydrographic Office (The Deutsche Seewarte) in Hamburg. In 1924 he was appointed professor of Meteorology and Geophysics at the Institute of Physics, University of Graz. In addition to his continuing interest in continental drift and polar meteorology, he also conducted investigations concerning processes in the upper atmosphere and the aurora borealis. Furthermore, he also studied optical effects in the frigid air above the Greenland ice cap, where spectacular optical phenomena can occur in the presence of ice crystals. In a 1926 article, Wegener explained the formation process of two rare arcs that can appear opposite the sun in the presence of ice crystals. The arcs were then named in his honour.

In addition to his meteorological work, Wegener originated a revolution in geophysics: the idea of continental drift. This theory accounted for geological and fossil evidence that ancient climates had been vastly different from modern ones. Wegener thought that actual motion of continents might explain this climatic puzzle, so he and the climatologist Wladimir Köppen (who was also his father-in-law) plotted ancient deserts, jungles and ice sheets on paleogeographic maps based on the theory. The result was a plausible picture of past climates. Evidence of an ice age from some 280 million years ago, for example, scattered over almost all the Earth in modern times, clustered neatly around the South Pole in Wegener's map. This was because Africa, Antarctica, Australia and India had once comprised a southern hemispheric supercontinent (Gondwanaland). Wegener considered such paleoclimatic validation one of the strongest proofs of his theory. Conversely, continental drift has since become one of the main supporting principles of paleoclimatology. The South African geologist Alexander du Toit, working more or less independently, reached similar conclusions to those of Wegener and so became one of the early supporters of his theory.

Wegener returned to Greenland in the spring of 1930 as the leader of an expedition designed to systematically study the Greenland ice cap and its climate. Ernst Sorge, Johannes Giorgi and Fritz Lowe were part of this team. During this expedition, three research stations were set up: West camp, East camp, and Eismitte (Middle Ice camp, located on the ice cap at some 3000 m elevation). Unfortunately, in November 1930 Wegener and Rasmus Villumsen died while trying to reach West camp from Eismitte. Wegener was only 50. Despite his death, the expedition succeeded in its goal of recording one full year of meteorological observations at the Eismitte station as well as at the West camp station.

Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine research, established in 1980, was named in honour of Wegener.

Other selected publications by Wegener:

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Austria1169 (Mi1660)1980(100th anniv. birth; 50th anniv. death)
Denmark1004 (Mi?)1994Wegener's weather balloon, 1906-1908 Danish Greenland expedition
Germany (Berlin)9N451 (Mi616)1980Wegener and continental drift; (100th anniv. birth; 50th anniv. death)
Germany (Berlin)9N451 fdcStamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
Germany (Berlin)9N451 maxiMaxicard
Germany (Berlin)9N451 scCancel on souvenir card
Germany (East)2091 (Mi?)1980(100th anniv. birth; 50th anniv. death)
Germany (East)2091 coverCancel and cachet on cover1980100th anniv. birth; (50th anniv. death)
Germany (West)NoneCachet on cover1982Wegener Institute for Polar Research
Germany (West)NoneCachet1983Wegener Institute; Antarktis-1
Germany (West)1353 cover (Mi? cover)(Lower-left rubber-stamp) cachet on cover1984Wegener Institute; Antarktis-2
Germany (West)NoneCachet1985Wegener Institute; Antarktis-3
Germany (West)NoneCachet on cover1985Wegener Institute; Antarktis-4
Germany (West)None(Black rubber-stamp) cachet on cover1986Wegener Institute
Germany (West)None(Black rubber-stamp) cachet on cover1986Wegener Institute; Antarktis-5-1/3
Germany (West)None(Blue rubber-stamp) cachet on cover1987Wegener Institute; Antarktis-5-4
Germany (West)None(Red rubber-stamp) cachet on cover1987Wegener Institute; Antarktis-6
Germany (West)NoneCachet on cover1987Wegener Institute; air-sea interaction project
GermanyNoneCancel on cover2005Wegener Institute
GermanyNoneCancel2006Wegener Institute, and Wegener's 1930 Greenland expedition
GermanyNoneCancel2007AWI (Alfred Wegener Institute)
Greenland475 (Mi?)2006
Greenland475a (BL?)SS1
RomaniaNoneCancel and cachet on card2005125th anniv. birth; 75th anniv. death
RussiaNone(Violet rubber-stamp) cachet on cover2005AWI (Alfred Wegener Institute)
St. Vincent2764f (Mi?)One of MS18 (2764 (a-r + label))1999Wegener and continental drift
United StatesNonePostcard2007AWI (Alfred Wegener Institute) logo


Regener

Regener, Erich
(1881 - 1955)

Erich Regener was a German physicist and professor of physics at Berlin and Stuttgart. He was also the director of the early Max Planck Institute for Stratospheric Physics in the years between the two World Wars (this Institute is now known as the Institute for Aeronomy). His research with upper air balloons launched from the Institute helped to define the chemical composition of the troposphere and the stratosphere. One particular area of interest for Regener was the influence of ultraviolet (UV) light on the chemical equilibrium between molecular oxygen (O2) and ozone (O3). In 1934 he became the first scientist to directly measure the absorption of UV energy in the ozone layer. He was therefore an important precursor in studies of the ozone layer. He also studied cosmic rays in the stratosphere.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
GermanyNoneCancel2000120th anniv. birth, in 2001


Langmuir

Langmuir, Irving
(1881 - 1957)

Irving Langmuir was an American physical chemist who spent much of his career with the General Electric (GE) corporation. He was awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1932, but is remembered by meteorologists mostly for his pioneering work in the area of weather modification through cloud seeding.

He invented the Langmuir probe, an instrument designed to measure the properties of ionized gases (known as 'plasma', a term that he coined in 1927) in the upper atmosphere. In 1946, a Langmuir probe and other instruments were carried aloft from White Sands Missile Range by a V2 rocket. Although the V2 failed, the launch marked the first attempt to explore the upper atmosphere through direct measurements by rocket-borne instruments.

Langmuir had a strong interest in meteorology, particularly in the area of cloud microphysics. In the war years, he was involved in research on smoke screens and on aircraft de-icing capabilities. He and his colleague Vincent Schaefer invented the artificial fog smoke screen generator widely used during WWII. This work led him to think about clouds in general, and airborne particulates and ice nucleation in particular. In 1946, Langmuir and Schaefer realized that clouds might be modified by "seeding" them with dry ice pellets. The dry ice supplied to the cloud would form extra ice particles to which cloud water would migrate, resulting in more cloud droplets and potentially more rain. They demonstrated the effect later that year. Their work continued in the post-war years with dry ice and also silver iodide as seeding agents. The hope was that a certain amount of seeding could induce clouds to produce rain, while overseeding could potentially reduce hail and so reduce hail damage to crops. The work was controversial, and considerations of possible financial liability led GE to turn the program over to the military in 1947. The military continued to conduct cloud seeding experiments, some of which were carried out in the area of Socorro, New Mexico, which since 1963 has been home to the Irving Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Micronesia471 (BL?)SS12001Irving Langmuir, cloud seeding pioneer


von Kármán

von Kármán, Teodor
(1881 - 1963)

Teodor Von Kármán was a Hungarian fluid dynamicist and aerodynamicist whose work has some applications to the atmosphere. He emigrated to the US in 1930. In the period 1915 - 1938, von Kármán and Prandtl developed mixing-length hypotheses for the atmosphere, using eddy diffusivities and flux-gradient concepts based on analogies with molecular transfer (Garratt, J. R., 1992. The Atmospheric Boundary Layer, p.3-4. Cambridge University Press, 1992).

The von Kármán constant is used in studies of turbulence in the planetary boundary layer. Von Kármán "cloud streets" can occur in some cases in the low levels of the atmosphere downstream of an island or other low barrier across which a moderate wind is blowing. These atmospheric flow patterns may be visible in the low level cloud formations downstream of the barrier. If there is no obscuring middle or upper-level cloud, satellite imagery can clearly show them. Here is an example.

Von Kármán was the recipient of many awards, including, in 1963, the first US Medal of Science, which he received from John F. Kennedy.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Central African Republic761 (Mi1165A)
i761 (Mi1165B)

Imperforate
1985
Central African Republic761a (BL347A)
i761a (BL347B)
SS1 (761)
Imperforate SS1 (i761)
Central African Republic1060a (Mi?)One of strip of 3 (1060 (a-c))1994(30th anniv. death, in 1993)
Chad710d (Mi1520)One of MS6 (710 (a-f)) (Mi1517-1522)1997
HungaryNonePostal card1981?(100th anniv. birth?)
Hungary3353 (Mi?)1992(110th anniv. birth, in 1991); (30th anniv. death, in 1993)
Mali1037d (Mi2270)One of MS4 (1037 (a-d)) (Mi2267-2270)1999
Mali1037 fdcMS4 on FDC
Micronesia178b (Mi?)One of MS8 (178 (a-h))1993(30th anniv. death)
Micronesia178b fdc
United StatesNone dOne of (Rocket Research Institute (RRI)) imperforate cinderella MS41969
United StatesNoneCachet on cover, also back1990
United States2699 (Mi2313)1992(110th anniv. birth, in 1991); (30th anniv. death, in 1993)
United States2699 fdc1Stamp on FDC
United States2699 fdc2Stamp and cancel on FDC
United States2699 fdc3Stamp and cachet on FDC
United States2699 fdc4Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United States2699 fdc5Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United States2699 fdc6Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United States2699 fdc7Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United States2699 fdc8Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United States2699 fdc0Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United States2699 scStamp and cachet on (Fleetwood?) souvenir card (or commemorative panel?)
United StatesSP1022(USPS) souvenir page (2699)
United StatesCP400(USPS) commemorative panel (2699)
United States2699 cover2nd day of issue cancel on cover1992(110th anniv. birth, in 1991); (30th anniv. death, in 1993)


Goddard

Goddard, Robert H.
(1882 - 1945)

Robert Goddard was an American physicist, engineer and rocketry pioneer whose work created the foundations of space flight. He is now considered to be the "father" of modern rocketry.

In 1919 he published his classic work, A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, in which he showed that rockets could be used to explore the upper atmosphere, and that an object that would attain an "escape velocity" of about 11.2 km/sec could actually escape the Earth's gravity completely and head into space. However, he was ridiculed for this idea and so in later work generally avoided speaking of space flight. Instead, he tended to speak of his work in terms of high altitude research.

In 1926 Goddard launched the first liquid fuel rocket. In 1929 he launched the first instrumented rocket, carrying a barometer, a thermometer and a small camera (to record the readings of the instruments). Since that humble beginning, many instrumented rockets have been used for atmospheric research.

In 1963 the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) was formed, honouring Goddard with its name. The Center's Laboratory for Atmospheres had as its mission to study the Earth's atmosphere through the use of satellite remote sensing techniques.

In 1970 the astronomical satellite OAO-B was named "Goddard" to honour his accomplishments. Unfortunately, the launch of OAO-B failed.

A well-known photo of Goddard shows him standing beside the frame that supported his first liquid-propelled rocket in 1926. Many philatelic items reproduce this photo in their designs. A few others have a similar design but with Goddard in a different position beside the frame. We consider all such items depicting Goddard standing beside the frame as "common design" items, and they are highlighted in pale yellow in the table below.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
AjmanMi9971971Goddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design); (90th anniv. birth, in 1972)
AjmanMi997 proofsProgressive proofs
AjmanMi997 dsDeluxe sheet (Mi997)
AjmanMi997 ds proofsDeluxe progressive proofs
AjmanMi991-998 ds proofsOne proof in proof deluxe sheet of 8 (Mi991-998)
British Virgin Islands1118 (Mi1205)2009"Goddard Rocket Shop"; Goddard (at left)
Central African Republic1365b (Mi2586)One of MS3 (1365 (a-c)) (Mi2585-2587)2000Goddard and launch of a rocket to 2300 m in 1935
Chad435 (Mi954A)
i435 (Mi954B)

Imperforate
1983(100th anniv. birth, in 1982)
Chad435a (BL145A)
i435a (BL145B)
On stamp of SS1
Stamp on imperforate SS1
Chad710b (Mi1518)One of MS6 (710 (a-f)) (Mi1517-1522)1997
DjiboutiUnknown a (Mi?)On one of MS2 (a-b)2013Goddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design)
Equatorial Guinea7328 (BL57)SS11973Goddard (at left)
Equatorial Guinea75123 (BL173)Imperforate SS11975Goddard (at left)
Gambia800 (Mi820)1988
Germany (West)NoneCancel and cachet on cover196950th anniv. publication of Goddard's A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes
Germany (West)NoneCancel (same) and cachet (different) on cover1969
Germany (West)None(Icarus) cachet on cover1970
Ghana2064 (BL360)1998Goddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design)
Ghana2386 (BL450)SS12003Goddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design)
Guinea Republic1862h (Mi3555)From MS12 (1862 (a-l)) (Mi3548-3559)2000Same design (but mirror image) as United States C69 fdc2
GuineaRepublic1862k (Mi3558)"Goddard rocket first launched Aug 26, 1937 in NM"
Guinea-BissauBL554SS12006
Lesotho580 (Mi?)1987
Lesotho580 fdcstamp and cachet on FDC
MalawiUnknown a (Mi?)
Unknown ia
On one stamp of MS2 (a-b)
On one of imperforate MS2 (a-b)
2007
MalawiUnknown1_ms2 fdc
Unknown1 ims2 fdc
On one stamp of MS2 and in cachet on FDC
On one stamp of imperforate MS2 on FDC
MalawiUnknown2_ms2 fdcOn cachet of FDCGoddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design) (in cachet at lower left)
Mali1037b (Mi2268)One of MS4 (1037 (a-d)) (Mi2267-2270)1999Goddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design)
Mali1037 fdcMS4 on FDC
Marshall Islands345a (Mi250)One of MS25 (345 (a-y)) (Mi250-274)1989Goddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design)
Marshall IslandsKM52$50. (silver coin)1989Goddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design)
Marshall Islands654h (Mi959)One of MS15 (654 (a-o)) (Mi952-966)1998Goddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design)
Marshall Islands654h fdcStamp and cachet on FDC
Micronesia210a (Mi406)One of block of 8 (210 (a-h)) (Mi406-413)1995
RomaniaC281 (Mi?)1989
RwandaUnknown o (Mi?)One of MS15 (a-o)2010Goddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design)
Satellite BeachLocalearly 1960s"First liquid fuel rocket launched by Dr. Robert H. Goddard, March 16, 1926"
St. Helena985 (Mi1086)2009"Early [rocket] experiment by Dr. Robert Goddard"
St. Vincent2698 (Mi?)1999
Turks and Caicos658 (Mi?)1985Goddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design)
United StatesC69 (Mi?)1964
United StatesC69 fdc1Stamp on FDC
United StatesC69 fdc2Stamp and cachet on FDCCachet has same design (but mirror image) as Guinea Republic 1862h
United StatesC69 fdc3Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC69 fdc4Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC69 fdc5Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC69 fdc6Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC69 fdc7Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC69 fdc8Stamp and cachet (different) on FDCGoddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design) (on cachet)
United StatesC69 fdc9Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC69 fdc10Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC69 scSouvenir card (or commemorative panel?)
United StatesSP117(USPS) souvenir page (C69)
United StatesNoneCinderella and cancel and cachet on cover1964
United StatesNoneCachet on Nike-Apache rocket launch cover1966Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) firing atmospheric research rockets from Wallops Island VA
United StatesNone aOne of (Rocket Research Institute (RRI)) imperforate cinderella MS41969
United StatesNone ssCinderella SS1
United StatesNone(GSFC) postcard back, also front1976
United StatesNoneIn lower-centre of (GSFC printed) cachet on 50th anniv. first liquid fuel rocket flight/launch cover (same cachet design as immediately below)1976Goddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design) (on cachet)
United StatesNoneIn lower-centre of (GSFC rubber-stamp) cachet on Pioneer-12 launch cover (same cachet design as immediately above)1978Goddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design) (on cachet)
United StatesNone(GSFC rubber-stamp) cachet on Nimbus-7 and CAMEO launch cover (same cachet design as immediately above)1978Goddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design) (on cachet)
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1979Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Tracking Team
United StatesNoneCachet on cover, also insert1989Cover contains Lesotho 580; Goddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design) (on cachet)
United StatesNoneCachet on cover201185th anniv Goddard testing first liquid-propelled rocket, 1926 (common design)
Yemen Mutawakelite KingdomMi8651969


Potocnik

Potocnik, Hermann
(1882 - 1929)

Hermann Potocnik was an Austrian astronautics pioneer (through his birthplace was in what is now Croatia). After serving in WWI, he graduated from the electrical engineering faculty of the Vienna Technology University. As part of his work in astronautics, he was the first to establish the scientific basis of the geostationary orbit. Satellites in such an orbit, at 36,000 km above the equator, remain constantly above the same spot on the Earth's surface, since they revolve around the Earth in the same time as the Earth takes to make one rotation on its axis. Many communications and weather satellites take advantage of this type of orbit.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Austria1586 (Mi?)1992100th anniv. birth
Austria1586 fdcStamp and cachet on FDC
Slovenia149 (Mi?)1992(100th anniv. birth)
Slovenia149 fdcStamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
Slovenia-VitanjeLocal?


Hess

Hess, Victor Franz
(1883 - 1964)

Victor Hess was an Austrian physicist who did work in the area of atmospheric electricity.

In balloon flights in 1910, Alfred Gockel estimated the electrical conductivity of the atmosphere as a function of height by measuring the rate of charge leakage from an insulated Wulf electrometer, in ascents to as high as 4500 m. The leakage rate was found to be greater aloft than near the Earth's surface, which meant that the atmospheric ionization was greater aloft than near the surface. This was unexpected because at that time the ionization was thought to be greatest at ground level, due to local radioactivity of the soil. Gockel had no explanation for his observations, but they would turn out to be a precursor of the discovery of cosmic radiation in the atmosphere. In 10 balloon ascents made from 1911 to 1913, Hess repeated the measurements and showed clearly that the ionization reached a minimum at 800 m and then increased steadily up to the highest altitude which he reached. He explained this in terms of a penetrating radiation entering the atmosphere from outside but not from the Sun. This was eventually recognized as the discovery of what came to be called cosmic radiation, for which Hess would share the Nobel Prize in physics in 1936. He also founded a research station at Hafelekar mountain (at 2300 m) near Innsbruck for observing and studying cosmic rays.

Cosmic rays are hypothesized to have some influence on weather and climate. For example, the ionization due to cosmic rays can change the atmospheric electric field. Lightning (and the associated thunder) will occur if the electric field becomes large enough.

In a paper published in 1997, Henrik Svensmark and Eigil Friis-Christensen of the Danish Meteorological Institute in Copenhagen found a correlation between cloudy days and high cosmic ray concentrations. A possible causal mechanism was described by Fangqun Yu (State University of New York at Albany): cosmic ray energy encourages the formation of atmospheric aerosols which act as cloud condensation nuclei which are necessary for cloud droplets to grow, and therefore for clouds to form. This idea is still considered speculative, however.

Cosmic rays are at the basis of carbon-14 (14C) dating, since their energy acts to form the carbon-14 in the first place. Relative 14C amounts have been measured in materials for which the age is also known by some other means (e.g. using the rings in tree trunks). This is useful because one can then deduce the amount of 14C that was present in the atmosphere at that time in the past. This in turn gives a history of the 14C flux. Other proxy paleontological measurements can give some idea of the global historical weather at that time. The cosmic ray flux and the weather can then be compared, and it turns out that there is a correlation between the flux and the weather: when the weather was generally cold, cosmic ray fluxes were high, and vice-versa. If colder weather can be related to greater cloudiness (due to less solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface), then this framework is consistent with the work mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Another possible use of cosmic rays is in the measurement of soil moisture. A project being conducted by the University of Arizona called COSMOS (COsmic ray Soil Moisture Observing System) will study the low energy neutrons produced when cosmic rays strike the soil. Some of them are absorbed by the soil, while others are reflected back into space. It turns out that the number of neutrons in the air above the soil surface is inversely related to the soil moisture. Soil moisture can have a significant effect on weather, so improved measurement of soil moisture could lead to improved short term and longer term weather forecasts.

Hess's publications relating to the atmosphere include:

  1. Elektrische Leitfähigkeit der Atmosphäre und ihre Ursachen (book), 1926 (The Electrical Conductivity of the Atmosphere and Its Causes, 1928);
  2. Ionenbilanz der Atmosphäre (The ionization balance of the atmosphere - book), 1933;
  3. Luftelektrizität (Electricity of the air - book, with H. Benndorf), 1928; and
  4. Lebensdauer der Ionen in der Atmosphäre (Average life of the ions in the atmosphere), 1927-1928;

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Austria1245 (Mi?)1983100th anniv. birth
Austria1245 blackBlackprint
Austria1245 fdc1Stamp on FDC
Austria1245 fdc2Stamp on FDC
Austria1245 fdc3Stamp on FDC
Austria1245 fdc4Stamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
Austria1245 fdc5Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
Austria1245 maxi1Stamp and cancel and cachet on maxicard
Austria1245 maxi2Stamp and cancel (different) and cachet (same) on maxicard
Austria1245 maxi3Stamp and cancel and cachet on maxicard
Austria1245 maxi4Stamp and cancel (different) and cachet (same) on maxicard
AustriaUnknown (Mi?)2012
Congo (Democratic Republic)Unknown a (Mi?)One of MS4 (a-d); also SS1; also four of MS42002(120th anniv. birth, in 2003)
Guinea Republic2129c (Mi?)One of MS6 (2129 (a-f))2001
UruguayC427a (Mi?)One of MS4 (C427 (a-d))1977


Piccard, A

Piccard, Auguste
(1884 - 1962)

Auguste Piccard was a Swiss physicist and aeronaut who explored both the heights of the atmosphere and the depths of the ocean. He and his twin brother Jean were pioneers in the balloon exploration of the stratosphere. Scientific balloon ascents in the 19th and early 20th centuries had been done in an open nacelle, but in the 1920s the Piccards developed pressurized nacelles and new high-altitude balloons. On 27 May 1931, with his colleague Paul Kipfer, Auguste Piccard lifted off from Augsberg, Germany in the balloon FNRS and made the first manned balloon flight into the stratosphere, reaching a record altitude of about 15.8 km. On 18 August 1932, Piccard and Max Cosyns went even higher (approximately 16.2 km). During his flights, Piccard made measurements of cosmic rays in the stratosphere and also recorded stratospheric temperatures. Other aeronauts followed Piccard's lead in exploring the stratosphere by balloon, including Jean Piccard and the Americans Albert Stevens and Orville Anderson.

Following his work with stratospheric balloons, Auguste Piccard turned his interest to the exploration of the ocean depths. As a boy he had dreamed about pressurized gondolas that could be used underwater, and eventually realized that a bathyscaphe could be thought of as an underwater balloon that uses gasoline for lift, since gasoline is lighter than water, just as hydrogen and helium provide the necessary lift for atmospheric balloons because they are lighter than air. It is in this sense that he later wrote in his book Earth, Sea and Sky that "it was the submarine that led me to the stratosphere".

In the latter half of the 1930s and in the 1940s Jean Piccard worked to improve the materials used in high altitude balloons. Polyethylene eventually became the balloon fabric of choice. It was light, not too expensive, and allowed balloons to ascend to around 30 km, where scientific measurements could be made with almost no atmospheric interference. Instruments aboard high altitude balloons have since studied ozone, carbon dioxide, carbon-14, nitrous oxide, nitrogen, dust particles, solar energy, cosmic rays and radiation in the high atmosphere. Eventually James van Allen would launch scientific rockets from high altitude balloons to get atmospheric measurements from even higher levels. All this work was possible in part as a result of the scientific legacy of the Piccard brothers.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
AustriaNoneCancel2007Piccard and balloon FNRS; 75th anniv. Piccard's stratospheric ascents (in 1931 and 1932)
AustriaNoneCancel (different)2007Piccard's balloon FNRS
Belgium251 (Mi344)1932Prof. A. Piccard; balloon FNRS; for Piccard's 1931 and 1932 ascents
Belgium252 (Mi345)
Belgium253 (Mi346)
BelgiumNone aOne of (Aerophila Expo) cinderella MS41963Piccard's balloon FNRS
BelgiumB889 cover (Mi? cover)Cachet on cover1972balloon FNRS; 1ičre ascension dans la stratosphčre [de Piccard]
Cambodia417 (Mi?)1983Balloon FNRS; (100th anniv. birth, in 1984)
Central African Republic658 (Mi1037)1984Piccard and balloon FNRS; (100th anniv. birth)
Central African Republici658 (Mi?)On one of imperforate MS6 (i662b (657-662))
Central African Republic658 fdc
Central African Republic658a (BL285A)
i658a (BL285B)
SS1
Imperforate SS1
Central African Republic695 (Mi1076A)
i695 (Mi1076B)

Imperforate
1984Piccard, balloon FNRS and bathyscaphe Trieste; (100th anniv. birth)
Central African Republic695a (BL308A)
i695a (BL308B)
On stamp and in (left) margin of SS1
On stamp and in (left) margin of imperforate SS1
Central African Republic1365a (Mi2585)From MS3 (1365 (a-c)) (Mi2585-2587)2000Piccard and balloon FNRS
Chad550 (Mi1105)
i550

Imperforate
1985Piccard and bathyscaphe Trieste; (100th anniv. birth, in 1984)
Chad550a (BL235A)
i550a (BL235B)
SS1
Imperforate SS1
Congo (Democratic Republic)Unknown (Mi?)2004Piccard and bathyscaphe Trieste; (120th anniv. birth)
Congo (Democratic Republic)Unknown ss (BL?)SS1
Congo (Democratic Republic)Unknown ms (Mi?)On one of MS2 (a-b)
Congo (People's Republic)C312 (Mi924)1983Inaccurate drawing of balloon FNRS, 1931; (100th anniv. birth, in 1984)
Germany (West)None(Blue) cachet on cover1962Rocket mail commemorating the first balloon flight into the stratosphere, on 27 May 1931 at Augsburg, in which Professor A. Piccard reached an altitude of 15,781 meters in his balloon FNRS
Germany (West)None(Cyan) cachet on cover
Germany (West)None(Green) cachet on cover
Germany (West)None(Red) cachet on cover
Germany (West)None(Black and red) cachet on cover1962Rocket mail commemorating the first balloon flight into the stratosphere, on 27 May 1931 at Augsburg, in which Professor A. Piccard reached an altitude of 15,781 meters in his balloon FNRS
Germany (West)None(Blue) cachet on cover
Germany (West)None(Cyan) cachet on cover
Germany (West)None(Reddish-purple) cachet on cover
Germany (West)NoneCachet (different) on cover1962Rocket mail commemorating the first balloon flight into the stratosphere, on 27 May 1931 at Augsburg, in which Professor A. Piccard reached an altitude of 15,781 meters in his balloon FNRS
Germany (West)NoneCachet (different) on cover1962Rocket mail commemorating the first balloon flight into the stratosphere, on 27 May 1931 at Augsburg, in which Professor A. Piccard reached an altitude of 15,781 meters in his balloon FNRS
Germany (West)NoneCachet on cover1981Piccard and 50th anniv. 1931 flight; inaccurate drawing of balloon FNRS
Great BritainNone(Ardath Co.) tobacco card1939Reproductions of Belgium 252 (balloon FNRS) and Russia C38 (balloon USSR)
Guinea Republic895 (Mi993)
i895

Imperforate
1984Piccard, balloon FNRS and bathyscaphe Trieste; (100th anniv. birth)
Guinea Republic895a (BL102A)
i895a (BL102B)
On stamp and in (upper and right) margin of SS1
On stamp and in (upper and right) margin of imperforate SS1
Guinea RepublicUnknown ms (Mi?)MS3 (a-c + 3 labels)2009Piccard (on all 3 stamps, at right in upper-left stamp); "A. Piccard" and balloon FNRS and bathyscaphe Trieste (in lower-right label)
Guinea RepublicUnknown ss (BL?)SS1Piccard and balloon FNRS (in stamp, also at right of the group of 3 in the left margin, also in text)
ItalyNoneCancel on cover198250th anniv. Piccard's 1932 stratospheric ascent; (20th anniv. death)
Ivory Coast625 (Mi720)1982(20th anniv. death)
Korea (North)1935 (Mi?)
i1935

Imperforate
1980Auguste and Jacques Piccard
Korea (North)1936a (BL?)On one stamp and label of MS5 (1933-1937 + label)
Laos464 (Mi?)1983Balloon FNRS; (100th anniv. birth, in 1984)
Malagasy Republic1391 (BL283)SS11998Piccard and inaccurate drawing of balloon FNRS
MaliC344 (Mi667)1978Stamp-on-stamp: Belgium 252 (balloon FNRS)
MaliC344 dsDeluxe sheet (C344)
MaliC344 proofProof
Micronesia269c (Mi573)One of MS9 (269 (a-i)) (Mi571-579)1997Piccard and bathyscaphe (1954)
Monaco523 (Mi?)1962Piccard's bathyscaphe Trieste
Monaco523 maxi1Maxicard
Monaco523 maxi2Maxicard (different)
Monaco1433 (Mi1631)1984100th anniv. birth; balloon FNRS
Monaco1433 fdcStamp and cachet on FDC
Monaco1433 proofColour proof
Monaco1433 maxiMaxicard
Monaco1434 (Mi1632)100th anniv. birth; bathyscaphe Trieste
Monaco1434 proofProof
Monaco1434 fdc1Stamp and cachet on FDC
Monaco1434 fdc2Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
Monaco1433-1434 fdcTwo stamps and cachet on FDC100th anniv. birth; balloon FNRS; bathyscaphe Trieste
Monaco1433-1434 scTwo stamps and cachet on souvenir card
Monaco2195 (Mi2535?)2000Stamp-on-stamp: Monaco 1433 (balloon FNRS)
Monaco2195 fdc1Stamp and cachet on FDC
Monaco2195 fdc2Stamp on FDC
MongoliaC169 (Mi?)19821931 [balloon] FNRS, Switzerland; (50th anniv. Piccard's 1931 stratospheric ascent, in 1981)
Rwanda1188 (Mi1272)1984Prof. Piccard et Kipfer, 27-5-1931; balloon FNRS; (100th anniv. birth); E. Demuyter, 1937 and balloon Belgica
St. Thomas and Prince Islands560 (Mi624)1979Piccard's stratospheric balloon FNRS, 1931
St. Thomas and Prince Islands704a (BL?)In (right) margin of MS12 (4x (703a+703b+704))1983
San Marino1049 (Mi1278)1983Piccard and balloon FNRS; (100th anniv. birth, in 1984)
San Marino1049 maxiMaxicard
San Marino1049 fdc1Stamp on FDC
San Marino1049 fdc2Stamp and cachet on FDCPiccard; balloon FNRS (on stamp); bathyscaphe Trieste (on cachet); (100th anniv. birth, in 1984)
San Marino1049-1050 fdcTwo stamps and cachet on FDCPiccard and bathyscaphe Trieste and inaccurate drawing of balloon FNRS; (100th anniv. birth, in 1984)
San Marino1050 (Mi1279)Piccard and bathyscaphe Trieste; (100th anniv. birth, in 1984)
San Marino1050 maxi1Maxicard
San Marino1050 maxi2Maxicard (different)
San Marino1050 maxi3Maxicard (different)
SwitzerlandNoneMedallion1931"Auguste Piccard" and balloon FNRS
SwitzerlandNone(WERABA-76) cinderella11976"from Piccard's stratospheric flight to planetary research"; balloon FNRS
Switzerland496 cover (Mi? cover)(WERABA-76) cachet on cover
Switzerland602+cinderella cover (Mi?+cinderella cover)(WERABA-76) cinderella1 and cachet on cover (different)
Switzerland529+555+cinderella cover (Mi?+cinderella cover)(WERABA-76) cinderella1 and cachet on cover (different)
Switzerland471-472+602+496+555+529+cinderella cover (Mi?+cinderella cover)(WERABA-76) cinderella1 and cachet on cover (different)
Switzerland665 (Mi1140)1978
Switzerland662-665 fdcOne of four stamps on FDC
Switzerland665 coverStamp and cancel and cachet on cover1981Balloon FNRS; 50th anniv. Piccard's 1931 stratospheric ascent
Switzerland708 cover1 (Mi? cover1)Cancel and cachet on cover1982Piccard and balloon FNRS; 50th anniv. Piccard's 1932 stratospheric ascent
Switzerland708+cinderella cover2 (Mi?+cinderella cover2)Cinderella (poster stamp) on cover
SwitzerlandKM635 francs (copper-nickel coin)1984"A. Piccard" and balloon FNRS and bathyscaphe Trieste
Switzerland946 (Mi1525)1994Piccard's bathyscaphe Trieste
Switzerland947 (Mi1526)Piccard's balloon FNRS
Switzerland946-947 fdcTwo stamps and cachet on FDCHeight reached by balloon FNRS in 1932; depth reached by bathyscaphe Trieste in 1960
Switzerland946-947 folderFDOI folder, also inside
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1933reproduction of Belgium 251 (shows balloon FNRS)
United StatesNoneCachet (and signature) on cover1933Piccard's stratospheric balloon at the Century of Progress Exposition; flight of August 5 (which crashed)
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1933Piccard's stratospheric balloon at the Century of Progress Exposition; successful flight of August 25
United StatesNone(WERABA-76) cachet on cover1976"from Piccard's stratospheric flight to planetary research"; balloon FNRS
Upper Volta623 (BL59)On stamp and in (lower and right) margin of SS11983Piccard - 1931 - premier homme dans la stratosphčre; balloon FNRS; Piccard et Kipfer, 1931 (in text); (100th anniv. birth, in 1984)
Upper VoltaC301 (Mi944)1984Piccard and bathyscaphe Trieste; (100th anniv. birth)
Upper VoltaC301a (BL77)On stamp and in (right and lower-left) margin of SS1Piccard and bathyscaphe Trieste; balloon FNRS; Kipfer and Piccard; (100th anniv. birth)
UruguayC433b (Mi?)One of MS3 (C433 (a-c)) (BL38)1978balloon FNRS (in background behind zeppelin)
UruguayC433 fdc (BL?)MS3 on FDC
Vietnam2626 (Mi2700)1995"Piccard" (in text); balloon FNRS
Wallis and Futuna IslandsC154 (Mi536)1987Piccard, balloon FNRS and bathyscaphe Trieste
Zaire1164 (Mi871)1984Piccard and balloon FNRS; (100th anniv. birth)
Zaire1163-1166 fdcOne of four stamps and cachet on FDC
Zaire1417 (Mi1092)1164 surcharged1994Piccard and balloon FNRS; (110th anniv. birth)

1 This WERABA-76 (exhibitiion) cinderella (vignette) contains reproductions of Switzerland 496, United States 1556, and Russia 4044


Piccard, J

Piccard, Jean
(1884 - 1963)

Jean Piccard was a Swiss engineer and aeronaut who became a US citizen in 1931. He and his twin brother Auguste were pioneers in the balloon exploration of the stratosphere. Scientific balloon ascents in the 19th and early 20th centuries had been done in an open nacelle, but in the 1920s the Piccards developed pressurized nacelles and new high-altitude balloons. In Germany in May 1931, Auguste Piccard and Paul Kipfer in the balloon FNRS became the first men to rise into the stratosphere. Meanwhile, in the US Jean Piccard was the leader of the team that was working with the Century of Progress stratospheric balloon. It included the Nobel laureates Arthur Compton and Robert Millikan. Lt Commander T.G.W. Settle of the US Navy was the pilot. After an aborted demonstration flight at the Chicago World's Fair in August 1933, the team conducted a successful scientific flight in November of that year. During that flight, which reached an altitude of 18.6 km, various scientific measurements were conducted in the stratosphere. The balloon carried instruments to measure cosmic rays, a polariscope to measure the polarization of light at high altitudes, equipment to take air samples and an infrared camera and spectrograph to study ozone. Nearly a year later, on 23 October 1934, Jean Piccard and his wife Jeannette made what turned out to be the last flight of the Century of Progress. They reached an altitude of 17.5 km.

In the latter half of the 1930s and in the 1940s Jean Piccard worked to improve the materials used in high altitude balloons. Polyethylene eventually became the balloon fabric of choice. It was light, not too expensive, and allowed balloons to ascend to around 30 km, where scientific measurements could be made with almost no atmospheric interference. Instruments aboard high altitude balloons have since studied ozone, carbon dioxide, carbon-14, nitrous oxide, nitrogen, dust particles, solar energy, cosmic rays and radiation in the high atmosphere. Eventually James van Allen would launch scientific rockets from high altitude balloons to get atmospheric measurements from even higher levels. All this work was possible in part as a result of the scientific legacy of the Piccard brothers.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1933Century of Progress balloon and "[Jean] Piccard-Compton [aborted] stratospheric ascension" (at the Chicago World's Fair)
United StatesNoneCachet (different) on cover1933Jean Piccard; Century of Progress balloon and [aborted] stratospheric flight (at the Chicago World's Fair)
United StatesNone(Printed) cachet (same) and (black rubber-stamp) crash cachet on cover1933Jean Piccard; Century of Progress balloon and [aborted] stratospheric flight (at the Chicago World's Fair) with crash cachet
United StatesNoneCachet (same, plus signature) on cover1933Jean Piccard; Century of Progress balloon and [aborted] stratospheric flight (at the Chicago World's Fair)
United StatesNoneCachet (signature) on cover1933Jean Piccard's signature on cover, for the [aborted] stratospheric flight of the Century of Progress balloon (at the Chicago World's Fair)
United StatesNone(Purple rubber-stamp) cachet on cover1933Century of Progress balloon and "[Jean] Piccard-Compton [aborted] balloon flight to the stratosphere" (at the Chicago World's Fair)
United StatesNone(Typewritten) cachet on cover1934Stratospheric flight of "Prof. and Mrs. Jean Piccard"
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1934Stratospheric flight of Jean Piccard and Mrs. Piccard


Zubov

Zubov, Nikolai Nikolaevich
(1885 - 1960)

Nikolai Zubov was a Soviet oceanographer who founded the department of oceanography at the Moscow Hydrometeorological Institute in 1932, and was its director from 1932 to 1941. He did original work on ice forecasting in the Arctic Ocean, and studied how the atmospheric pressure pattern influences sea ice movement.

Zubov was in charge of the scientific programme of the ship Sadko expedition, which sailed from Arkhangelsk on 8 July 1935 to explore the western part of the Soviet Antarctic Ocean and the Greenland Sea. Its proposed areas of scientific investigation included meteorology, sea ice, marine biology, physical oceanography and the investigation of seabed sediments. The bulk of the work carried out was oceanographic, but ice observations and meteorological observations were also made, and up to three synoptic weather analyses were made daily.

In total in 85 days the Sadko steamed 12,000 km. A total of 21 meteorological radiosondes were released, and 280 meteorological observations were made (of which 263 were transmitted back to the mainland). The meteorological and ice data collected would be important in forecasting conditions along the Northern Sea Route for shipping in the years following the Sadko expedition.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
RussiaNoneCachet on stamped envelope1985100th anniv. birth
RussiaNone(Four rubber-stamp) cachets on cover1985Research ship Professor Zubov
RussiaNone(Four rubber-stamp) cachets on cover (different)1985Research ship Professor Zubov
RussiaNone(Four rubber stamp) cachets on cover (different)1986Research ship Professor Zubov
RussiaNone cOne of cinderella MS3 (a-c)2008Zubov, and 65th anniv. Zubov Oceanographic Institute
Russia7231 (Mi1666)From MS6 (7231a (6x 7231))2010125th anniv. birth
Russia7231 fdc1Stamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
Russia7231 fdc2Stamp and cancel (same) on FDC
RussiaNone(Four) cachets on cover2010Zubov; (125th anniv. birth); (50th anniv. death)


Priestley, R

Priestley, Raymond
(1886 - 1974)

Raymond Priestley was a British geologist and Antarctic explorer. After WWI, he held various academic and administrative posts in Australia and England. While he was vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne in the 1930s, he became involved with the university's Meteorology Section, and in 1937 arranged that Carnegie Foundation funds be used to bring meteorologist Fritz Loewe to Melbourne to take up the appointment of Reader in charge of the Section. (Loewe had accompanied Alfred Wegener on his last Greenland expeditions. While in Greenland, Loewe and Ernst Sorge made the first seismic measurments that demonstrated that the ice cap was surprisingly thick, even close to its margin). Loewe established the Department of Meteorology at the University of Melbourne in 1939.

Priestley served as head of the Royal Geographic Society from 1961 to 1963.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
British Antarctice Territory81 (Mi?)1980


Stevens Anderson

Stevens, Capt. Albert W.
(1886-1949)

Anderson, Capt. Orville A.
(ca 1890? - ?)

Captains Albert Stevens and Orville Anderson of the US Army Air Corps were military aeronauts who made stratospheric balloon flights soon after the pioneering stratospheric work of Auguste Piccard and Jean Piccard. Scientific observations were an important part of the ascents made by Stevens and Anderson. On 28 July 1934 in the Explorer-I hydrogen balloon they reached 18.3 km, but at that point the balloon exploded, forcing the crew to parachute to safety. On 11 November 1935, in a mission sponsored by the National Geographic Society, they flew the Explorer-II helium balloon to an altitude of 22 km above South Dakota. This was a record that would stand for 21 years. During the flight, measurements were made of the temperature and pressure, the chemical composition of the air, the vertical distribution of the concentration of ozone, and the intensity of cosmic rays. Data on the propagation of radio waves in the high atmosphere were also collected. Stevens and Anderson also brought back the first colour photographs ever taken from the stratosphere. They showed the land below, the curvature of the Earth and the visual division between the troposphere and the stratosphere. Careful measurements of the balloon's altitude were made using photographs of terrain and angular measurements from the ground. The vertical distributions of air pressure and temperature were also carefully recorded. After the flight, those data were used to calculate the balloon's altitude through the use of the meteorological hydrostatic equation (a relationship involving pressure, temperature and height above the ground). The heights thus calculated were then compared with the other, independent measurements of altitude to verify the accuracy of the hydrostatic equation. Stevens and Anderson were awarded the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Gold Medal for their work on this mission.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Guinea-Bissau447 (Mi655)1983Explorer-II (balloon)
Marshall Islands947c (Mi?)One of strip of 5 (947 (a-e)); or two of MS10 (947f (2x (947 (a-e)))2009Explorer-II (incorrectly described as a hot air balloon); stamp design is also found in the cachet of a USA 2035 fdc
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1934Explorer-I (stratospheric balloon, exploded in flight on 28 July 1934 - crewmembers Stevens, Anderson and Kepner parachuted to safety)
United StatesNoneCachet on cover (different)1934Stratospheric mail carried in the 28 July 1934 ascent; was recovered after the crash
United StatesNoneSigned stratospheric mail insert in cover1935Stratospheric mail dated 12 July 1935 signed by Stevens and Anderson; flight planned for that date was cancelled; the mail was carried in the 11 November 1935 ascent (see following item)
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1935Explorer-II (balloon, record-breaking stratospheric ascent was piloted by Stevens and Anderson)
United StatesNoneMedallion1935Explorer-II (balloon)
United StatesNoneCinderella (poster stamp) from cinderella MS41936Explorer-II (balloon)
United States2032 fdcStamp and (DRC) cachet on FDC1983Explorer-II (balloon) (at left and right in cachet)
United States2035 (Mi?)From block of 4 (2035a (2032-2035))Explorer-II (balloon)
United States2035 fdc1Stamp and cachet on FDCExplorer-II (balloon)
United States2035 fdc2Stamp and cachet on FDC (different)Explorer-II (balloon); cachet design is also found in Marshall Islands 947c
United States2035a fdcMS4 on FDCExplorer-II (balloon)
Upper Volta623 (BL?)In (right) margin of SS11983?Stevens et Anderson, 1935 (in text); Explorer-II (and other balloons)
UnknownNoneMedallion?Explorer-II (balloon)


Vize

Vize, V. U.
(1886 - 1954)

V. U. Vize was a Russian meteorologist, oceanographer and polar explorer, and a member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. He participated in many Soviet Arctic expeditions, including the voyage of the icebreaker Sibiryakov in 1932. Under the leadership of Otto Schmidt, that expedition, undertaken as part of the Soviet work for the 2nd IPY (International Polar Year), marked the first time that a ship was able to travel the entire Northeast Passage from west to east in a single season. Vize was also aboard the icebreaker Litke in 1934, which in that year became the first ship to transit the Northeast Passage from east to west in a single season. These voyages were important building blocks in the establishment of the Soviet Northern Sea Route. In particular, from 1933 to 1935 the General Directorate of the Northern Sea Route, under Schmidt, not only improved navigation services and built new Arctic ports, but also increased the number of polar hydrometeorological stations and radio transmitting stations from 16 to 51.

Throughout his career, Vize published works on oceanography, meteorology and the history of Arctic exploration.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Russia6572 (Mi789)One of MS5 (6575a (6571-6575 + label)) (BL30)2000


Fridman

Fridman, Alexander Alexandrovich
(1888 - 1925)

Alexander Fridman was a Russian meteorologist. In February 1913 he was appointed to a position in the Aerological Observatory in Pavlovsk (a suburb of St. Petersburg), where he studied meteorology and made aerological observations. In 1914 he studied dynamic meteorology under the Norwegian Vilhelm Bjerknes, the leading theoretical meteorologist of the time. After 1914, Fridman took part in several flights in airships to make weather observations. Thereafter he continued to work in various scientific disciplines, including meteorology, aeronautics and mechanics. In July 1925 he made a record-breaking ascent in a balloon to 7400 metres altitude to make meteorological and medical observations.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Russia (USSR)NoneCachet on stamped envelope1988(100th anniv. birth)


Byrd

Byrd, Richard E.
(1888 - 1957)

Richard Byrd was an American military aviator and polar explorer. After a flight to the North Pole in 1926 and another across the Atlantic in 1927, he turned his sights to the Antarctic, which he would visit five times during the course of his career. His first Antarctic expedition took place from late 1928 through early 1930. His goals for were:

  1. to add to the scientific knowledge of Antarctica, particularly in the areas of meteorology, geography, geology and geomagnetism;
  2. to explore the interior plateau; and
  3. to fly over the South Pole.

Byrd succeeded in all of these objectives (the South Pole flight took place on 29 November 1929).

Byrd returned to Antarctica in early 1934, again with scientific research as his primary goal. Drawing partly on the scientific experience of researchers who had participated in the Antarctic work of the 2nd IPY (International Polar Year) of 1932-33, Byrd and his team, based at Little America, began a program of survey and mapping flights and geological, biological and meteorological research, including regular weather observations. Byrd himself wanted to make meteorological observations away from the coast, and spent the winter at a camp some 120 miles south of Little America on the Ross Ice Shelf. Known as the Bolling Advance Weather Station, it was a fully-equipped weather observing site, and Byrd's observations were the first ever made in winter at an Antarctic inland station. Byrd was alone at the station starting March 28, and later nearly perished from carbon monoxide poisoning. A rescue team of three arrived at Bolling on 11 August. The four men together then completed the winter observing program and finally abandoned the station on 14 October 1934.

Byrd later wrote a book titled Alone in which he described his sojourn at Bolling. He wrote that his decision to occupy the station alone was in part personal: "beyond the solid worth of weather and auroral observations in the hitherto unoccupied interior of Antarctica and my interest in these studies, I really wanted to go for the experience's sake".

In Alone, Byrd described the observing instruments at his disposal at Bolling, and the observing schedule:

"I was not long in discovering one thing: that, if anything was eventually to regularize the rhythm by which I should live at Advance Base, it would not be the weather so much as the weather instruments themselves. I had eight in continuous operation. One was the register, already described, which kept a continuous record of wind velocities and directions. The electrical circuit, connecting with the weather vane and wind cups on the anemometer pole topside, was powered by nine dry cell batteries; and the brass drum with the recording sheet was turned by a clock-work mechanism which I had to wind daily. The sheet was lined at intervals corresponding to five minutes in time; and between these lines two pens, one representing the speed of the wind and the other its direction, wrote steadily from noon of one day to noon of the next.

Two other instruments were thermographs, which recorded temperature changes. The so-called inside thermograph was a fairly new invention, whose unique virtue was that it could be housed inside the shack. A metal tube filled with alcohol projected through the roof, and the expansions and contractions of the liquid in the tube drove a pen up and down over a rotating sheet set in a clock-faced dial hanging from the wall, just over the emergency radio set. The sheet, marked with twenty-four spokes for the hours and with concentric circles for the degrees of temperature, made one rotation in twenty-four hours; it would record accurately down to 85 degrees below zero. The outside thermograph was a compact little mechanism which served the same function, except that it stood in the instrument shelter topside and the sheets needed changing only once a week.

Besides these instruments, I had a barograph to record atmospheric pressure, which was kept in a leather case in the food tunnel. Plus a hygrometer employing a human hair, for measuring humidity (not very reliable, though, at cold temperatures). Plus a minimum thermometer, which measured the lowest temperature. In it was a tiny pin which was dropped by the contraction of alcohol in the column. Alcohol was used instead of mercury because mercury freezes at -38 degrees whereas, pure grain alcohol will still flow at -179 degrees. This instrument was useful as a check on the thermographs. It was kept in the instrument shelter, a boxlike structure set on four legs, which stood shoulder high, close to the hatch. The sides were overlapping slats spaced an inch apart to allow air to circulate freely and yet keep out drift. If I had had any illusions as to being master in my own house, they were soon dispelled. The instruments were masters, not I; and the fact that I knew none too much about them only intensified my humility. There was scarcely an hour in the living day of which a part was not devoted to them or observations connected with them.

Every morning at 8 o'clock sharp, and again at 8 o'clock in the evening, I had to climb topside and note the minimum temperature reading, after which I would shake the thermometer hard to put the pin back into the fluid. Then, standing five minutes or so at the hatch, I would consult the sky, the horizon, and the Barrier, noting on a piece of scratch paper the percentage of cloudiness, the mistiness or clarity, the amount of drift, the direction and speed of the wind (a visual check on the register), and anything particularly interesting about the weather. All of these data were dutifully entered on Form No.1083, US Weather Bureau.

Every day, between 12 o'clock and 1 o'clock, I changed the recording sheets on the register and the inside thermograph. The pens and the pads supplying them always needed inking, and the thermograph clock had to be wound. Mondays I performed the same service for the outside thermograph and the barograph."

In another part of his book, Byrd describes some of the difficulties he encountered with instrument maintenance in the harsh Antarctic conditions:

"The wind vane has been giving quite a bit of trouble lately. I've had to climb the pole once or twice every day to scrape the contact points. The temperature is holding pretty steadily between 50 degrees and 60 degrees below zero; and I must admit that the job is chillier than I bargained for." … "Just when I was congratulating myself on having mastered the job of weather observer, the outside thermograph began to act up. A devilish contrivance, it occupied the instrument shelter topside, where hoarfrost settled on the trace, the pen, the drum, and even the workings. On the one occasion I brought the instrument into the shack to change the sheet and make an adjustment, the difference in temperature coated the metal with rime and stopped it dead. Thereafter I had no choice but to make the adjustments in the chill of the tunnel, with no protection for my hands except thin silk gloves; even those seemed infernally clumsy when I had to deal with the speed regulator, which must have been invented for the specific purpose of plaguing weather men."

As may be imagined, the winter temperatures at Bolling Advance Weather Station were generally bone-chilling. Byrd recorded that in May, there were 20 days colder than -40°F, 12 days colder than -50°F, three colder than -60°F and two colder than -70°F. However, warm temperatures did occur for brief periods: May 24 in particular was "unbelievably warm", with a maximum temperature of 18°F above zero. This was the result of maritime air making its way inland. July, closer to the middle of the austral winter, was brutal: there were 20 days colder than -60°F and six colder than minus 70°F! However, there was again a short mild period: on 27 July, the temperature reached nearly 0°F. The weather was very changeable: Byrd experienced weather that ran the gamut from calm and clear conditions to howling blizzards with zero visibility.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Australian Antarctic TerritoryL33 (Mi?)1973"Byrd's Ford Tri-Motor, 1929" (dropping US flag over South Pole)
Australian Antarctic TerritoryL35 (Mi?)197950th anniv. Byrd's South Pole flight; (90th anniv. birth, in 1978)
Australian Antarctic TerritoryL35 fdcStamp and cachet on FDC
Australian Antarctic TerritoryL36 (Mi?)
Australian Antarctic TerritoryL36 fdcStamp and cachet on FDC
Antarctica PostUnknown (Mi?)2007(50th anniv. death)
Antarctica PostUnknown stripImperforate trial strip
Cook IslandsKM111$50 (silver coin)1988(100th anniv. birth)
FranceNoneLotto ticket1965
Gambia2747d (Mi?)On one and in (upper-center) margin of MS4 (2747 (a-d))2003Byrd's flight over North Pole in 1926
Ivory CoastUnknown ms (BL?)MS2 (2x a)2012
ManamaMi511 ssSS1 (Mi511)1971
Monaco1041 (Mi?)1976(20th anniv. death, in 1977); Byrd (at left)
Monaco1041 fdcStamp and cachet on FDC(20th anniv. death, in 1977); Byrd (at left on stamp and cachet)
Monaco1041 fdc2Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC(20th anniv. death, in 1977); Byrd (at left on stamp, at right in cachet)
Monaco1041 fdc3Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC(20th anniv. death, in 1977); Byrd (at left on stamp and cachet)
RomaniaC225 cover (Mi? cover)Cancel and cachet on cover197950th anniv. Byrd's South Pole flight; (90th anniv. birth)
RomaniaNoneCancel (same) and cachet (same except changed colors) on cover197950th anniv. Byrd's South Pole flight; (90th anniv. birth)
Romania3351 (Mi?)1985
Romania3351 fdcStamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
Romania3351 cardStamp and cancel and cachet on card1992
RomaniaNonePrinted stamp and cancel and cachet on postal card2003
RomaniaNonePrinted stamp and cancel and cachet on postal card2006Byrd, and 50th anniv. Little America
RomaniaNoneCancel and cachet on postal card200750th anniv. death
RomaniaNoneCancel and (upper) cachet on postal card200880th anniv. Byrd's 1st Antarctic Expedition (1928-9); (50th anniv. death)
RomaniaNoneCancel (same) and cachet (different) on postal card200880th anniv. Byrd's 1st Antarctic Expedition (1928-9); (50th anniv. death, in 2007)
RomaniaNoneCancel and cachet on postal card (different)200980th anniv. Byrd's 1st Antarctic Expedition (1928-9)
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1931Byrd's visit to Fort Wayne, Indiana, on 2 May 1931
United States733 (Mi?)19332nd Byrd Antarctic Expedition
United States733 fdc1Stamp and cachet on FDC
United States733 fdc2Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United States735Imperforate MS6 (6x 735a), no gum, narrow gutters19342nd Byrd Antarctic Expedition
United States735a fdc1Stamp and cachet on FDC
United States735a fdc2Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United States735a fdc3Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United States753 (Mi?)Same as 733, except guide line on vertical and horizontal gutters between stamps19342nd Byrd Antarctic Expedition
United States768 (BL?)Imperforate MS6 (6x 768a); like 735, except wide gutters between stamps, with block of 4 subset19342nd Byrd Antarctic Expedition
United States733 cover (Mi? cover)Stamp and cachet on cover19345th anniv. Byrd's South Pole flight (29 Nov 1929)
United States733 cover1 (Mi? cover1)Stamp and cachet on cover19352nd Byrd Antarctic Expedition
United States733 cover2 (Mi? cover2)Stamp and cachet on cover19352nd Byrd Antarctic Expedition
United StatesNoneCachet on cover19413rd Byrd Antarctic Expedition
United StatesNoneCancel on cover1961Byrd Station, Antarctica
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1968(80th anniv. birth; 10th anniv. death, in 1967)
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1971Commemorating Byrd's flights to the Poles
United StatesNoneCachet (different) on cover1971Byrd Station, Antarctica
United StatesNoneCachet on cover197445th anniv. Byrd's South Pole flight
United StatesNoneCachet on cover197750th anniv. Byrd's trans-Atlantic flight
United StatesNoneCachet (different) on cover197750th anniv. Byrd's trans-Atlantic flight
United StatesNoneTwo cachets on cover back197950th anniv. [1st] Byrd Antarctic Expedition; (90th anniv. birth, in 1978)
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1981Byrd Surface Camp
United States2388 (Mi?)One of block of 4 (2388a (2386-2389))1988(100th anniv. birth)
United States2388 fdcStamp on FDC
United States2388 maxiStamp and cachet on maxicard
United States2388a fdcBlock of 4 stamps and cachet on FDC
United States2388-2389 fdcOne of two stamps on FDC
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1995Byrd Station (Antarctica)
United States2474+C60 cover (Mi? cover)Cancel on cover1997"Richard Evelyn Byrd"; (40th anniv. death)
United StatesNoneCancel on cover200475th anniv. Byrd's South Pole flight (29 Nov 1929)


Wilkins

Wilkins, Sir Hubert
(1888 - 1958)

Hubert Wilkins was an Australian polar explorer and adventurer. As a child, he experienced the effects of a severe drought and so became interested in weather and climate. As a young man, he learned to fly, and studied the climate, meteorology and sea ice of the polar regions. He learned how to survive in those regions, and put forth the idea of improving weather forecasting by establishing permanent stations at both Poles. In 1923 he became a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and the Royal Meteorological Society. Also in the 1920s, he turned his attention more and more to the idea of polar exploration by air, and in April 1928 became the first person (with Carl Eielson as pilot) to fly across the Arctic from the New World to the Old. They flew in a Lockheed Vega monoplane from Point Barrow, Alaska to Spitzbergen. Wilkins closed out the 1920s with two trips to the Antarctic, where he did more aerial exploration.

In 1931 Wilkins tried to navigate a submarine (leased for $1 per year from the US) under the ice pack to the North Pole. He said that "… the expedition is for the purpose of gathering data in connection with a plan for comprehensive meteorology study, including the polar areas and with the hope that once polar meteorological study, including the polar areas and with the hope that once polar meteorological stations are established it will be possible to forecast for several years in advance, the seasonal conditions, and to collect scientific data of academic and economic interest from an area hitherto unapproached by a scientific staff equipped with a complete scientific laboratory and facility for comfortably carrying out their investigation and provided with adequate means of sustenance and means of safe retreat. Millions of dollars are spent each year by various institutions in oceanographic and geophysical research. A submarine will provide means for similar investigations in an economic and safe manner, in areas as yet untouched by scientists". The attempt failed because of multiple mechanical problems. Thereafter in the 1930s, Wilkins collaborated with Lincoln Ellsworth in his (Ellsworth's) aerial exploration of the Antarctic.

In WWII, Wilkins worked for the Quartermaster Corps of the US Army, where he studied clothing, rations and survival techniques for conditions of extreme cold. In the late 1940s, he served as an adviser to the US Weather Bureau.

Throughout his career, Wilkins received many honours including a knighthood, and was recognized by geographical and scientific societies for his work in geography, climatology and meteorology.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
AustraliaNonePrinted stamp and cancel and cachet on aerogramme1994"First to fly across the North Pole" (in 1928)
Australian Antarctic TerritoryL30 (Mi?)1973"Wilkins' Lockheed Vega, 1928"
British Antarctic Territory57 (Mi57)1979(15th anniv. death)
French Southern and Antarctic Territories154 cover (Mi? cover)Cachet on cover2001Ice ship Sir Hubert Wilkins
RomaniaNoneCancel and cachet on postal card200850th anniv. death; (120th anniv. birth); 80th anniv. Wilkins' 1928 Antarctic flight
RomaniaNoneCancel and cachet on postal card (different)200850th anniv. death; (120th anniv. birth); 80th anniv. Wilkins' 1928 Antarctic flight
United StatesNone(Printed and purple rubber-stamp) cachets on cover1931"Wilkins-Ellsworth Trans-Arctic Submarine Expedition"
United StatesNone(Two-color rubber-stamp) cachet on cover (different)1931"Wilkins-Ellsworth Trans-Arctic Submarine Expedition"
United StatesNoneCancel and cachet on cover1981(50th anniv.) Wilkins-Ellsworth Trans-Arctic Submarine Expedition, Submarine Nautilus"


Väisälä

Väisälä, Vilho
(1889 - 1969)

Väisälä was a Finnish physicist and meteorologist. He began a 36-year career with the Finnish Meteorological Institute in 1912. His first task was to make magnetic measurements in Finland. He then turned to upper-air meteorological measurements which were at the time made with instrumented kites. He was appointed head of the Ilmala kite station in 1916 and director of the aerological department in 1919. Väisälä had a flair for instrumentation and his department developed various upper-air measurement techniques and instruments, culminating in the Väisälä radiosonde (a small package of instruments carried aloft by a weather balloon). It was first flight-tested on 30 December, 1931 and was introduced to the international meteorological community in 1935. It was simple, reliable and moderately-priced. It soon became the standard in Scandinavia, and found broad international acceptance as well. It won a gold medal at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in Paris in 1937.

The Russian meteorologist Pavel Molchanov independently developed radiosonde instrumentation at about the same time as Väisälä, and is credited with the launch of the first radiosonde at the Main Geophysical Observatory in Pavlovsk on 30 January 1930.

In 1936 Väisälä founded a private company to manufacture radiosondes. At first called Mittari Oy, its name was changed to Vaisala in 1955. Väisälä was its director until his death. As the company grew, its product line expanded to include other meteorological instruments. It is today a major provider of meteorological instrumentation, with clients in some 120 countries around the world.

Väisälä was appointed professor of meteorology at the University of Helsinki in 1948.

The Professor Vilho Väisälä Award was established in 1985 by the World Meteorological Organization to honor outstanding research involving meteorological observation methods and instruments.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
FinlandNoneMeter1990Vaisala (company)


Dobson

Dobson, Gordon Miller Bourne
(1889 - 1976)

Gordon Dobson was an English physicist and meteorologist. He took a position as University Lecturer in Meteorology at Oxford in 1920. There he studied meteor trails and with F. A. Lindemann deduced that there must exist a region above the tropopause in which the temperature increased substantially with height (this region is the stratosphere). Dobson then concluded that the warming of the stratosphere must be caused by the absorption of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation by ozone. He proceeded to measure the ozone by observing its absorption in the solar UV spectrum following the technique of Fabry and Buisson. To this end he built his first spectrograph in 1924, and with a year had used it to demonstrate the main features of the seasonal variability of total column ozone and also the correlation between the ozone amount and the meteorological conditions in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. He continued this work through the late-1920s with more extensive measurements made by his instrument at locations throughout the world. Further development of his spectrograph led to the instrument that became known as the Dobson spectrophotometer, which became the international standard for ozone measurement. The units used to measure ozone came to be known as "Dobson Units" (DU). Modern measurements of total column ozone are still expressed in Dobson Units.

In 1926 Dobson presented the Halley lecture on "The uppermost regions of the Earth's atmosphere" in which he presented a summary diagram of those regions. A year later he was elected to a new Readership in Meteorology. In the 1930s he developed an interest in atmospheric pollution, and from 1934 to 1950 served as Chairman of the Atmospheric Pollution Committee of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, where he directed the development of methods to measure smoke, deposited particulate matter and sulphur dioxide.

In order to understand and forecast atmospheric conditions at levels where condensation trails from aircraft were occurring, Dobson and Alan Brewer studied stratospheric humidity during World War II. To make the necessary measurements, Brewer modified one of Dobson's hygrometers so that it would accurately measure the frost-point (rather than the dew point) when mounted in an airplane. Measurements with that hygrometer revealed that the stratosophere was extremely dry. Brewer hypothesized that the dry air could only have originated in the area of the equatorial tropopause, and postulated a circulation in which air enters the stratosphere in the equatorial area, moves poleward and exits the stratosphere at higher latitudes. Dobson and Brewer published some of these ideas in 1946. Brewer continued to develop the theory and in 1949 published the details of what came to be known as the "Brewer-Dobson circulation" in a seminal paper in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. The Brewer-Dobson circulation is generally accepted as the breakthrough in understanding why the stratosphere is so remarkably dry. Its details are still a subject of study to this day, world wide.

Those studies of humidity in turn led Dobson to examine the mechanism by which water drops freeze. He and his students built cloud chambers in which they could study the phenomenon, and showed that drops of pure water would not spontaneously freeze until a temperature of -40°C was reached, while drops that contained various impurities would freeze at warmer temperatures.

Dobson was awarded the Symons Gold Medal of the Royal Meteorological Society in 1938, and was the president of the Society from 1947 to 1949.

In the early 1950s Dobson and Brewer began to study how ozone would fit into the Brewer-Dobson circulation. In 1955 a version of Dobson's ozone-measuring spectrograph was mounted in an airplane, and Brewer operated it during four stratospheric flights at Tromsö, Norway. The measurements showed that there was a sharp transition to higher values of ozone concentration at the tropopause. This work was only part of ongoing ozone studies by both Dobson and Brewer which eventually did show that stratospheric ozone has a latitudinal dependence consistent with the Brewer-Dobson circulation.

In 1956 some 44 Dobson spectrophotometers were in operation throughout the world and many more were built and put into operation for the International Geophysical Year (IGY). Dobson continued his work on ozone until the end of his life. Brewer designed an updated instrument to replace the ageing Dobson spectrophotometer in the early 1970s. The new Brewer ozone spectrophotometer became the worldwide standard instrument for measuring total column ozone, but it still uses the basic principles of Dobson's instrument.

Here is a complete list of Dobson's scientific papers.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
AntarcticaP6$100. (banknote)1996Dobson units
AntarcticaP13$100. (banknote)2001Dobson units
British Antarctic Territory177 (Mi178)1991Dobson spectrophotometer
Cuba3391 (Mi3556)1992"Unidades Dobson" (Dobson units)
Cuba3390-3391 fdcOne of two stamps on FDC
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands375 (BL?)MS2 (375 (a-b))2009Total ozone (Dobson units)


Armstrong

Armstrong, Edwin H.
(1890 - 1954)

Edwin Armstrong was an American electrical engineer and inventor. Radio in the early 1920s operated on the AM (amplitude modulation) principle, in which the sound patterns were defined by varying (modulating) the amplitude (which is related to the power) of the carrier wave, at a fixed frequency. However, electrical storms and other atmospheric phenomena were known to distort the AM patterns and create interference and static. Armstrong wanted to eliminate these problems, and reasoned in the late 1920s that the carrier wave frequency should be modulated, with its amplitude remaining constant. He introduced this new FM (frequeny modulation) system in 1933, and tests showed that it provided clear reception even in the presence of violent thunderstorms.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Czechoslovakia954 (Mi1175)1959(70th anniv. birth, in 1960; 5th anniv. death)


Kezhen

Kezhen, Zhu (Coching Chu)
(1890 - 1974)

Zhu Kezhen was a meteorologist and geographer who is considered to be the founder of modern meteorology in China. After studies in the USA (Ph.D. in meteorology from Harvard), he taught meteorology at schools in Wuhan, Nanjing, Shanghai and Tianjin. He was the chairman of the Department of Meteorology at Nanjing University from 1920 to 1929. In 1929 he became the director of the Chinese Meteorological Research Institute of the Central Academy. During his career he served as president of the Chinese Meteorological Society and the Chinese Geographical Society as well as several other scientific bodies. In 1934 Kezhen invited Chang Wang Tu to return to China from England to take up the post of researcher at the Institute of Meteorology at the Central Academy. Tu would later become the director of the Chinese Meteorological Bureau.

Kezhen specialized in climatology, and introduced the science of phenology (the study of periodic natural cycles related to climate, such as the migration of birds) to China, and established a Chinese phenological observing network in 1934. He was the author of a detailed study of the Chinese climate over the last 5000 years (A Study of Climate Changes in China over the Past Five Millenia) based on a temperature index that he created. Kezhen considered that the study of historical climate changes could be useful in forecasts of future climate changes. He published some 300 scientific papers in his areas of interest, which included the study of typhoons and monsoons. In addition to the climate study mentioned abouve, his major meteorological publications include Phenology; An Outline of Meteorology in China; The Interrelationship between Meteorology and Agriculture; A Few New Facts in the Centre of a Typhoon; A New Classification of Typhoons in the Far East; The Place of Origin and Recurvature of Typhoons; Movements of Air Currents in China; The Southeast Monsoon and Rainfall in China; Relations of Climate to Men and Other Lives; On the Characteristics of China's Climate and the Relations between those Characteristics and Food Production; China's Subtropical Zone; and A Preliminary Study of Climate Types of East Asia.

Another of Kezhen's interests was the history of science, and particularly the ancient scientific legacy of China.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
China (People's Republic)2146 (Mi2173)1988
China (People's Republic)2145-2148 fdcOne of four stamps on FDC
China (People's Republic)2145-2148 folderFour stamps on FDC folder; also folder cover
China (People's Republic)NonePostal card2004(30th anniv. death); statue of Kezhen in front of the Jiangsu Meteor. Bureau, in Nanjing (where modern Chinese meteorology was born, according to the text)


Schmidt

Schmidt, Otto Yulievich
(1891 - 1956)

Otto Schmidt was a Russian geophysicist, mathematician, polar explorer and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was the head of several Arctic expeditions. The earliest of these was the Georgy Sedov expedition of 1929-1930, which established the first scientific research station, including a weather observatory, in Franz Josef Land (it was located on Tikhaya Bay on Hooker Island, and began operations in 1929. From 1930 to 1932 Schmidt was Director of the Arctic Institute (the precursor of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) which would later be headed by A. F. Treshnikov). In 1932, as part of the Soviet contribution to the 2nd IPY (International Polar Year), Schmidt led an expedition aboard the icebreaker Sibiryakov. It sailed the whole Northeast Passage, from west (Archangelsk) to east (Bering Strait) in a single summer season. This was the first time the trip had ever been made without wintering en route. After this success, the General Directorate of the Northern Sea Route was established, with the goal of preparing the route for safe marine navigation. Schmidt was appointed as its Chief. Under his guidance, more trial runs were conducted in 1933 and 1934, and the route was officially opened and commercial exploitation began in 1935. This was possible partly because of improved infrastructure: from 1933 to 1935, Schmidt and the Directorate not only improved navigation services and built new Arctic ports, but also increased the number of polar hydrometeorological stations and radio transmitting stations from 16 to 51.

In the winter of 1933-1934, Schmidt led the disastrous expedition in which the icebreaker Chelyuskin was lost in the Chukchi Sea, crushed by the ice (E. T. Krenkel was also part of this expedition). In 1935 Schmidt headed the interagency Office of Ice Forecasting which combined oceanographic and meteorological information to produce ice forecasts for the Northern Sea Route. In that year he also became a member of the Academy of Sciences.

In 1937 Schmidt organized an airborne expedition that established a research station on the Arctic Ocean ice. It started at a point only about 20 km from the North Pole, and was known as the NP-1 (North Pole-1) drifting ice station. The four crewmembers of the station were Papanin, Fedorov, Krenkel and Shirshov. NP-1 provided regular weather observations which were sent by wireless back to the USSR. It was the first ever research station on the Arctic ice and during its lifetime drifted to a point off the northeastern Greenland coast. NP-1 opened a new stage in the history of Arctic research, in which more systematic scientific studies were possible than. The Soviet Union and Russia have operated a total of 37 such NP stations, generally with a scientific component that included meteorology.

Two hydrometeorological observatories have been named after Schmidt. One, in his home town of Mogilev (now in Belarus), is the Otto Schmidt Mogilev Regional Hydrometeorological Observatory. The other is the Cape Schmidt Hydrometeorological Observatory in eastern Siberia, on the Arctic coast to the south of Wrangell Island. The Institute of Earth Physics in Moscow was also named after Schmidt.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Belarus406 (BL?)SS1 (1 stamp + label)2001110th anniv. birth
ChadUnknown b (Mi?)One of MS4 (a-d)2010(120th anniv. birth, in 2011)
ChadUnknown ms fdcMS4 on FDC
Russia (USSR)C59 (Mi500)1935Schmidt and Chelyuskin expedition rescue
Russia (USSR)3191A (Mi3291)1966(10th anniv. death)
Russia (USSR)3191A coverStamp and (purple rubber-stamp and typed) cachets on cover1968RV Otto Schmidt
Russia (USSR)NoneCachet on stamped envelope197850th anniv. Schmidt Institute of Earth Physics
Russia (USSR)4885 (Mi5016)1980Schmidt and RV Otto Schmidt
Russia (USSR)4885 fdcStamp and cachet on FDC
Russia (USSR)4885 coverStamp and (printed and round rubber-stamp and text) cachets on stamped envelope originally from 1966?1980(10th anniv. death) in 1966 (probable year of issue of the stamped envelope); "Cape Schmidt Hydrometeor. Observatory" (in violet cachets)
Russia (USSR)None(Small rubber-stamp) cachet on cover1981RV Otto Schmidt
Russia (USSR)None(Black rubber-stamp and printed) cachets on cover1985"Otto Schmidt"; RV Otto Schmidt
Russia (USSR)None(Printed and two rubber-stamp) cachets on cover1989RV Otto Schmidt
Russia (USSR)None(Printed) cachet on stamped envelope1991100th anniv. birth
Russia (USSR)3191A cover (Mi? cover)Stamp and (violet rubber-stamp) cachet on same envelope as previous item1991Otto Schmidt Mogilev Regional Hydrometeor. Centre (on cachet); (100th anniv. birth)
RussiaNone(Printed and triangular and square rubber-stamp) cachets on stamped envelope1992Schmidt (on printed cachet); (100th anniv. birth, in 1991); 60th anniv. Cape Schmidt Hydrometeor. Observatory (on rubber-stamp cachets)
RussiaNone(Printed and triangular and one different rubber-stamp) cachets on stamped envelope like the one immediately above1992Schmidt (on printed cachet); (100th anniv. birth, in 1991); 60th anniv. Cape Schmidt Hydrometeor. Observatory (on rubber-stamp cachet)
RussiaNone(Upper and lower rubber-stamp) cachets on back of envelope above1992(100th anniv. birth, in 1991); Cape Schmidt Hydrometeor. Observatory
Russia (USSR)NoneCancel on stamped envelope1993"Cape Schmidt"


Appleton

Appleton, Edward Victor
(1892 - 1965)

Edward Appleton was an English physicist who studied the physics of the upper atmosphere.

Marconi's transatlantic wireless transmissions in 1910 had shown that there must exist an upper atmospheric layer from which radio waves are reflected back down to the surface. Gauss had hypothesized some 100 years earlier that such a layer must exist. Appleton in 1924 used a BBC radio transmitter to beam radio signals of varying wavelengths into the upper atmosphere. His analysis of the received signals allowed him to calculate that the height of the reflecting layer was about 100 km. The layer was named the 'ionosphere' by Watson-Watt in 1926. Appleton's technique is now known as 'frequency modulation radar', a precursor of modern forms of radar. The ionosphere was therefore the first 'object' detected by radiolocation. Watson-Watt would build on this work to develop the first workable radar system in the 1930s. This system allowed Britain to detect enemy aircraft during WWII. Radar techniques were also applied to meteorology: weather radar able to detect hydrometeors (liquid and/or solid precipitation) was developed, starting in the war years.

In 1926 Appleton discovered a higher layer (250 - 350 km) of the ionosphere that came to be called the Appleton layer. In the late 1920s and 1930s he and his colleagues used instruments known as 'vertical sounding ionosondes' to determine the properties of the various ionospheric layers. They provide records known as ionograms. An international network of ionosondes was later established for the International Geophysical Year (IGY), and continued to operate thereafter. Consisting of some 40 observing stations around the world, its observations allow forecasts of the most suitable wavelengths for worldwide radio communications to be made.

In 1929 Appleton continued his upper atmospheric research in northern Norway. While there he also studied the aurora borealis.

Using sunspot observations taken at the sunspot minimum in 1934 and the maximum in 1937, Appleton demonstrated that the ionization and therefore the reflective power of the ionosphere vary with sunspot activity.

Appleton noted that lightning affects radio reception, and therefore investigated the electric waves that are produced as a result of lightning discharges. He was able to use special sounding equipment that could locate lightning strikes (and therefore thunderstorms) at great distances. He hypothesized that thunderstorms as far away as the equatorial areas could cause disturbances that affect radio reception.

Appleton was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1947 for his upper atmospheric research.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Chad734 (Mi?)From SS1 (734a), or from MS4 (734b (4x 734))1997
Chad734 fdcStamp on FDC
Chad734a fdcSS1 on FDC
Congo (Democratic Republic)Unknown (Mi?)From SS1, or from MS4 (4x unknown); also one of MS2 (a-b)2002(110th anniv. birth)
Malagasy1132h (Mi?)One of MS16 (1132 (a-p))1993(100th anniv. birth, in 1992)
SpainNoneLotto ticket1997
Togo1658g (Mi?)One of MS9 (1658 (a-i))1995(30th anniv. death)


Watson-Watt

Watson-Watt, Robert Alexander
(1892 - 1973)

Robert Watson-Watt was a Scottish physicist best known for the development of radar. He worked at the British Meteorological Office in 1917 on the radio detection of thunderstorms. This was an important project due to the hazard such storms posed to aviators, and was the basis for his later work on radio pulse techniques and radar.

Watson-Watt's work included consideration of the structure of the upper atmosphere and its effect on radio waves. Marconi's transatlantic wireless transmissions in 1910 had shown that there must exist an upper atmospheric layer from which radio waves are reflected back down to the surface. Gauss had hypothesized some 100 years earlier that such a layer must exist. Appleton in 1924 used a BBC radio transmitter to beam radio signals of varying wavelengths into the upper atmosphere. His analysis of the received signals allowed him to calculate that the height of the reflecting layer was about 100 km. Appleton's technique, now known as 'frequency modulation radar', was a precursor of modern forms of radar.

In 1926 Watson-Watt coined the term "ionosphere" for the reflecting layer and proposed it in a letter to the United Kingdom Radio Research Board. The term was adopted and came into common use some years later.

Watson-Watt developed a radio pulse technique in the 1920s and 30s that was based partially on Appleton's 'frequency modulation radar'. Watson-Watt was eventually able to locate aircraft through his radio pulse technique, and is credited with the development of the first workable radar system in the 1930s (radar is an acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging). He was appointed Director of Radio Research at the British National Physical Laboratory in 1935. In 1942, he was knighted for his work on radar. His radar system allowed Britain to detect enemy aircraft during WWII. Radar techniques were also applied to meteorology: weather radar able to detect hydrometeors (liquid and/or solid precipitation) was developed, starting in the war years.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great Britain518-521 fdc (Mi? fdc)In (lower-left) of cachet on FDC1967
Great Britain1362 (Mi?)1991"Radar - Watson-Watt". (100th anniv. birth, in 1992)
Great Britain1360-1363 fdcOne of four stamps on FDC


Molchanov

Molchanov, Pavel A.
(1893 - 1941)

Pavel Molchanov was a Soviet meteorologist who worked at the Main Geophysical Observatory in Pavlovsk from 1917 to 1939. He was interested in applying aerological data (upper air data, measured in the atmosphere above the surface) to weather forecasting. He experimented with meteorographs that could be carried aloft by balloons, but they were complicated and had to be recovered before their recorded data could be examined. Molchanov's goal was to develop a cheap and reliable means of sounding the atmosphere for temperature, moisture and wind data. This goal was met through his development of the radiosonde, a balloon-borne instrument package that could transmit observations back to a receiving station by radio. Many philatelic examples of weather balloons and radiosondes are found here.

On 30 January 1930, he launched the first radiosonde from the Geophysical Observatory. It reached an altitude of 7.8 km and sent observed data in the first-ever upper air message to the Leningrad Weather Bureau and the Central Forecast Institute in Moscow. Molchanov's radiosondes were used in the Arctic as part of the USSR's contribution to the Second International Polar Year (IPY) in 1931. They provided the first upper-air observations ever made in the Arctic.

Mass production of Molchanov's radiosonde began in 1935. His design provided observations that were accurate and stable enough that it was used without any major changes until 1958.

The ship Professor Molchanov was named in his honour. It has served as an oceanographic research vessel and a polar cruise ship.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Russia (USSR)NoneCachet on stamped envelope197950th anniv. first radiosonde (developed by Molchanov)
RussiaNoneCachets on cover1993Molchanov; (100th anniv. birth); ship Professor Molchanov
RussiaNoneCachet on cover1994ship Professor Molchanov
RussiaNoneCachet on cover1996ship Professor Molchanov
Russia7081c (Mi?)From MS3 (7081 (a-c))2008ship Professor Molchanov
Russia7081 fdcOn one stamp in MS3 on FDC2008ship Professor Molchanov
Russia7081c coverStamp and cachet on cover2008R.V. Professor Molchanov
Russia7081c cover(Printed) cachet on cover2009


Demuyter

Demuyter, Ernest
(1893 - 1963)

Ernest Demuyter was a Belgian Army lieutenant and balloon pilot who flew the balloon Belgica to victory in the Gordon Bennett balloon race in 1920, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1936 and 1937.

Early in his career Demuyter was employed as a meteorology instructor. This background stayed with him throughout his life as a balloonist.

Meteorology was not closely considered in hot air ballooning in the early 20th century. Speaking of the 1913 Gordon Bennett race, Demuyter noted that "meteorology in those days was in its childhood. Of course the pilots got handed out the information from all meteorological stations around the world, and often the forecast for beginning rain, snowfall or storm was true. But there were no weather maps as we know today from the television every evening. There was also no weather briefing before launch. Everybody got his own information. What he then concluded and how he put it to practice was his own affair". Demuyter was convinced that the best balloon pilots were those who were also meteorologists, or at least very familiar with meteorology. Those pilots could put meteorological information to good use. Demuyter was one of the first pilots to carefully consider the influence of meteorological conditions in his planning for balloon flights and competitions. For example, he pointed out that "every balloon pilot knows (or should know) that the wind turns right [i.e. clockwise] in a high pressure area and counter clockwise in a low. Today we [also] know the gradient winds, floating almost parallel to the isobars".

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
BelgiumNoneCachet on air post card1935Demuyter (in text); balloon Belgica
BelgiumNoneCachet on balloon flight cover1936Demuyter and Belgica (in text)
BelgiumNoneCachet and address and (red) vignette on (Gordon Bennett balloon race) post flight cover1937Demuyter and Belgica (in text); Belgica and "E.D." (Ernest Demuyter) on balloon post vignette
BelgiumNoneCachet and (blue) vignette on (Gordon Bennett balloon race) post flight cover back1937Demuyter (in text); Belgica and "E.D." (Ernest Demuyter) on balloon post vignette
BelgiumB210 cover (Mi? cover)Cachet on balloon post flight cover (Gordon Bennett race)1938Demuyter and Belgica (in text); also canceled in Romania)
BelgiumNoneCachet and address and signature on balloon post flight cover (Gordon Bennett race)1939Demuyter and Belgica (in text)
Romania448 cover (Mi? cover)Cachet on balloon post flight cover (Gordon Bennett race)1938Demuyter and Belgica (in text); also canceled in Belgium
Rwanda1188 (Mi1272)1984E. Demuyter, 1937; Belgica balloon; also A. Piccard and stratospheric balloon FNRS


Ibarra

Ibarra, José María Velasco
(1893 - 1979)

José Ibarra was an Ecuadorian politician who was president of the country on five separate occasions between 1934 and 1972. After the earliest meteorological observations made by de La Condamine in the 1730s, the science of meteorology developed gradually in Ecuador. The effects of El Nińo episodes came to be studied, particularly after the devastating El Nińo of 1925. At subsequent scientific conferences in Rio de Janeiro (1935) and Montevideo (1939) the importance of meteorology to South American states including Ecuador was emphasized, and resolutions were passed concerning national meteorological services. Ibarra knew the importance of state infrastructure and institutions and on 20 October 1944 complied with the resolutions and signed a presidential decree that established the Meteorological Service of the Astronomical Observatory of Quito. The Service developed over the years, and on 4 August 1961 Ibarra (he was again president) signed the executive decree that created Ecuador's National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (INAMHI). This allowed the country to join the modern international meteorological community.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Ecuador1308 (Mi?)1993100th anniv. birth
Ecuador1308 fdcStamp and cancel and cachet on FDC


Urey

Urey, Harold Clayton
(1893 - 1981)

Urey was an American chemist who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1934 for his studies of isotopes. During the 1940s while at the University of Chicago, his work with oxygen isotopes led him to hypothesize that the 18O/16O ratio in calcite (CaCO3) should vary as a function of the temperature at which the mineral had precipitated. He and his colleagues and students then measured that ratio over a wide range of temperatures and came up with an equation relating the ratios to temperatures. The equation can be considered as a "paleothermometer" since the ratios obtained from the calcite shells of fossilized foraminifera in lake or ocean sediments (sediment coring provides the necessary samples) can be used to estimate the paleotemperatures (the temperatures of the ancient times from which the shells came). Urey published his results in a paper titled "The thermodynamic properties of isotopic substances" (J. Chem. Soc. 1947 Apr: 562-81).

The technique works because 16O evaporates preferentially from oceanic and lake water, compared to 18O. Some of those isotopes then return to the water (e.g. through rainfall and runoff) but some also fall to the land as snow. In cold periods with snow and glacial ice buildup, this process extracts more 16O than 18O from the water, so the ratio changes. The ratio is therefore a proxy for the volume of glacial ice on the planet as well as for temperature.

The technique became a cornerstone of the science of paleoclimatology. It has been used by many other climatologists, including Shackleton. Calculations using it have been compared to those from the Milanković's theory. Both agree broadly on a long series of relatively warm and cold periods extending back at least 2.6 million years. Those periods are called Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) or Oxygen Isotope Stages (OIS).

Urey can be considered the "father" of this field of study, referred to generally as isotopic paleoclimatology.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Romania4314 (Mi5428)1999
Romania4313-4314 fdcOne of two stamps on FDC
SpainNoneCachet on stamped envelope2013
United States1685 fdc (Mi? fdc)Cachet (signature) on FDC1976


Kapitsa

Kapitsa, Pyotr L.
(1894 - 1984)

Pyotr Kapitsa was a Soviet physicist. While out of favour with Stalin in the late 1940s and early 1950s due to his refusal to work on nuclear weapons development, he conducted research on ball lightning. He won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1978.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Congo (Democratic Republic)Unknown b (Mi?)One of MS2 (a-l)2002
Congo (Democratic Republic)Unknown ss (BL?)On stamp and in (left) margin of SS1
Russia6224 (Mi?)1994(10th anniv. death; 110th anniv. birth)
Russia6597e (Mi829)One of MS12 (6597 (a-l)) (Mi825-836)2000
St. Vincent2218f (Mi?)One of MS12 (2218 (a-l))1995(10th anniv. death, in 1994; 110th anniv. birth, in 1994)


Schonland

Schonland, Sir Basil
(1896 - 1972)

Basil Schonland was a South African physicist who studied atmospheric electricity and lightning. In 1937 he was selected as the founding director of the Bernard Price Institute of Geophysical Research at the University of Witwatersrand, where from 1937 to 1939 he chased storms, photographed lightning and measured the electrical fields around and under thunderclouds. His work in the area of lightning was hailed as the greatest advance in the field since the studies of Benjamin Franklin.

Schonland also played a key role in South Africa's independent development of radar during World War II. He was voted South Africa's Scientist of the Century in 1999.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
South Africa811 (Mi826)1991(20th anniv. death, in 1992)
South Africa811 maxiStamp on maxicard
South Africa810-813 fdcOne of three stamps on FDC


Dumbrava

Dumbrava, Constantin
(1898 - 1935)

Constantin Dumbrava was a Romanian naturalist and polar explorer. He was involved in three expeditions to Greenland. The first, in 1927-1928, took place in the Angmassalik region, where he made an ethnographic study of the native people, and completed work in glaciology and meteorology. The second expedition took place in 1930-1931, in the Scoresby Sund area. Dumbrava was left on the east side of Hurry Inlet in the summer of 1930, where he built a hut for shelter. During his time there he made meteorological and magnetic observations and studied sea currents and tides, and the sea temperature. He returned home in 1931. The third expedition in 1934 was disastrous. The balloon carrying him to Greenland crashed in the water off the Angmassalik coast. Dumbrava was injured and contracted pneumonia and never recovered. He died a year later in France.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
RomaniaNoneCancel and cachet on cover1978Dumbrava's 1st Greenland expedition, 1927-1928
RomaniaNoneCachet on stamped envelope1984Dumbrava's 1st Greenland expedition, 1927-1928
Romania3396 (Mi4284)1986Dumbrava's 1st Greenland expedition, 1927-1928; (50th anniv. death, in 1985)
Romania3394+3396-3397 fdc (Mi4282+4284-4285 fdc)One of three stamps on FDC
RomaniaNoneCancel on stamped envelope198860th anniv. Dumbrava's 1st Greenland expedition, 1927-1928
Romania3396-3397 cover (Mi4284-4285 cover)Cancel (different) on cover1988
Romania3396 maxi (Mi4284 maxi)Stamp and cancel (different) and cachet on maxicard1992Dumbrava's 1st Greenland expedition, 1927-1928
RomaniaNoneCancel (same) on stamped envelope from 19841992Dumbrava's 1st Greenland expedition, 1927-1928
RomaniaNoneCancel (different) and cachet on cover1993Dumbrava's 1st Greenland expedition, 1927-1928
RomaniaNonePrinted stamp and cachet on postal card2001Dumbrava's 1st Greenland expedition, 1927-1928
RomaniaNoneCancel and cachet on stamped envelope200470th anniv. Dumbrava's 3rd Greenland expedition; (70th anniv. death, in 2005)
RomaniaNoneCancel and cachet on postal card200975th anniv. Dumbrava's 3rd Greenland expedition; (75th anniv. death, in 2010)
RomaniaNoneCancel (same) and cachet (different) on postal card200975th anniv. Dumbrava's 3rd Greenland expedition; (75th anniv. death, in 2010)


Post

Post, Wiley
(1898 - 1935)

Wiley Post was an American aviation pioneer. In 1931 he and navigator Harold Gatty flew around the world in eight days, 15 hours and 51 minutes (the first round-the-world flight in 1924 had taken 175 days!). In 1933 Post became the first man to fly solo around the world (and did it in just less than 8 days). During both circumnavigations, he took advantage of strong westerly tailwinds that he found were sometimes present at the higher altitudes at which he flew. This was his first hint of strong upper-level winds that would come to be known as the jet stream.

In 1934, Post turned his attention to the potential of long-distance, high-altitude flight. He developed, with the BF Goodrich Company, a pressure suit that allowed him to take his airplane, the Winnie Mae, into the stratosphere. In test flights later that year, he flew as high as 50,000 feet and confirmed the existence of the jet stream. (Johannes Georgi had discovered the jet stream during his work in northern Greenland in 1926 and 1927, and made what appears to be the first written reference to it in 1933 in his book Im Eis Vergraben (translated in 1934 into English as Mid-Ice: the Story of the Wegener Expedition to Greenland)).

In 1935, Post attempted four non-stop transcontinental stratospheric flights from California to New York (22 February, 15 March, 14 April and 15 June). All, however, ended in mechanical failure, but in some he did succeed in taking advantage of the jet stream. For example, in the March flight he got as far as Cleveland OH, using the jet stream to increase his ground speed to an average of 279 mph. At times his ground speed hit 340 mph. (The Winnie Mae, a Lockheed Vega, had a normal cruising speed of 179 mph).

In August 1935, Post and his friend Will Rogers died near Point Barrow, Alaska when the airplane Post was piloting crashed on takeoff.

Another meteorological legacy left by Post is that he inspired the American author and artist Eric Sloane. In 1933, Post taught Sloane to fly in exchange for art lessons, and during his first flights with Post, Sloane fell in love with the aerial view of the sky and clouds that lay beneath him. "Some day", Post told him, "a fellow will come along and paint nothing but the sky itself. Where else can you find higher mountains? Look at the cumulonimbus over yonder - twice the height of the Matterhorn and twice as beautiful. Where else but up here could you see a better landscape of clouds?" Sloane replied "What you mean is a cloudscape, and I wouldn't be surprised if the first fellow to try painting cloudscapes turns out to be me." Sloane indeed became a prolific painter of cloudscapes, and the author of meteorological works as well. His first book, Clouds, Air and Wind was published in 1941 and was adapted by the US Army Air Corps as a basic weather manual for pilots. Many other weather-related books would follow.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Comoro IslandsUnknown (Mi?)Stamp from SS12009(110th anniv. birth, in 2008)
LiberiaUnknown ms (Mi?)MS6 (a-f)200875th anniv. Post's 1933 first solo around-the-world flight
LiberiaUnknown ss (BL?)SS1
Tuvalu1077 (Mi?)MS6 (1077 (a-f))200875th anniv. Post's 1933 first solo flight around the world
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1931Los Angeles homecoming of Post and Gatty after their around-the-world flight
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1933Washington welcomes Post (after his solo around-the-world flight)
United StatesNoneCachet (different) on cover1933Post receiving Harmon trophy (after his solo around-the-world flight)
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1934Post's record altitude attempt
United StatesNoneCachet on cover back; also front; also detail1935Post's (attempted four) airmail stratospheric flights
United StatesNoneCachet (partly the same) on cover1935Post's (attempted four) airmail stratospheric flights
United StatesNoneCachet (different) on cover1935Post-Rogers memorial beacon
United StatesNoneCachet on cover19383rd anniv. death of Post and Rogers
United StatesNoneCachet (different) on cover1938Post and Rogers memorial in Alaska
United StatesNoneCachet on cover196835th anniv. Post's 1933 solo flight around the world
United StatesC95 (Mi?)From (vertical) strip of 2 (C96a (C95-C96))1979(80th anniv. birth, in 1978)
United StatesC95 fdc1Stamp and cachet on FDC
United StatesC95 fdc2Stamp and (Colorano silk) cachet on FDC
United StatesC95 fdc3Stamp and (ArtCraft) cachet on FDC
United StatesC95 fdc4Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC95 fdc5Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC95 fdc6Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC95 fdc7Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC96 (Mi?)From (vertical) strip of 2 (C96a (C95-C96))
United StatesC96 fdc1Stamp and cachet on FDC
United StatesC96 fdc2Stamp and (Colorano silk) cachet on FDC
United StatesC96 fdc3Stamp and (ArtCraft) cachet on FDC
United StatesC96 fdc4Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC96 fdc5Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC96 fdc6Stamp and (Artmaster) cachet on FDC
United StatesC96 fdc7Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC96 fdc8Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC96 fdc9Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC96a fdc1Stamps and cachet on FDC
United StatesC96a fdc2Stamps and (Artmaster) cachet on FDC
United StatesC96a fdc3Stamps and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC96a fdc4Stamps and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC96a fdc5Stamps and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC96a fdc6Stamps and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC96a fdc7Stamps and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC96a fdc8Stamps and (extra) cancel and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC96a fdc9Stamps and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC96a fdc10Stamps and (Colorano silk) cachet on FDC
United StatesC96a fdc11Stamps and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC96a fdc12Stamps and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesC96a fdc13Stamps and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesSP480(USPS) souvenir page (C96a)
United StatesNoneStamps and cancel and cachet on cover197944th anniv. death of Post and Rogers
United StatesNoneCancel on cover1980
Upper Volta464 (Mi?)1977(80th anniv. birth, in 1978)
Upper Volta464 fdcStamp and cachet on FDC
Upper Volta464 dsDeluxe sheet (464)


Sorge

Sorge, Ernst
(1899 - 1946)

Ernst Sorge was a German geographer, glaciologist and polar researcher who participated in the German Greenland expedition of 1930 with meteorologists Alfred Wegener, Johannes Giorgi and Fritz Lowe. The expedition studied the meteorology and glaciology of the Greenland ice cap. Unfortunately Wegener died during this expedition.

Georgi would later describe Sorge's work: "Sorge measured the density of blocks of nevé cut at different levels of his shaft. He succeeded, with this primitive equipment, in distinguishing the strata of the precipitation of summer and winter, and of measuring its content of water, for 20 years back to 1911!" This pioneering research on the glaciology and climatology of Greenland was conducted during the winter of 1930-31 at the Eismitte station on the Greenland ice cap.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Germany (East)NoneCancel and cachet on cover1983


Nakaya

Nakaya, Ukichiro
(1900 - 1962)

Ukichiro Nakaya was a Japanese physicist who studied the crystal structure of snow and ice. Starting in the 1930, he was a professor of physics at the University of Hokkaido.

Nakaya was captivated by the beauty of snowflakes. His research included taking photographs of snowflakes and ice crystals, producing artificial snow crystals, and studying the relationship between crystal structure and meteorological conditions. He created the first snowflake classification system, was the first person to systematically study the formation of snow crystals, and the first to grow artificial snowflakes under controlled laboratory conditions. Nakaya also contributed to pioneering scientific documentaries in the late 1930s and early 1940s, including Snow Crystals and Frost Flowers.

In 1994, the Ukichiro Nakaya Museum of Snow and Ice was established in his home town of Katayamazu,

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Japan2749 (Mi?)2000(100th anniv. birth)
Japan2749 fdcStamp and cancel and cachet on FDC


Bower

Bower, S. Morris
(ca 1900? - 1982)

Morris Bower was a British amateur meteorologist who in 1924 set up in his home an organization that he called the Thunderstorm Census Organization (TCO). It existed until his death in 1982. Its goal was to record thunderstorm activity in the UK. To this end, volunteer observers were recruited, and printed-to-private-order postcards were distributed to them. They were to be used for all thunderstorm observations to ensure standard reporting procedures. The design of these postcards remained changed little through the life of the TCO. They included on the back a blank compass rose on which the observer could plot the motion of the thunderstorm. From its humble beginnings, the TCO grew to have over 3,000 volunteer observers in 1937. Indeed, the 1930s were its heyday. There were also TCO subgroups charged with, for example, investigating trees struck by lightning, building structural damage, damage to means of land transport, and personal injuries due to thunderstorms.

Bower published some results of the TCO's work in scientific journals, including:

The TCO became part of the British TORRO (Tornado and Storm Research Organisation) in 1982.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great BritainNonePPO postcard, addressed to S. Morris Bower1936Thunderstorm observation postcard, used by the Thunderstorm Census Organization
Great BritainNonePPO postcard, addressed to S. Morris Bower; also back1937Thunderstorm observation postcard, used by the Thunderstorm Census Organization


Simmons

Simmons, R. J.
(ca 1900? - ?)

R. J. Simmons was the expedition meteorologist on the 1930-31 BANZARE (British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition).

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Australian Antarctic TerritoryL117i (Mi?)One of MS20 (L117 (a-t))2001Simmons (in back row, farthest right)


Lindbergh

Lindbergh, Charles
(1902 - 1974)

Charles Lindbergh was the American aviator who made the first solo nonstop crossing of the Atlantic, (from New York to Paris) in May 1927.

Lindbergh was convinced that commercial aviation was destined to have a rosy future. As a pilot, however, he knew that weather could have a major effect on aircraft operations. In an interview in Popular Mechanics (November 1927), he identified two conditions of particular difficulty and potential danger to pilots (his use of the term "sleet" refers to freezing rain):

"Airplanes can fly now under all conditions but in sleet … sleet forms on the wings and changes the camber, in addition to increasing the weight. Heating the wings or some other method will change that. The only other difficulty is flying in fog. The actual flying is not hard, for with modern instruments a pilot can take off today and fly without seeing ground or sky for a long time. In landing, however, he has trouble. This latter obstacle will be overcome in the near future by radio signals, fog-piercing lights, special altitude instruments or some other means. The radio beacon is a great help in fog, as a pilot can tell when he is even slightly off his course on either side."

As a result of the effects of weather on aircraft operations, Lindbergh foresaw that weather forecasting would become increasingly important as an integral part of commercial aviation. He stated that "experts will provide complete weather forecasts and reports for any desired route or airport on a route, to eliminate danger of flying into bad conditions. Most of this information will be given planes in the air by radio. Airplane pilots will receive orders just as engineers now get them from train dispatchers, and lines will be handled as methodically as railroads."

Lindbergh made several aviation surveys for Juan Trippe, the owner of Pan American Airlines. In one of them, Lindbergh and his wife Anne traveled in 1933 as far as Moscow, searching for potential new terminal sites for Pan American in northern Europe. During that trip he compiled a report on meteorology and other issues of importance to commercial aviation, in which he concluded that there was favourable potential for service to Europe. He presented the report to Trippe in 1934.

In his later years, Lindbergh was outspoken on environmental issues such as the plight of the humpback and blue whales. He also objected to the development of supersonic jets because of their potential effects on the stratosphere.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
This list is an incomplete sample of the numerous postal items that contain this person.
Antigua and Barbuda903 (Mi?)1985(10th anniv. death, in 1984)
Antigua and Barbuda2573 (Mi?)MS3 (2573 (a-c))200275th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic; (100th anniv. birth)
Antigua and Barbuda2574 (BL?)SS1
ArgentinaB168 (Mi?)1996"Charles A. Lindbergh" and Spirit of St. Louis
Barbuda320 (Mi?)Block of 4 (320 (a-d)), from MS20 (322a (318-322 (a-d) + 4 labels))197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic; Spirit of St. Louis (in upper margin of MS20)
Belize375 (Mi?)1976"Landed in Belize in 1927"; (50th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic, in 1977)
Belize375 fdcStamp and cachet on FDC
Central Africa297 (Mi?)
i297

Imperforate
197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
Central Africa302 (BL?)SS1
Central Africa1362 (Mi?)
i1362
MS3 (1362 (a-c))
Imperforate MS3 (i1362 (a-c))
2000Lindbergh (in upper-left margin)
CubaC2 (Mi?)Overprinted stamp1928"Lindbergh, Febrero 1928"
Dominica562 (Mi?)197850th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic, in 1927
Dominica563 (Mi?)
Dominica564 (Mi?)
Dominica565 (Mi?)
Dominica569 (Mi?)MS2 (569 (a-b))
DominicaUnknown (Mi?)Gold stamp1978?"First nonstop solo trans-Atlantic flight"; 50th anniv? in 1977
Dominica1206e (Mi?)One of MS6 (1206 (a-f))1989Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927; (15th anniv. death)
Dominica2730 (Mi?)MS2 (2730 (a-b))200275th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic; (100th anniv. birth)
Dominica2731 (BL?)SS1
Dominican RepublicNoneTwo cachets on cover1928Airmail flight, Santo Domingo to Havana
Dominican RepublicNoneTwo cachets (different) on cover1928Airmail flight, Santo Domingo to Havana
FranceC49 (Mi2032)197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
FranceC49 fdc1Stamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
FranceC49 fdc2Stamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
FranceC49 fdc3Stamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
FranceC49 fdc4Stamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
FranceC49 fdc5Stamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
FranceC49 fdc6Stamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
FranceC49 maxiStamp and cancel and cachet on maxicard
FranceC49 scStamp and cancel and cachet on souvenir card
France + United StatesFrance C49 + USA 1710 fdcTwo stamps, one of two cancels, and cachet on dual-country FDC197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
France + United StatesFrance 1496 cover + USA 1710 fdcCancel and cachet on dual-cancel cover197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
France1535 coverCachet on cover197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
FranceNoneCancel197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
France2769c (Mi?)One of MS10 (2769 (2x (a-e)))2000Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927
France2769c maxiStamp and cancel and photo on maxicard
Gambia2697 (Mi?)MS4 (2697 (a-d))2002(100th anniv. birth)
Gambia2698 (Mi?)MS4 (2698 (a-d))
Grenada835 (Mi873)197850th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic (in 1977)
Grenada837 (Mi875)
Grenada838 (Mi876)
Grenada841a (Mi?)One of MS2 (841 (a-b))
Grenada Grenadines264 (Mi268)Stamp-on-stamp: France C43197850th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic (in 1977)
Grenada Grenadines266 (Mi270)Stamp-on-stamp: Panama 257
Grenada Grenadines268 (Mi272)Stamp-on-stamp: Spain C56
Grenada Grenadines269 (BL?)MS2 (269 (a-b)), stamp-on-stamp: USA C10 (upper stamp and in left margin); Germany C57 (lower stamp); USA C13-C15 (in upper-left margin)
GuatemalaC742 (Mi?)198150th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic (in 1977)
Guatemala473 (Mi1370)2001(100th anniv. birth, in 2002)
IndiaNoneTwo cachets on cover1974(year of death)
ItalyNoneCancel and cachet on cover197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
Mozambique1612b (Mi?)From MS4 (1612 (a-d))2002(100th anniv. birth);(75th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic)
Mozambique1612c (Mi?)
Nicaragua1050 (Mi?)197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
Nicaragua1051 (Mi?)
Nicaragua1052 (Mi?)
Nicaragua1053 (Mi?)
Nicaragua1054 (Mi?)
Nicaragua1055 (Mi?)
NicaraguaC926 (Mi?)
NicaraguaC927 (Mi?)
NicaraguaC928 (Mi?)
NicaraguaC929 (Mi?)
NicaraguaC930 (BL?)SS1
Nicaragua1053-1054+C928 fdcThree stamps and cachet on FDC
Panama256 (Mi?)1928"Homenaje a Lindbergh"; Lindbergh's visit to Central America
Panama257 (Mi?)
Panama256 coverStamp and cancel and cachet on cover1928"Panama's commemorative Lindbergh stamp; llegada de Lindbergh a Panama"
Panama256-257 coverTwo stamps and cancel (same) on cover (different)1928"Llegada de Lindbergh a Panama"
Panama257 coverStamps and cachet on cover1928"Lindbergh Day, Panama; Homenaje a Lindbergh"
Paraguay1744 (BL?)SS1197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
Romania3348 (Mi?)1985(10th anniv. death, in 1984); Spirit of St. Louis
Romania3346-3348 fdcOne of three stamps and cachet on FDC
Romania3348 maxiMaxicard
RomaniaNonePrinted stamp and cachet on postal card1993(90th anniv. birth, in 1993); (20th anniv. death, in 1993)
Samoa450 (Mi?)197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic, in 1927
Samoa451 (Mi?)
Samoa452 (Mi?)
Samoa453 (Mi?)
Samoa450-453 fdcFour stamps and cancel and cachet on FDC
Samoa453a (BL?)MS4 (450-453)
SpainC56 (Mi?)1930Lindbergh, Spirit of St. Louis; Lindbergh's cat Patsy (in lower right of stamp) watching his plane take off
Turks and Caicos1382 (Mi?)MS6 (1382 (a-f))200275th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic; (100th anniv. birth)
United StatesC10 (Mi?)From booklet pane of 3 (C10a); also booklet of 6 (BKC1 front and back (2x C10a))1927Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
United StatesNoneCommemorative medallion1927Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
United States637 cover (Mi? cover)Cancel and cachet on cover1928Lindbergh airmail cover
United StatesC7 cover (Mi? cover)Cachet (different) on cover1928"Lindbergh again flies the airmail"
United States496 cover (Mi? cover)Cachet on cover1929"Lindbergh day"
United StatesNoneCachet (different) on cover1929"Lindbergh day"
United StatesNoneCachet on cover19325th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1933Charles and Anne Lindbergh return from 1933 European survey
United StatesNoneCachet on cover195225th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
United States1710 (Mi1298)197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
United States1710 essayPhoto essay
United States1710 fdc1Cachet on FDC
United States1710 fdc2Cachet (different) on FDC
United States1710 fdc3Cachet (different) on FDC
United States1710 fdc4Cachet (different) on FDC
United States1710 fdc5Cancel and cachet (different) on FDC
United States1710 fdc6Cancel (different) and two cachets (different) on FDC
United States1710 fdc7Cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
United States1710 fdc8Cachet (different) on FDC
United States1710 fdc9Cachet (different) on FDC
United States1710 fdc10Cachet (different) on FDC
United States1710 fdc11Cachet (different) on FDC
United States1710 fdc12Cancel and cachet (different) on FDC
United States1710 fdc13Cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
United States1710 fdc14Cachet (different) on FDC
United States1710 fdc15Cachet (different) on FDC
United States1710 fdc16Cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesSP426(USPS) souvenir page (1710)
United StatesCP76(USPS) commemorative panel (1710)
United States + France1710 fdc + France 1496 coverCancel and cachet on dual-cancel cover197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
United States + France1710 + France C49 fdcTwo stamps, one of two cancels, and cachet on dual-country FDC197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
United StatesNoneCancel and cachet on cover197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
United StatesNoneCancel (different) on cover1977"50 years of airmail"; Spirit of St. Louis; (50th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic)
United StatesNoneCancel (different) on cover1977"Birthplace of Lindbergh" (Detroit); (50th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic)
United StatesNoneCancel (different) on cover1977"Lindbergh EAA Commemorative Tour"; (50th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic)
United StatesNoneCancel (different) on cover1977Spirit of St. Louis; (50th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic)
United StatesNoneCancel (different) on cover1977"Spirit of St. Louis Station"; (50th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic)
United StatesNoneCancel (different) on cover197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
United StatesNoneCancel (different) and cachet on cover197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
United States1710 cover (Mi? cover)Cachet on cover1979
United StatesNoneCancel (same) on cover (different)1979
United StatesNoneCancel on cover1985"Charles A. Lindbergh Terminal; Lindbergh Heritage Week"
United StatesNoneCancel on cover198760th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic
United States2781 (Mi?)One of block of 4 (2782a (2779-2782))1993(20th anniv. death, in 1994); (90th anniv. birth, in 1992)
United States3184m (Mi?)One of MS15 (3184 (a-o))1998(25th anniv. death, in 1999)
United States3184m fdc1Stamp and (BGC) cachet on FDC
United States3184m fdc2Stamp and cachet (different) on FDC
United States3184m maxiStamp and cachet on maxicard
Upper Volta467 (BL?)SS11977(50th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic)
Uruguay982 (Mi?)One of MS4 (982a (979-982)) (BL34)197750th anniv. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic


Kaplan

Kaplan, Joseph
(1902 - 1991)

Born in Hungary, Joseph Kaplan moved to the US at age 8. He became an American citizen and earned a doctorate in physics in 1927. He becam an assistant professor at UCLA in 1928, and immediately began work on reproducing the spectrum of the aurora in his laboratory. In 1932 he succeeded in producing an afterglow, which he felt did reproduce auroral conditions. He concluded that "the auroral display is really an electrical discharge in a nitrogen-oxygen mixture in which metastable molecules abound". In fact some of the emissions he discovered in his lab were only later observed to be part of the upper atmospheric night sky spectrum.

During WWII, Kaplan and Karl Gustav Rossby of the University of Chicago organized for the US Air Force a major program to train military personnel in meteorology at several universities across the country. Verner Suomi was one famous alumnus of this program.

Kaplan became a full professor of physics at UCLA in 1940. From1943 to 1945 he was the chief operations analyst for the Air Force and the Air Weather Service. In 1944 he established the Institute of Geophysics at UCLA, of which he was the director in 1946 and 1947. He continued to be interested in the upper atmosphere, and particularly in how the ionosphere and solar activity would affect radio transmissions. To this end, he considered the exploration of the upper atmosphere with instrumented rockets (Robert Goddard had made the first attempt to launch such a rocket in 1929). Kaplan studied the chemical reactions in the upper atmosphere, and especially those that led to the production of the afterglow. He suggested that the region of the atmosphere where those chemical reactions take place be called the chemosphere (as an analogue to the name "ionosphere", where reactions among ions occur).

Starting in 1953, Kaplan served as chairman of the US Committee for the IGY (International Geophysical Year), where he advocated the launching of artificial satellites to explore the Earth's upper atmosphere as part of the scientific program (and in fact the first artificial satellites (Sputnik-1, Vanguard-1 and Explorer-1) were indeed launched by the USA and the USSR as part of the IGY). Kaplan described his plans for the IGY at a lecture at the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1956. Verner Suomi was present, and enthusiastically shared with Kaplan his ideas about satellite measurements of the Earth's heat balance. This led to the development of the Suomi-Parent radiometer that was aboard the satellite Explorer-7. It was launched in 1959, after the IGY had ended. Nevertheless, it was an important step forward, and provided the first measurements of the Earth's heat budget and its changes in space and time.

Kaplan was active in the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics in the 1950s, and with Sidney Chapman and Lloyd Berkner introduced the term "aeronomy" to describe the scientific study of the upper atmosphere. In the 1960s he was a member of the Executive Committee of the International Committee of Scientific Unions. During those years he played an important role in international programs such as the IQSY (International Quiet Sun Year), IHD (International Hydrological Decade) and the GARP (Global Atmospheric Research Program). In 1969, Kaplan received the Commemorative Medal for the 50th Anniversary of the American Meteorological Society.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
United States1107 fdc1 (Mi727 fdc1)Cachet on FDC1958
United States1107 fdc2 (Mi727 fdc2)Cachet (different) on FDC
United States1107 fdc3 (Mi727 fdc3)(ArtCraft and ?) cachet on FDC
United States1107 fdc4 (Mi727 fdc4)(Artmaster and ?) cachet on FDC


von Neumann

von Neumann, John
(1903 - 1957)

John von Neumann was born in Hungary, but immigrated with his family to the United States in 1930. He was a mathematician, computer scientist and meteorologist who pioneered the use of computers in applied scientific problems, including meteorology.

In 1946 he announced his "intention of developing a very high speed electronic computing machine". In collaboration with the US Weather Bureau, the Navy and the Air Force, he formed the Meteorology Group at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study (IAS). His computer work proceeded apace at the IAS during the late 1940s, culminating in the revolutionary computing machine ENIAC. The world's first computerized weather forecast was produced in 1950 by ENIAC. This pioneering work in numerical weather prediction (NWP) was described in a scientific paper written by von Neumann and his colleagues Jule Charney and Ragnar Fjörtoft in 1950. Entitled Numerical Integration of the Barotropic Vorticity Equation (published in the meteorological journal Tellus, vol.2, p.237-254), it is the earliest scientific paper in the area of NWP.

Von Neumann also pursued his other meteorological interest: "calculating the effects of human intervention in the natural processes of the atmosphere". He proposed to apply computer techniques to study the idea of adding dye to the polar icecaps to decrease the amount of solar energy they would reflect. He claimed that the procedure could warm the Earth enough to make the climate of Iceland approximate that of Hawaii. He also predicted the warming of the climate due to carbon dioxide release.

In 1953, the US Advisory Committee on Weather Control was created to oversee American weather modification and cloud seeding activities, such as those originated by Irving Langmuir and Vincent Schaefer after WWII. Von Neumann became involved with the Committee in 1955 (at the time he was also a commissioner of the Atomic Energy Commission, and so was involved with the development and stockpiling of nuclear weapons). He believed that in weather control as well as in the nuclear arms race, the US had to stay ahead of the Soviets at all costs. Like the US military, he considered weather control as a potential tool for achieving global dominance, and as part of the Advisory Committee he participated in a panel on the "possible effects of atomic and thermonuclear explosions in modifying weather". Another area of discussion was how Soviet harvests might be ruined by a US-induced drought. Yet another was that atomic bombs detonated off the west coast of Africa at the onset of the monsoon might improve the climate of the drought-prone Sahel region. As von Neumann naively told Congress in 1956, "our knowledge of the dynamics in the atmosphere is rapidly approaching a level that will make possible, in a few decades, intervention in the atmospheric and climatic matters. It will probably unfold on a scale difficult to imagine at present. There is little doubt one could intervene on any desired scale, and ultimately achieve rather fantastic effects". But already in 1957, Roger Revelle and Hans Seuss were raising warning flags with their ominous findings on increasing CO2 levels in the Earth's atmosphere which hinted at anthropogenic global warming. It seems that von Neumann never considered, at least in public, that major weather modification projects carried out in the atmosphere might spiral out of control and lead to unexpected effects.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Guyana2681i (Mi?)One of MS9 (2681 (a-i))1993
HungaryNonePostal card1982
Hungary3354 (Mi4209)1992
Hungary3824 (Mi4764)2003
Portugal2345j (Mi?)One of MS12 (2345 (a-l))2000von Neumann and Turing
TatarstanUnknown (Mi?)2006
United States3908 (Mi3925)
3908 back
One of block of 4 (3909a (3906-3909)), or five of MS20 (3909c (5x (3906-3909)))2005
United States3908 fdc1Stamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
United States3908 fdc2Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
United States3908 fdc3Stamp and cancel (same) and (Colorano silk) cachet on FDC
United States3908 fdc4Stamp and cancel (same) and (Collins) cachet on FDC
United States3908 fdc5Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
United States3908 fdc6Stamp and cancel (same) and (Wilson) cachet on FDC
United States3908 fdc7Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
United States3908 fdc8Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
United States3908 fdc9Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
United States3908 fdc10Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
United StatesSP1563(USPS) souvenir page (3906-3909)
United StatesCP733(USPS) commemorative panel (3909a)
United States3906-3909 fdoiFDOI ceremony FDC and program


Krenkel

Krenkel, Ernst
(1903 - 1971)

Ernst Krenkel was a Russian polar researcher and geographer. He began his career as radio specialist (he was also an amateur radio operator) on Soviet polar expeditions, including the North Pole-1 (NP-1) drifting ice station, where he served with the meteorologist Fedorov and transmitted the first ever weather report from near the North Pole. He also took part in the Sibiryakov and Chelyuskin expeditions (both of which were commanded by Otto Schmidt). Starting in 1938, Krenkel worked for the Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route, which had responsibility for marine navigation, weather observing and radio communications throughout the Northeast passage. In 1951 he joined the research division of the Hydrometeorological Instruments Institute, of which he became the director in 1969. Krenkel was co-leader, with D. Maksutov, of the 14th Soviet Antarctic Expedition, from 1967 to 1969. During that expedition a wide variety of scientific programs was carried out, including programs in meteorology, aerology and the aurora.

The Hydrometeorological Observatory on Heiss Island in Franz Josef Land was named for Krenkel in 1972. At the Observatory, the USSR and France cooperated in meteorology, aeronomy and space studies. It was closed in 2001 after a fire, but reopened in 2004 as the E. Krenkel Polar Station. It is still part of the hydrometeorological observing network, with synoptic station number 20046. Krenkel's name was also given to a research vessel of the Hydrometeorological Service Gidrometsluzhba.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Russia (USSR)643 (Mi614)1938NP-11 team, including Krenkel and Fedorov
Russia (USSR)644 (Mi615)
Russia (USSR)645 (Mi616)NP-11 team; Krenkel (probably at left); Fedorov (at right)
Russia (USSR)646 (Mi617)
Russia (USSR)3164 cover (Mi3182 cover)Signature on cover1966Krenkel signature
Russia (USSR)NoneSignature on cover1969Krenkel signature
Russia (USSR)4084 (Mi4123)1973Krenkel, RAEM; (70th anniv. birth)
Russia (USSR)4084a (BL?)Imperforate SS1
Russia (USSR)4084 maxiStamp and cancel and cachet on maxicard70th anniv. birth
Russia (USSR)NoneCancel and cachet on stamped envelope197370th anniv. birth
Russia (USSR)4084 card (Mi? card)(Purple rubber-stamp) cachets on card1974Krenkel Hydrometeor. Observatory on Heiss Island in Franz Josef Land (with French-Soviet cooperation in meteorology, aeronomy and space studies)
Russia (USSR)NoneQSL card1975Krenkel, RAEM; same design as Russia 4084
Russia (USSR)4801 (Mi4908)1979Krenkel and ship Ernst Krenkel
Russia (USSR)4801 fdcStamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
Russia (USSR)NoneCachet on stamped envelope1983(80th anniv. birth)
Russia (USSR)None(Purple rubber-stamp) cachet on stamped envelope1989Krenkel Hydrometeor. Observatory on Heiss Island in Franz Josef Land
Russia (USSR)None(Blue rubber-stamp) cachet on stamped envelope1992Krenkel Arctic National Research Observatory on Heiss Island in Franz Josef Land
Russia6799 (Mi1127)2003Krenkel, RAEM; (100th anniv. birth)
Russia6799 fdcStamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
Russia6799 cover (Mi1127 cover)Stamp and cancel and cachet on cover2003Krenkel, RAEM; (100th anniv. birth)
RussiaNoneCachet on stamped envelope2003(100th anniv. birth); cachet also reproduces stamps 643, 4084, and 4801
Russia6788 cover (Mi1106 cover)(Four) cachets on cover2005Krenkel Hydrometeor. Observatory
Russia7021 cover (Mi? cover)Cancel and cachet on cover200770th anniv. NP-11; NP-11 team, including Krenkel and Fedorov
Russia6799 card (Mi? card)Stamp and cancel and cachet on postcard2007Krenkel, RAEM; 70th anniv. NP-11; NP-11 team, including Krenkel and Fedorov
UkraineNone(Red rubber-stamp) cachet on cover1999ship Ernst Krenkel

1NP-1 (North Pole 1) was the first Soviet Arctic drifting ice station. It had a crew of four (leader Papanin, and Krenkel, Fedorov and Shirshov) and operated from May 1937 through February 1938.


Kolmogorov

Kolmogorov, Andrei Nikolaevich
(1903 - 1987)

Andrei Kolmogorov was a Russian mathematician. He was a student and then post-doctoral researcher at the Lomonosov Moscow State University from 1920 to 1931, and was a professor there from 1931 until his death.

During the WWII years, he worked on various applied and theoretical scientific problems in addition to his pure mathematical research. One such problem was turbulence. He made important contributions to the understanding of the small-scale structure of turbulence and the energy transfer process from large to small scales (through a process known as the "energy cascade", first proposed by the meteorologist L. F. Richardson) through his development of what came to be known as the similarity theory of turbulence. This was the first mathematical analysis of turbulence. The theory has found application in many areas of science, including atmospheric studies. For example, the dispersion of atmospheric pollutants depends on turbulence. Also, it is well known that turbulence in the clear atmosphere can affect even the largest aircraft.

Kolmogorov's student A. M. Obukhov became head of the Turbulence Laboratory in 1949, and later was the founder and director of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Portugal2345b (Mi?)One of MS12 (2345 (a-l))2000Kolmogorov (at right)


Kibel

Kibel, I. A.
(1904 - 1970)

I. A. Kibel was a Soviet mathematician, meteorologist and fluid hydrodynamicist. After graduating from the University of Saratov in 1925, he worked at the Main Geophysical Observatory in St. Petersburg until 1943. From 1943 to 1958 he was at the USSR Central Forecasting Institute, from 1958 to 1961 at the Institute of Applied Geophysics, and after 1961 at the USSR Meteorological Computing Centre (which became the USSR Hydrometeorological Centre in 1965). Through much of his career, Kibel was mainly interested the application of numerical techniques to short term weather forecasting. He also considered the mesoscale and its effects on weather forecasts.

In 1940 Kibel developed a simple equation for surface pressure tendency and proposed a graphical method for solving it to obtain 24 hour forecasts of surface pressure. The scheme was tested in the 1940s but the results were less than satisfactory. This was, however, the earliest Soviet attempt to make weather forecasts based on meteorological dynamical equations of motion, and Soviet NWP (numerical weather prediction) can be traced back to this point. Obukhov in 1949 published a paper that treated the mutual adjustment of wind and pressure in a barotropic atmosphere. Kibel extended Obukhov's work to a more complete set of dynamical equations in the 1950s. The work of Kibel, Obukhov and other researchers led to the first operational NWP system in the USSR in 1959. Kibel also founded a School of hydrodynamical short-range weather forecasting at the Forecasting Institute.

Kibel's meteorological publications (in Russian) include:

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Russia (USSR)NoneCachet on stamped envelope1984(80th anniv. birth)


Rymill

Rymill, John
(1905 - 1968)

John Rymill was an Australian polar explorer. In 1930-1931 he participated in his first Greenland expedition, designed to explore an almost unknown part of Greenland and record meteorological conditions at the coast and over the ice cap for a period of about one year. In 1932-33 he was part of another Greenland expedition. Its goal was to complete the meteorological and survey work of the first expedition.

Rymill also went to Graham Land in Antarctica as part of the last British expedition to that continent before WWII. There he participated from 1934 to 1937 in a comprehensive scientific program that studied geology, meteorology, glaciology and biology. In addition, the survey work carried out by the expedition showed that the Antarctic Peninsula is part of the Antarctic mainland.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
British Anatactic Territory591973(5th anniv. death)


Sartre

Sartre, Jean-Paul
(1905 - 1980)

Jean-Paul Sartre was a French writer and philosopher. After graduating from the École Normale Supérieure, he did his compulsory military service as an Army meteorologist at Fort St-Cyr and at St-Symphorien, near Tours, from 1929 to 1931. In 1939 he was drafted into the French army and served as a meteorologist in the war until his capture by German troops in 1940.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
FranceB568 (Mi?)One of booklet pane of 6 (B572a (567-572))1985(80th anniv. birth); (5th anniv. death)
FranceB568 fdc1Stamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
FranceB568 fdc2Stamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
FranceB568 fdc3Stamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
FranceB568 fdc4Stamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
FranceB568 maxi1Maxicard
FranceB568 maxi2Maxicard (different)
FranceB568 maxi3Maxicard (different)
FranceB568 maxi4Maxicard (different)
FranceB568 sc1Souvenir card
FranceB568 sc2Souvenir card (different)
FranceB568 sc3Souvenir card (different)
FranceB572a fdcOn one stamp in booklet pane and cachet on FDC
Guinea RepublicUnknown ms (Mi?)Stamps a, b, d, and e in MS6 (a-f)2009(105th anniv. birth, in 2010; 30th anniv. death, in 2010)
Guinea RepublicUnknown ss (BL?)On stamp and in (right) margin of SS1
Monaco2359 (Mi?)From MS10 (2359a (10x 2359))2004100th anniv. birth (in 2005); 25th anniv. death (in 2005)
Monaco2359 fdcStamp on FDC
Nicaragua2135f (Mi?)One of MS12 (2135 (a-l))1995(90th anniv. birth; 15th anniv. death)
Paraguay1775 (BL306)In (right) margin of SS1 (Mi2970)1974
St. Vincent2220h (Mi3288)One of MS12 (2220 (a-l))1995(90th anniv. birth; 15th anniv. death)


Andranik

Andranik Gevondovich, Iosifyan
(1905-1993)

Iosifyan Andranik Gevondovich was an Armenian electrical engineer who worked on high tech electromechanical projects in the USSR. He was the founder and first director of the Soviet Research Institute for Electromechanics. In the 1960s and 1970s he was the chief designer of the Meteor series of meteorological satellites and the Meteor-Priroda series of environmental-observing satellites. He also directed the design and production of the Omega and Interkosmos-Bulgariya 1300 scientific satellites.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Armenia873 (Mi?)2011


Tu

Tu, Chang Wang
(1906 - 1962)

Chang Wang Tu was a Chinese meteorologist. After graduating from Hujiang University in 1929, he went to the University of London to study economics and geography, but transferred to the meteorology program at the Imperial College of London in 1931, where he obtained his M.Sc. in meteorology. He became a member of the Royal Meteorological Society of the UK. In 1934 he accepted an invitation from Zhu Kezhen to return to China as a researcher at the Institute of Meteorology at the Central Academy. He was later a professor of meteorology at Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University and Central University.

In 1949 Tu became the first director of the Weather Bureau of the Central Military Commission (which eventually became the Central Meteorological Bureau, which was in turn the precursor of the Chinese Meteorological Administration). Tu occupied this position until 1962, and under his leadership Chinese meteorology made vast strides forward. Indeed, Tu was on of the pillars of modern Chinese meteorology.

In 1955, Tu expressed something of his philosophy in the first issue of the Chinese journal Weather Monthly. He said that in the weather offices there should be diligent study and friendly competition to improve the quality of work. He advocated that forecasters must use all their talents, emphasize research, build from their strengths and constantly improve their operational skills.

References:

This short article outlines Tu's M.Sc.studies, in which his goals were (1) to discover the relationship between the rainfall of China for the rainy season and world weather; and (2) to find regression formulas that could be used to predict Chinese rainfall of the rainy season. In particular, he was searching for a way to predict big departures from the normal. Such departures in China can be related to either disastrous floods or droughts, depending on the direction of the departure. To do this, Tu calculated correlation coeffiecients of Chinese rainfall with the pressure, temperature and rainfall at various major observing stations around the world.

This is a study of typical Chinese airmasses and their properties, origins and processes of modification, based on various airplane, kite and pilot balloon soundings sounding from several Chinese locations. Tu defines a total of six airmass types: those of Polar, Tropical or Equatorial origins, each with maritime or continental characteristics.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
China (People's Republic)3429 (Mi?)On each of 4 different labels with stamp2005(100th anniv. birth, in 2006)


Victor

Victor, Paul-Émile
(1907 - 1995)

Paul-Émile Victor was a French polar explorer, scientist and administrator. In 1947 he created the organization Expéditions polaires françaises, Missions Paul-Émile Victor (EPF Missions PEV). In 1948 he began a long series of expeditions to Greenland to investigate the ice cap. His work there included meteorological, geophysical and glaciological observations. Those trips culminated in the International Greenland Glaciological Expedition that took place from 1957 to 1960.

In the 1960s Victor led expeditions to the south Polar region. For example, as leader of the Magga Dan voyage, he was, with meteorologist Alfred Faure, part of the team of 12 men that established a camp on Île de la Possession in the Îles Crozet on 20 December 1961. The group remained there until 3 February 1962. They made meteorological observations, conducted other scientific studies and selected the site for an eventual permanent station. That station, constructed in 1963, opened formally in 1964 and was later named the Alfred Faure station. In the austral summer of 1966-1967, Victor, as leader of the Thala Dan voyage, was part of a team (again with Faure) that launched four Dragon research rockets in late January 1967 (here are a stamp and a cover referring to those launches) from the Dumont d'Urville base in Adélie Land. Designed for ionospheric research, these successful flights reached about 300 km altitude.

Victor directed the Expéditions polaires françaises until 1976. The goal of the EPF was the study of the polar regions through new disciplines such as glaciology, polar meteorology and extreme conditions medicine. The EPF built a strong scientific record in those areas and its successor, the Institut polaire français Paul-Émile Victor (IPEV), continues that tradition of excellence in polar research, including climatological and atmospheric studies.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
France1224 (Mi?)196820th anniv. EPF1, with EPF1 logo; (60th anniv. birth, in 1967)
France1224 maxiStamp and cancel on maxicard20th anniv. EPF1; EPF1 logo (on stamp and cancel); (60th anniv. birth, in 1967)
FranceNoneCachet and two cancels on aerogramme1996"Hommage ŕ Paul-Émile Victor, 1907 - 1995"; "P É Victor, 1958" (with weather balloon); 1st anniv. death; also includes French Polynesia 677 and the FDOI cancel for that stamp
FranceB701 (Mi3487)From booklet pane of 6 (B703a (B699-B703 + label)) with booklet cover (B703b)2000
FranceB701-B703 proofProof (B701-B703)
France + GreenlandFrance 2x(3368-3369)+Greenland 2x(505-506) folder1Dual-country issue folder2007(100th anniv. birth); also Charcot
France + GreenlandFrance 2x(3368-3369)+Greenland 2x(505-506) folder2Dual-country issue folder (different)
FranceKM14731.5 euro (silver coin)2007Victor (on reverse); also IPY
FranceKM147410 euro (gold coin)
French Polynesia632 (Mi?)1993"P. E. Victor" (in text)
French Polynesia677 (Mi704)19961st anniv. death
French Polynesia677 fdcStamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesC17 cover (Mi? cover)Cachet on cover1970EPF1; Dumont d'Urville Station (Terre Adélie)
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesNoneCachet (slightly different) plus second cachet, with EPF1 logo (both on cover back)1970EPF1 Missions Paul-Émile Victor
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesC120a (Mi?)Strip of 2 (C119-C120 + label)1991Expéditions Paul-Émile Victor (in label)
French Southern and Antarctic Territories217a (Mi?)Strip of 2 (216-217 + label)19961st anniv. death; EPF1 logo (in label)
French Southern and Antarctic Territories217a maxiPhoto and strip on maxicard
French Southern and Antarctic Territories218 cover (Mi? cover)Cachet on cover1997EPF1; Base Dumont d'Urville; IFRTP3
French Southern and Antarctic Territories273 (Mi?)From booklet pane of 5 (273a (269-273 + 2 labels)), contained in booklet (273b)2000(5th anniv. death)
French Southern and Antarctic Territories294k stamp (Mi469)On stamp in booklet pane of 7 (294h-n) and on stamp and in (right) margin of one SS1 (294k); booklet contains 28 stamps (14 in two different booklet panes of 7 and in 14 SS1 with margin design the same as each stamp); also booklet cover and back)2001Bust of Victor
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesNoneCachet (blue) on cover2003IPEV2
French Southern and Antarctic Territories357 (Mi?)200510th anniv. death
French Southern and Antarctic Territories359 bk coverBooklet cover, also back2005Includes reproduction of 273
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesNoneCachet4 on cover2009IPEV2
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesNoneCachet (black) on cover2010IPEV2
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesNoneCachet (blue) on cover2010IPEV2
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesUnknown201220th anniv. IPEV2
Greenland39 cover (Mi? cover)Cachet (blue) and signature on cover1958EPF1 and EPF1 logo; Victor's signature
Greenland506 (Mi?)One of MS2 (506a (505-506 + label)), dual-country issue with France2007(100th anniv. birth); (Charcot on label)
Greenland506a packStamp pack2007(100th anniv. birth); Victor and Charcot (in text)
Greenland + FranceGreenland 2x(505-506)+France 2x(3368-3369) folder1Dual-country issue folder2007(100th anniv. birth); also Charcot
Greenland + FranceGreenland 2x(505-506)+France 2x(3368-3369) folder2Dual-country issue folder (different)
Guinea RepublicUnknown (Mi?)Stamp from SS12008(100th anniv. birth, in 2007)
Guinea RepublicUnknown c (Mi?)One of MS3 (a-c)
Malagasy RepublicC54 cover (Mi? cover)Cachet on cover1949EPF1, Missions Paul-Émile Victor; Expédition arctique (Groenland); Expédition antarctique (Terre Adélie)
Malagasy Republic1312 (Mi?)From SS1 (1312a)1996(1st anniv. death)
Monaco2249 (Mi?)From MS6 (2249a (6x 2249))2006100th anniv. birth; (year on stamp is 2007)
Mozambique1640 stamp (Mi?)2003Victor (in foreground); Charcot (in grey in right background)
Mozambique1640 (BL164)On stamp and in (right) margin of SS1Victor (in foreground in stamp and in grey in centre margin); Charcot (in right margin and also in grey in right background of stamp)
Mozambique1640 fdcSS1 and cachet on FDC
Reunion366 (Mi?)France 1224 surcharged with 40fr value, "CFA" and two bars196820th anniv. EPF1; EPF1 logo (on stamp and FDC cancel); (60th anniv. birth, in 1967)
Reunion366 dsDeluxe sheet (366)
Reunion366 fdcStamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
RomaniaNoneCancel and cachet on postal card2007100th anniv. birth

1EPF refers to the organization Expéditions polaires françaises, (Missions Paul-Émile Victor) created by Victor in 1947. An EPF logo cachet is found, with slight detail differences, on various postal items from the French Southern and Antarctic Territories in black, blue or red.
2IPEV refers to the Institut polaire français Paul-Émile Victor, which is the successor to the EPF Missions PEV. An IPEV logo cachet is found on various postal items from the French Southern and Antarctic Territories in black or blue.
3IFRTP refers to the Institut français pour la Recherche et la Technologie polaires
4In the cachet are the following acronyms (in addition to IPEV):


de Vivičs

de Vivičs, Paul de Martin
(1908 - 1971)

Paul De Vivičs was a French meteorologist. After graduating from the University of Paris, he worked as a meteorologist during 17 years in Madagascar and Reunion.

In 1949, to meet the need for meteorological data, the French parliament adopted a resolution to set up a permanent base on Nouvelle-Amsterdam Island. From 1949 to 1951, de Vivičs headed the mission that established the new base. Alfred Faure was part of the mission. Work started in the austral summer of 1949-1950. The weather observation program began 11 March 1950, and pilot balloon soundings were taken beginning in July of that year. Daily rawinsonde launches began on 16 March 1951. The base, at first called La Roche Godon, was renamed for de Vivičs in 1981.

De Vivičs returned to France where he served as the chief meteorologist of La Météorologie Nationale (the French National Meteorological Service), and also as the head of the Service's International Relations Bureau. Then in 1960 he joined the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), where he occupied senior managerial positions.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
French Southern and Antarctic Territories100 (Mi?)1983
French Southern and Antarctic Territories100 fdcStamp and cachet on FDC
French Southern and Antarctic Territories100 sheetInformation sheet
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesNoneCancel and two cachets on cover1983De Vivičs base
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesNoneCachet on cover1985"la Station météorologique Martin de Vivičs 61996"
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesNoneCachet (different) on cover back1998"la Station météorologique Martin de Vivičs 61996"
French Southern and Antarctic Territories257k (Mi410)On stamp and in (upper) margin of SS1 from souvenir booklet of 12 (257 (a-l)) with booklet cover and back1999de Vivičs base (stamp and margin have the same design, which is also found in the colour cachet in the cover below)
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesNoneTwo cachets (different) on cover2000De Vivičs base (cachet has the same design as in 257k (stamp and margin))
French Southern and Antarctic Territories342 (Mi?)In (upper) margin of MS4 (342 (a-d))2004De Vivičs [base] with latitude/longitude (on one cachet); part of the base (in 342a)
French Southern and Antarctic Territories437 (Mi?)2011Base de Vivičs; (40th anniv. death)


Somov

Somov, M. M.
(1908 - 1973)

M. M. Somov was a Soviet oceanographer, polar explorer, geographer and meteorologist. He graduated from the Moscow Hydrometeorological Institute in 1937, and in the late 1940s became senior researcher at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. As part of his work there, he was the leader of the North Pole 2 (NP-2) Expedition of 1950-1951. He also led the first (November 1955 to 1957), eighth (1962 to 1964) and ninth (1963 to 1965) Soviet Antarctic Expeditions. The first one took place within the framework of the IGY (International Geophysical Year). During those expeditions a wide variety of scientific programs was carried out, including programs in meteorology, aerology and the aurora. Somov later became the first Soviet delegate to the SCAR (Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research).

Somov was the author or co-author of various scientific works, including studies of the polar sea ice and ice forecasting (e.g. Zubov, N. N. and M. Somov (1940): Ice Drift in the Northern Arctic Basin, Problemy Arktiki 2, 51-68).

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Germany (East)1998 cover (Mi? cover)(Round violet rubber-stamp) cachet on cover1988ship Mikhail Somov; (80th anniv. birth)
Romania4736 cover (Mi? cover)Cachet on cover2005Somov, leader of the 1st Soviet Antarctic Expedition; 50th anniv. 1st year of that expedition
RomaniaNoneCachet on cover2006Somov; 50th anniv. Mirny Meteor. Observatory
Russia (USSR)NoneCancel and cachet on cover1976?
Russia (USSR)None(Printed) cachet on stamped envelope1978(70th anniv. birth); (5th anniv. death)
Russia (USSR)NonePrinted cachet (same) and (red rubber-stamp) cachet on stamped envelope197870th anniv. birth
Russia (USSR)4883 (Mi5014)1980Somov and ship Mikhail Somov
Russia (USSR)4883 fdcStamp and cachet on FDC
Russia (USSR)NoneCachet on postal card1981ship Mikhail Somov
Russia (USSR)None(Red rubber-stamp) cachet on cover1982ship Mikhail Somov
Russia (USSR)5496 (Mi5646)One of strip of 2 (5497a (5496-5497); or four of MS8 (5497b (4x (5496-5497))1986ship Mikhail Somov
Russia (USSR)5497 (Mi5647)
Russia (USSR)5497a fdcStrip of 2 and cancel and cachet on FDC
Russia (USSR)5498 (BL189)SS1
Russia (USSR)5498 fdcSS1 and cancel and cachet on FDC
Russia (USSR)5499 (Mi5645)4883 overprintedSomov and ship Mikhail Somov
Russia (USSR)5499 fdcStamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
Russia (USSR)NonePrinted stamp and cachet on stamped envelope1986ship Mikhail Somov
Russia (USSR)5499 cover (Mi? cover)Stamp and two (purple rubber-stamp) cachets on cover1990Somov and ship Mikhail Somov
Russia (USSR)NoneTwo (blue and red rectangular rubber-stamp) cachets on cover1991ship "Mikhail Somov"
RussiaNoneThree (red and blue rubber-stamp) cachets (different) on cover1994ship Mikhail Somov
RussiaNoneThree cachets (same, except oval one is blue) on cover (different)1994ship Mikhail Somov
RussiaNoneTwo (red and dark violet rubber-stamp) cachets (different) on (1978) stamped envelope with printed cachet1994Somov and ship Mkhail Somov
Russia6573 (Mi790)One of MS5 (6575a (6571-6575 + label)) (BL30)2000Somov and ship Mikhail Somov
Russia6799 cover (Mi? cover)(Rectangular red rubber-stamp) cachet on cover2007ship "Mikhail Somov"
RussiaNoneCachet on stamped envelope2008Somov and ship Mikhail Somov; (100th anniv. birth)
RussiaNoneThree (printed, red rectangular and black nearly-oval) cachets on cover2008ship Mikhail Somov; (100th anniv. birth)
RussiaNoneCancel and (two) cachets on stamped envelope2011ship Mikhail Somov


Libby

Libby, Willard F.
(1908 - 1990)

Willard Libby was an American chemist who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1960 for his development of a technique using radiocarbon (carbon-14 or 14C) for age determination in archaeology and the Earth sciences. He did not work directly on meteorological problems, but the 14C dating technique has since been used by many scientists conducting palaeoclimatological and palaeoenvironmental studies. For example, in one type of study a sample containing pollen and microfossils or macrofossils is dated by the 14C technique, and the pollen and fossils are analyzed to deduce climatic characteristics at that time. Dendrochronological samples can be dated and analyzed in an analogous manner. In this way, information about historical climates can be obtained, with the 14C dating technique providing the timeline.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Guyana3698b (Mi?)One of MS6 (3698 (a-f))2002
Monaco2364 (Mi?)From MS10 (2364a (10x 2364))2004
RomaniaNoneCancel on cover198880th anniv. birth
Sweden1709 (Mi?)One of booklet pane of 4 (1712b (1709-1712); also booklet (1712a)1988(80th anniv. birth)


Alfven

Alfven, Hannes
(1908 - 1995)

Hannes Alfvén was a Swedish electrical engineer and plasma physicist who studied the polar auroras, the van Allen radiation belts, the Earth's magnetic field, magnetic storms and the magnetosphere. As a youth, he had read with passion a popular book on astronomy by Camille Flammarion. That book kindled his lifelong interest in astrophysics.

In his study of auroras, Alfvén argued that plasma, even in the vacuum of space, must have an associated magnetic field which in turn creates an electric field which, in combination with the resultant field-aligned electric currents, cause the acceleration of the charged particles whose movements cause the polar auroras. Furthermore, he showed that those currents originate in an atmospheric region now called the Alfvén layer. In 1939 he wrote a major paper in which he presented his theories for magnetic storms and auroras. It laid out his ideas on how plasma flows around a dipole magnetic field to create the Birkeland currents that flow in and out of the auroral zone. These ideas on the auroras are still accepted today.

Alfvén was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1970 for his "fundamental discoveries in magnetohydrodynamics".

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Congo (Democratic Republic)Unknown (Mi?)From SS1; or one of MS2 (a-b)2002
Guinea RepublicMi4539A
Mi4539B
One of MS2 (BL1116A (Mi4539-4540))
One of imperforate MS2 (BL1116B)
2006(10th anniv. death, in 2005)
Guinea RepublicBL1115-BL1116 fdc
BL1115B-BL1116B fdc
On one stamp in one of two MS2 and cachet on FDC
On one stamp in one of two imperforate MS2 on FDC
(10th anniv. death, in 2005); "Hannes Olof" (on cachet) ("Alfvén" missing from name)
Sierra Leone1843e (Mi?)One of MS9 (1843 (a-i))1995Year of death


Fedorov

Fedorov, Yevgeney K.
(1910 - 1981)

Yevgeney Fedorov was a Russian meteorologist and geophysicist. He was a member the North Pole-1 (NP-1) drifting ice station expedition from May 1937 through February 1938. It was the first of a long series of Soviet drifting ice stations. Fedorov was the expedition meteorologist, and on the morning of 22 May 1937, his observations became the first ever meteorological report from the vicinity of the North Pole: "The North Pole: 22 May 06 hours Moscow time. Pressure 761 [i.e. 976.1 hPa]. Temperature minus 12 [°C]. Wind 8 m (by Greenwich meridian) gusty [possibly 8 m/s ?]. The sun can be seen. Visibility 1 km. Weak snow". Thereafter the meteorological reports were regularly transmitted to mainland USSR by radio, in messages known as radiograms. E. Krenkel was the expedition's radio operator.

Fedorov was later the head of the Soviet Hydrometeorological Service of the Red Army, until removed by Stalin in around 1950. From 1962 to 1974 he was the director of the Soviet Hydrometeorological Service, where his research interests included Arctic geophysical fields, cloud processes, upper atmospheric studies using satellite information, and pollution.

At the time of his death, Fedorov was the director of the Institute for Applied Geophysics, where he was known for his research into climatic conditions in the Earth's polar regions.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Germany (East)/Russia (USSR)None(Two-color) cachet on cover (with Russian stamp)1989ship Akademik Fedorov
Russia (USSR)643 (Mi614)1938NP-11 team, including Fedorov and Krenkel
Russia (USSR)644 (Mi615)
Russia (USSR)645 (Mi616)NP-11 team; Fedorov (at right); Krenkel (probably second from left)
Russia (USSR)646 (Mi617)
Russia (USSR)NoneCachet on stamped envelope1985
Russia (USSR)None(Blue rubber-stamp) cachet on stamped envelope1991Fedorov and ship Akademik Fedorov; (80th anniv. birth, in 1990); (10th anniv. death)
RussiaNoneCachet on cover1992ship Akademik Fedorov
RussiaNoneCachet on cover1993ship Akademik Fedorov
RussiaNoneTwo (red and blue rubber-stamp) cachets (upper-left and lower-right) on stamped envelope1993ship Akademik Fedorov
RussiaNone(One printed and three rubber-stamp) cachets2004"Fedorov" name and ship Akademik Fedorov
RussiaNone(One printed and blue rubber-stamp) cachet2005ship Akademik Fedorov
Russia6573 cover (Mi? cover)(Round black rubber-stamp) cachet on cover2007ship Akademik Fedorov
Russia7021 cover (Mi? cover)Cancel and cachet on cover200770th anniv. NP-11; NP-11 team, including Fedorov and Krenkel
Russia6799 card (Mi? card)Cancel and cachet (different) on commemorative card200770th anniv. NP-11; NP-11 team, including Fedorov and Krenkel
RussiaNone(Printed) cachet on cover2007ship Akademik Fedorov
RussiaNoneTwo (black and blue rubber-stamp) cachets on cover2008ship Akademik Fedorov; 53rd Russian Antarctic Expedition, 2007-2008
RussiaNoneLabel and (one printed and two rubber-stamp) cachets on cover2008ship Akademik Fedorov
RussiaNone(One printed and two rubber-stamp) cachets on cover2009ship Akademik Fedorov; 54th Russian Antarctic Expedition, 2008-2009
Russia7206 (Mi?)From MS6 (7206a (6x 7206)2010100th anniv. birth
Russia7206 fdcStamp and cancel on FDC
Russia7206 cover (Mi? cover)Stamp on cover2011(30th anniv. death)
RussiaNone(Circular blue and black) cachets on cover2011ship Akademik Fedorov

1NP-1 (North Pole 1) was the first Soviet Arctic drifting ice station. It had a crew of four (leader Papanin, and Fedorov, Krenkel and Shirshov) and operated from May 1937 through February 1938.


Rey

Rey, Charles
(1910 - 1981)

Originally from Senegal, Father Charles Rey studied theology and philosophy at the Jesuit college, Maison St.-Louis, in Jersey. After serving in Madagascar, he returned to Jersey, where he was named director of the Jesuit Meteorological and Seismological Observatory in 1933. Not only was he responsible for meteorological and seismological records, he acted as both scientist and engineer, designing and constructing specialized instruments, some of which are still in use. He served for a total of 47 years in the Observatory.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great Britain (Jersey)294 (Mi287)One of booklet pane of 4 (294a (2x (293-294))) with booklet cover1982(1st anniv. death)
Great Britain (Jersey)294 fdcStamp and photograph on FDOI postcard, also back
Great Britain (Jersey)289-294 fdcOne of six stamps on FDC


Genty

Genty, Robert
(1910 - 2001)

Robert Genty was a French military meteorologist. In the early 1950s he was summoned to Vietnam to head a weather modification project designed to promote rain at Dien Bien Phu in order to impede Viet Minh operations. Genty suggested that abundant rainfall might be provoked by seeding the clouds with silver iodide. Some tests were done, but the project never became operational. This work is described in Genty's book Ultime Secours pour Dien Bien Phu, 1953-1954 (Paris, l'Harmattan, 1994, 159 pp).

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
French Southern and Antarctic Territories332 (Mi?)20043rd anniv. death


Alvarez

Alvarez, Luis
(1911 - 1988)

Luis Alvarez was an American physicist. While at MIT, he invented a radar-based system known as GCA (Ground-Controlled Approach) that would allow aircraft to land blind in fog or bad weather (Watson-Watt had built the first workable radar system in the 1930s). This work was a response to the many weather-related landing accidents that had occurred in England during WWII.

Starting in 1967 Alvarez studied cosmic rays through the use of high altitude balloons and superconducting magnets.

In 1989, Alvarez and his geologist son Walter theorized that an asteroid impact 65 million years ago created the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) iridium layer, and that the ejecta from that massive impact spread into the atmosphere, blocking the sun's light, changing the climate and leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Ten years later, a large impact crater was discovered below the surface in the Yucatan peninsula. It was named Chicxulub, and its existence is considered to be clear evidence of the K-T extinction event. The meteorite that caused it is estimated to have had a diameter of about 10 km.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Guinea2131b (Mi?)One of MS6 (2131 (a-f))2002(90th anniv. birth, in 2001)


Law

Law, Philip
(1912 - 2010)

Philip Law was an Australian physicist, explorer and scientific administrator. He directed the Australian Antarctic Division of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) between 1948 and 1966. In his earliest years with ANARE, he ran the Australian research stations at Heard and Macquarie Islands, where, as he has said, "being a physicist I was interested in their geophysics - the meteorology, geomagnetism, seismology, cosmic rays, aurora, all these studies, as well as the biological work". Law stated that "our [i.e. Australian] weather comes up from Antarctica, so meteorology is the most obvious scientific work to be attacked there. Antarctic meteorology is fundamental to studying the weather patterns in the southern part of Australia" (this idea had also been expressed by Edgeworth David in the late 1920s). Law therefore concluded that collaboration with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology was of fundamental importance to the success of ANARE's work. Law and meteorologist Peter Shaw of the Bureau of Meteorology were part of a team that that briefly landed in the Vestfold Hills area in 1954 on a scouting mission to determine possible locations for a future Antarctic research station. Law returned to the same area in January 1957 as part of an expedition that established the new station. It was called Davis Station. Law was also involved in setting up the Mawson and Casey scientific stations, and led several expeditions that explored some 5000 km of the Antarctic coast.

Under Law, ANARE also worked with the Ionospheric Prediction Service, a small unit which set up ionospheric measuring devices that provided data used to predict the frequencies needed for the best radio transmission (reflections from the ionosphere influence those frequencies).

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Australia2424+2500+labels cover (Mi?+labels cover)One of four different labels (with 2 different stamps) on cover2007
Australian Antarctic TerritoryL4 (Mi?)1957Law (in centre) with meteorologist Peter Shaw (at left) in Vestfold Hills, Antarctica
Australian Antarctic TerritoryNoneCachet on cover2000"Law Base 2000 - Larsemann Hills"
Australian Antarctic TerritoryNone(Printed and red rubber-stamp) cachets and signature on cover2000"Dr. Phillip Law"
Australian Antarctic TerritoryL124 maxiPhoto on maxicard2004
RomaniaNoneCancel and (printed) cachet and (black rubber-stamp) cachet on cover2006Law-Racovita Station
RomaniaNoneCancel and two (printed) cachets and (red rubber-stamp) cachet on cover (different)2006Law-Racovita Station
RomaniaNonePrinted cachet and two (blue and red rubber-stamp) cachets on cover (different)2006Law-Racovita Station
RomaniaNoneCancel and (printed) cachet and two (blue and red rubber-stamp) cachets on cover (slightly different)2006Law-Racovita Station
RomaniaNoneCancel and cachet on postal card2007Law-Racovita Station
RomaniaNoneCachet on stamped envelope2007Law-Racovita Station
RomaniaNonePrinted stamp and cachet on stamped envelope2009Law-Racovita Station
RomaniaNoneCachet on stamped envelope (different)2009Law-Racovita Station


Camus

Camus, Albert
(1913 - 1960)

Camus was a French writer who was born in Algeria. He became a major international literary figure and was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1957. Camus struggled as a young writer in Algiers, and was chronically short of money. In 1937 the French mathematician and geophysicist Jean Coulomb (1904 - 1999) was appointed director of the Institute of Meteorology and Physics of the Algiers Geophysical Institute. One of Coulomb's goals was to develop a climatology of Algeria. The Institute had a large amount of raw data, but no budget to hire a professional meteorologist. Coulomb heard of Camus' dire financial straits, met him, and offered him a job as a temporary assistant in meteorology, with a salary of 1,000 francs per month.

Camus started this work in November 1937. Data from at least 350 Algerian weather observing stations were available, in some cases for periods as long three decades. Camus summarized the observations on index cards, in effect creating a climatological database for Algeria. He was able to make intercomparisons of observations at stations close to each other and thereby detect and correct errors. He seemed ideally suited for the meticulous nature of the work, and Coulomb was delighted with his progress. Camus then undertook a more general study of Algerian barometric pressure. From the observations at 121 stations he drew curves of barometric pressures for 27 years of data. From them he calculated mean pressure values, which in turn allowed the deviations from the mean to be easily calculated. In meteorology, deviations from the mean can provide important information about weather variables. Camus finished his work at the Institute in September 1938 and soon after moved to France in pursuit of his literary career.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Canada2270a (Mi2471 ms)In (left) margin of MS16 (16x 2270)2008Portrait of Camus (taken by Yousuf Karsh)
Canada2271 (BL102)In (upper-left) margin of MS3 (2270+2271 (a-b)) (Mi2469-2471)
Comoro IslandsBL501In (lower) margin of SS1 (Mi2295)2009(50th anniv. death, in 2010)
Congo (People's Republic)C287 (Mi749A)
iC287 (Mi749B)

Imperforate
1980(20th anniv. death)
Congo (People's Republic)C287 dsDeluxe sheet (C287)
Congo (People's Republic)C287 proofDie proof
Congo (People's Republic)C287 proofsTrial colour proofs
Congo (Democratic Republic)Unlisted a (Mi unlisted)One of MS6 (a-f)2001(40th anniv. death, in 2000)
FranceB407 (Mi1589)196710th anniv. Camus' Nobel Prize for literature; (7th anniv. death)
FranceB407 dsDeluxe sheet
FranceB407 proofTrial color proof
FranceB407 fdc1Stamp and cancel and cachet on FDC
FranceB407 fdc2Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
FranceB407 fdc3Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
FranceB407 fdc4Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
FranceB407 fdc5Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
FranceB407 fdc6Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
FranceB407 fdc7Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
FranceB407 fdc8Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
FranceB407 maxi1Maxicard
FranceB407 maxi2Maxicard (different)
FranceB407 maxi3Maxicard (different)
FranceB407 maxi4Maxicard (different)
FranceB407 maxi5Maxicard (different)
FranceB407 maxi6Maxicard (different)
FranceB407-408 sc (Mi158-1589 sc)Souvenir card
FranceNoneMeter1995
FranceNoneCachet on stamped envelope2005"Médiathčque Albert Camus"
FranceNoneCachet on stamped envelope2006"Médiathčque Albert Camus"
FranceNoneCachet on stamped envelope2007"Médiathčque Albert Camus"
Guinea RepublicMi5953A
Mi5953B
One of MS6 (Mi5949A-5954A)
One of imperforate MS6 (Mi5949B-5954B)
2008
Monaco2442 (Mi2832)200750th anniv. Camus' Nobel Prize for literature
Monaco2442 proofProof
Mongolia2067 silver (BL?)In (upper) margin of SS1, silver inscription and border around stamp1992"Camus" (in text); (80th anniv. birth, in 1993)
Mongolia2067 gold (BL?)In (upper) margin of SS1, gold inscription and border around stamp
Mozambique1593f (Mi2407)One of MS6 (1593 (a-f)) (Mi2402-7)2002(90th anniv. birth, in 2003)
MozambiqueUnknown bOne of MS6 (a-f)2011(50th anniv. death, in 2010)
MozambiqueUnknown ssStamp and (lower-left) margin of SS1
Nicaragua2135h (Mi3651)One of MS12 (2135 (a-l) (Mi3644-3655)1995
Niger409 (Mi589)
i409

Imperforate
197720th anniv. Camus' Nobel Prize for literature
Niger409 dsDeluxe sheet (409)
Paraguay1775 (BL306)In (right) margin of SS1 (Mi2970)1974
Somaliland RepublicUnknown2001(40th anniv. death, in 2010)
SpainNoneLotto ticket1996
St. Thomas and Prince IslandsMi4436-4440 ms5MS5 (Mi4436-4440)201050th anniv. death
St. Thomas and Prince IslandsBL764SS1 (Mi4441)
Sweden1853 (Mi1641)One stamp in booklet pane of 8 (1854a (2x (1851-1854)); also booklet of 8 (1854b) (Mi1639-1642)1990(30th anniv. death)
TongoLocal ssSS12010(50th anniv. death)


Treshnikov

Treshnikov, Alexei Fyodorovich
(1914 - 1991)

Alexei Treshnikov was a Russian oceanographer, geographer and polar explorer. After his university studies, he began his career at the Arctic Institute of the Soviet North Sea Route, where he provided hydrometeorological information for the ships of the Soviet Northern Fleet. He participated in the 1948 Soviet expedition to the North Pole and was the leader of the North Pole-3 (NP-3) ice station in the Arctic Ocean in the winter of 1954-1955. He led the 2nd (Nov 1956 to 1958) and 13th (1967 - 1969) Soviet Antarctic Expeditions. The earlier one took place within the framework of the IGY (International Geophysical Year). During those expeditions a wide variety of scientific programs was carried out, including programs in meteorology, aerology and the aurora.

Treshnikov was the director of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) from 1961 to 1981, and was also the president of the Soviet Geographical Society starting in 1977. From 1981 to 1991 he headed the Oceanography Department at Leningrad University. He became a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1982.

Treshnikov's polar research generally had a meteorological component. For example, he was one of the men at the origin of the POLEX (Polar Experiment) in the years 1968 to 1971. It took place for many years in the Kara Sea. Its scientific goals were to study, in a polar sea area, the heat budget of the atmosphere and the ocean and the energy transfer processes between them, and to use the data to parameterize those phenomena in numerical climate models and general circulation models. POLEX provided polar region data during the First GARP Global Experiment (FGGE, later known as the Global Weather Experiment, GWE) in 1978.

Treshnikov published many scientific articles during his career. For example, in 1972 he published "Soviet research in the Arctic" (Geoforum, Vol.3, no.4, 1972, p.43-52). This article describes the AARI's research in the polar regions, as summarized in the paper's abstract: "The research work draws extensively on the observational data of polar meteorological stations, manned drifting stations, automatic drifting stations, as well as on numerous airborne and shipboard expeditions. Recent research consists mainly of hydrometeorological studies and observations with the objective of developing meteorological, hydrological, and ice forecasts for 3 days to 10 months into the future. These forecasts are of primary importance for navigation in the Arctic Seas. In addition, the institute carries out research in geomagnetism, ionosphere, polar auroras, physical properties of sea ice, and physical geography". The POLEX experiment was also briefly described in this article.

In 1977, Treshnikov and V. Voskresenskiy, published "Climate of the drift-ice zone" (Polar Geography, vol.1, no.1, January 1977, p.41-49). This seminal article discusses the "climatic characteristics in the drift-ice zone, including circulation conditions, radiation regime, temperature and pressure fields, cloud micro-structure and the climate of the free atmosphere. The significance of climatic studies in this region is emphasized in connection with plans for resource development and navigation along the north coasts of the Soviet Union. A greater need is seen for quantitative evaluation of heat and water exchange within the region and along its outer boundary".

Treshnikov was the editor of a series of papers that were collectively published under the title "Problems of the Arctic and Antarctic". For example, Volumes 33 - 35 contain 59 papers which examine such subjects as weather, ice thickness, ice motion, ocean salinity and the effects of the cold. Volumes 36 - 37 contain 19 papers that investigate subjects including ice forecasting, long range meteorological forecasts, Siberian rivers and Arctic seas, and the history of polar countries. Volume 49 contains 18 papers that discuss weather forecasting, atmospheric processes including atmosphere-ocean heat exchange, long period tides and algae in the land fast ice.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Russia6575 (Mi792)One of MS5 (6575a (6571-6575 + label)) (BL30)2000(10th anniv. death, in 2001)
Russia6575 coverStamp and cachet on cover2005


van Allen

van Allen, James
(1914 - 2006)

James Van Allen was an American physicist and space scientist. In late 1945 he was assigned by Johns Hopkins University to survey sounding rocket requirements for upper atmospheric research. He found that the German V2, which at the time was being tested by Werner von Braun and his team of rocket engineers at Fort Bliss, Texas, was too heavy and complex. In 1946 van Allen decided that a small rocket derived from the Aerojet WAC Corporal and the Bumblebee missile developed under a US Navy program could meet his requirements. This small and inexpensive combination of an Aerojet booster and a Bumblebee second stage was dubbed the "Aerobee". It could take a 68 kg payload to 130 km altitude, and became the mainstay of American upper atmospheric research. Van Allen also developed various instrument packages used in upper atmospheric (and eventually near-space) scientific measurements. He became the chairman of the Upper Atmosphere Rocket Research Panel (which later became the Rocket and Satellite Research Panel) in 1948.

In 1952 van Allen developed "rockoons" - balloons carrying sounding rockets. A small rocket launched from a balloon at around 20 km altitude could fly up to nearly 100 km, allowing scientific measurements to be made in the highest and thinnest reaches of the atmosphere. Cosmic ray intensity was measured, along with the interaction of cosmic rays with the atmosphere near the North Pole. As the rockets fell back into the atmosphere, they continued to measure cosmic rays, pressure, temperature, heat, and other conditions. These early experiments suggested the existence of trapped radiation in near-Earth space. This was later confirmed by satellite measurements and the radiation areas became known as the van Allen radiation belts. In 1954 a rocket launched into the aurora by van Allen's team observed for the first time auroral electrons.

Van Allen was one of the precursors of the International Geophysical Year (IGY). In 1950 he invited a group of colleagues to his home to discuss the technologies developed during WWII, such as rockets and radar, and concluded that they could be used in a new round of international geophysical research. With the first and second International Polar Years (IPYs) in mind as models, the group through Lloyd Berkner proposed to the International Council of Scientific Unions that a Third IPY be held in 1957 (25 years after the Second IPY). The proposal came to fruition and the Third IPY, renamed the IGY since it was planned for the whole world rather than only the polar regions, took place from 1 July 1957 through 31 December 1958 (actually a period of 18 months). It was a coordinated, comprehensive, international geophysical study of the Earth. As part of the IGY, the first artificial Earth satellites were launched by the USSR and the USA. They provided scientific information on the near-space environment of the Earth. In particular, data from American satellites Explorer-1 and Explorer-3 were used by van Allen to prove the existence of belts of radiation around the Earth (starting at an altitude of about 100 km) that came to be known as the van Allen radiation belts.

Van Allen wrote or collaborated on a large number of papers relating to cosmic ray research in the upper atmosphere. Here are some of van Allen's presentations and papers related to upper atmospheric research other than cosmic ray research:

.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Antigua and Barbuda3014c (Mi?)One of MS6 (3014 (2x (a-c))) (BL1)2008"van Allen radiation belt" (in text)
Antigua and Barbuda3018 (BL3)In (right) margin of SS1"van Allen radiation belt" (in text)
Ivory CoastUnknown d (Mi?)One of MS4 (a-d)2011"ceintures de van Allen" (van Allen belts) (in text)
MalawiUnknown a (Mi?)
Unknown ia
On one of MS2 (a-b)
On one of imperforate MS2 (a-b)
2007
MalawiUnknown2 ms2 fdc
Unknown2 ims2 fdc
On one stamp of MS2 on FDC
On one stamp of imperforate MS2 on FDC
MalawiUnknown1 imperf fdcOn cachet of FDC
Maldive Islands2959d (Mi?)One of MS4 (2959 (a-d))2008Dr. van Allen and the van Allen radiation belt
Maldive Islands2959a-d fdcOn one of four stamps on FDC
Montserrat1200b (Mi?)From MS4 (1200 (a-d))2008Dr. James van Allen and Explorer-1
Montserrat1200d (Mi?)van Allen (between von Braun and Pickering) holding Explorer-1 model (mirror image of design in cachet of USA 3187d fdc)
Nevis1545a (Mi2308)From MS4 (1545 (a-d)) (Mi2308-2311)2008van Allen radiation belt
Nevis1545c (Mi2310)James van Allen
RwandaUnknown k (Mi?)One of MS12 (a-l)2009
St. Vincent2080f (Mi?)One of MS9 (2080 (a-i))1994James A. van Allen; Explorer-1 and van Allen belts
St. Vincent2080f specimenOne of MS9 (2080 specimen (a-i))
Tanzania2540b (Mi?)One of MS4 (2540 (a-d))2009?Dr. James van Allen and Explorer-1
United StatesNone(Sarzin) cachet on Explorer-1 launch cover1958"van Allen belts in space" (in text)
United StatesNone(Sarzin?) cachet on Explorer-14 launch cover1962"van Allen radiation belt" (in text)
United StatesNone(Sokalsky) cachet on Telstar-1 launch cover1962James van Allen autograph
United StatesNone(Printed) cachet on Telstar-2 launch cover1963James van Allen autograph
United StatesNone(SpaceCraft/Swanson) cachet on OV2-1 [failed] launch cover, also insert1962"van Allen radiation belt" (in text)
United StatesNone(Astro) cachet on OV2-1 [failed] launch cover1962"van Allen radiation belt" (in text)
United StatesNone(SpaceCraft/Swanson) cachet on Injun-2 and SolRad-4A launch cover1962"van Allen radiation belt" (in text)
United StatesNone(SpaceCraft/Swanson) insert from Explorer-26 launch cover, also cover1964"van Allen radiation zone" (in text on insert)
United StatesNone(SpaceCraft/Swanson) cachet on Explorer-1 re-entry cover1970"van Allen radiation belt" (in text)
United StatesNone(MSCS) cachet on Explorer-1 re-entry cover1970"van Allen radiation belt" (in text)
United States3187d fdc1 (Mi? fdc1)Cachet on FDC1999"Dr. Van Allen" (in text), "Van Allen Belts" (in text)
United States3187d fdc2 (Mi? fdc2)Cachet on FDC (different)van Allen (between von Braun and Pickering) holding Explorer-1 model (mirror image of design in Montserrat 1200d)
United States3187d fdc3 (Mi? fdc3)Cachet on FDC (different)van Allen with Explorer-1
United StatesNone(Mission 57) cachet on IGY cover back, also front2007"James van Allen" and "van Allen radiation belt" (in text)
United StatesNone(Mission 57) cachet on 50th anniv. Explorer-1 launch cover, also back2008van Allen (in cachets on front and back)
United StatesNone(Mission 57) cachet on 50th anniv. Explorer-1 launch cover (different cancel), also back2008van Allen (in cachets on front and back)
United StatesNone(Mission 57) cachet on 50th anniv. Explorer-1 launch cover, also back2008van Allen and others
United StatesNone(Mission 57) cachet on 50th anniv. Explorer-1 launch cover (different cancel), also back2008van Allen and others
United StatesNone(Mission 57) cachet on 50th anniv. Explorer-1 launch cover back, also front2008"James van Allen" (in text)
United StatesNone(Mission 57) cachet on 50th anniv. Explorer-1 launch cover back, also front2008"James van Allen" and "van Allen radiation belts" (in text)
United StatesNone(Personalized) stamp and (Therome) cachet on 50th anniv. Explorer-1 launch cover2008van Allen (on stamp and in cachet text)
United StatesNone(Mission 57) cachet on 50th anniv. Vanguard-1 launch cover back, also front2008"van Allen radiation belts" (in text)
United StatesNone(Mission 57) cachet on 50th anniv. Vanguard-3 launch cover back, also front2009"van Allen radiation" (in text)
United StatesNone(Mission 57) cachet on 50th anniv. Explorer-7 launch cover back, also front2009"Dr. van Allen" and "van Allen radiation" (in text)
United StatesNone(Mission 57) cachet on Glory launch cover back, also front2011"Dr. van Allen" (in text)
United StatesNone(Mission 57) cachet on 50th anniv. Telstar-1 launch cover back, also front2012"Earth's van Allen belts" (in text.)
United StatesNone(Mission 57) cachet on RBSP launch cover back, also front2012"van Allen radiation belts" (in text)
United StatesNone(Coverscape) cachet on 55th anniv. Explorer-1 launch cover2013van Allen (in picture and cachet text)


Garcia

Garcia, René
(1915 - 1995)

René Garcia was a French meteorologist. He was part of the third French International Geophysical Year (IGY) campaign that lasted from 1957 to 1959. Garcia was the station chief and meteorologist at the Charcot station on the Antarctic plateau starting in early February 1958, when he and two others relieved the previous team led by Jacques Dubois. They continued the scientific programs in meteorology, magnetism and glaciology established by Dubois. In addition, they introduced basic aerological upper air measurements with pilot balloons during the winter of 1958. In December of that year they even succeeded in making some upper air measurements with radiosonde balloons. Garcia and his team remained at Charcot station until it was closed on 9 January 1959 at the end of the French IGY program.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
French Southern and Antarctic Territories224 (Mi359)19972nd anniv. death


Suomi

Suomi, Verner E.
(1915 - 1995)

Verner Suomi was an American professor of atmospheric science and pioneer in imaging techniques used in weather satellites. He has been called the "father" of satellite meteorology.

After earning a Bachelor of Education degree, Suomi was recruited to study meteorology at the University of Chicago in the early years of WWII by the noted meteorologist C. G. Rossby. There Suomi learned the basics of meteorology and became a meteorological instructor. He had always been good with his hands, and became interested in the construction and repair of radiosonde equipment. This led to his development, under contract to the US military, of a light mobile radiosonde receiving unit that replaced the existing one that was so cumbersome that it had to be transported on a truck.

In 1946, Suomi's interest turned to the measurement of atmospheric turbulence near the ground. To this end, he and Michael Ference considered acoustic techniques and designed a method of measuring wind speed with sound pulses. From this work, Suomi and Earl Barrett developed in 1946 what would be the first sonic anemometer. It is described in a paper he wrote in 1957: "Sonic anemometer - University of Wisconsin". Instrumentation and Data Evaluation, H. Lettau and B. Davidson, Eds., Vol.1, Exploring the Atmosphere's First Mile, Pergamon Press, p.256-266.

Suomi became an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison (UWM) in 1948, where he began micrometeorological and agricultural research through studies of the heat budget over a cornfield. This led to his Ph.D. in meteorology in 1953 from the University of Chicago. Basically, his work examined the solar energy absorbed by a cornfield compared to the amount of energy radiated out to space by that field. This was his first foray into what would become his ongoing studies of the energy balance of the Earth and the atmosphere, which would in turn lead to his interest in climate. Suomi would spend most of his career at UWM, where he held the Harry Wexler professorship in meteorology. He was the director of the Meteorological Department from 1950 to 1952 and again from 1954 to 1957.

In the early 1950s, Suomi began to think about how one might measure the Earth's heat budget remotely, from space, rather than relying on measurements at a few ground-based locations. Then in 1956, Joseph Kaplan of UCLA gave a lecture at UWM in which he presented plans for the International Geophysical Year (IGY). Suomi enthusiastically informed Kaplan of his ideas, and his instrument design (initially called the ping-pong experiment because it used two spheres (one black, one white) about the size of ping-pong balls) was accepted for launch into space.

Suomi collaborated for many years with the electrical engineer Robert Parent, who was also at UWM. In the late 1950s the two men modified Suomi's original ping-pong design to use mirror-backed hemispheres ("bolometers") as sensors. This groundbreaking instrument was the first radiometer to measure the Earth's radiation balance from space. It provided the difference between the solar radiation absorbed and the long wave radiation emitted by the Earth-atmosphere system. This difference, the net radiation, is important because it drives the circulation of the atmosphere. The incoming solar radiation had already been measured from the ground and from balloons, but only a satellite-based instrument could measure the net radiation and its variations over the globe in space and time. The Suomi-Parent flat-plate radiometer was aboard the science satellite Explorer-7 which was launched 13 October 1959. It provided the first measurement of the Earth's heat budget and its changes in space and time. Data from the radiometer combined with the other available radiative measurements proved that clouds and other atmospheric constituents could have a major effect on the net radiation. In particular, it was found that that clouds absorbed more solar energy and reflected less than had previously been estimated (i.e. the Earth was "darker" than originally believed).

This successful demonstration of the use of an artificial Earth satellite to study physical characteristics of the Earth-atmosphere system gave confidence to the scientific community that such satellites could be very useful in studies of Earth's weather. Explorer-7, with its Suomi-Parent flat-plate radiometer, can therefore be considered the precursor of all weather satellites. TIROS-1, the first dedicated weather satellite, was launched on 1 April 1960. An updated version of the radiometer was flown on many of the TIROS, ITOS and DMSP weather satellites.

Suomi served for one year, in 1964, as chief scientist of the US Weather Bureau. Later, as a contractor to the Bureau, he studied the possible climatic effects of jet aircraft contrails. He also made significant contributions to the international meteorological community. For example, later in the 1960s, with Drs. Jules Charney, Joe Smagorinsky and Tom Malone he founded the Global Atmospheric Research Program (GARP). Beginning in 1968, Suomi served as president of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). He was awarded the Charles Franklin Brooks Award by the AMS in 1980. He was also awarded the International Meteorological Organization prize by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Suomi and Parent continued to collaborate and built more sophisticated instruments in the 1960s and 1970s. They designed a special camera, the spin-scan cloud camera, that could be used to photograph the Earth from rotating spin-stabilized satellites in geostationary orbit. The camera was first flown on the ATS-1 satellite (launched 7 December 1966). The camera was designed to take "high resolution photos of the Earth" (ATS-1_cover) and to "give weathermen their first large-scale observation of weather masses" (ATS-1_cover4). The camera was next flown on the ATS-3 satellite (launched 6 November 1967), from which it provided the first colour image of the Earth from space ("it will take color photos of the western hemisphere's weather" (ATS-3_cover)) and the first photos of the full disk of the Earth ("First full-disk photos of Earth; sunrise & sunset cloud color changes" (ATS-3_cover3)). Here is an example of a colour full-disk photograph of Earth taken from ATS-3. The spin-scan camera came to be known as the VISSR (Visible and Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer) and was used in many later weather satellites. A modified version known as the VAS (VISSR Atmospheric Sounder) was the first instrument to allow the measurement of the vertical distribution of temperature and water vapour in the atmosphere. It was first carried by GOES-4 (launched 9 September 1980) and immediately proved its usefulness. Through the VAS, GOES-4 was "the first US satellite capable of near continuous monitoring of atmospheric water vapor and temperatures" (GOES-4_cover).

Suomi and Parent's spin-scan camera was also modified for use in spacecraft that took early photos of Venus (Pioneer-12 and 13) and Jupiter and Saturn (Pioneer-10 and 11).

In the late 1970s Suomi was the chairman of the Climate Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. At that time a scientific consensus about global warming and its possible effects was beginning to emerge. There were of course uncertainties, such as how long the oceans would delay the warming, given that they act as a carbon sink. Suomi spoke of this crucial point in his introduction to a National Academy of Sciences report1 written for the White House by a panel of eight scientists headed by MIT's Jule Charney. Suomi wrote that "the ocean, the great and ponderous flywheel of the global climate system, may be expected to slow the course of observable climatic change. A wait-and-see policy may mean waiting until it is too late."

Suomi also led the team that developed McIDAS (Man-Computer Interactive Data Access System), one of the first integrated software packages designed to display and manipulate meteorological data. It was used for many years in the US and some other countries as a primary tool for both weather research and operational forecasting.

Suomi also developed a radio altimeter designed to be carried aboard weather balloons to measure their height. He did basic work on the design of microwave antennas for use with atmospheric sounders such as the VAS. Later in his life he was involved in developing a sea surface sonde: an instrument that would measure the flow of heat from the ocean to the atmosphere. Such information is important in climate studies and as "ground truth" for meteorological satellites.

Hank Revercomb, director of UWM's Space Science and Engineering Centre (which Suomi helped to establish in 1965) said of Suomi that "he was the pioneer for so many things" and that "he foresaw concepts for pivotal instrument designs, but also how to process this valuable weather information you're collecting and how to make it available."

On 28 October 2011 the Suomi NPP (National Polar-orbiting Partnership) satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB in California. Not only will it provide data for short-term weather forecasting, but also its measurements will be useful in research into longer-term climate change, the ozone layer, global ice cover, levels of atmospheric pollution and vegetation mapping. The instrument suite includes an updated version of an atmospheric sounder originally designed by Suomi. It will provide measurements of atmospheric temperature, wind, moisture and cloud cover. Originally known as the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite, it was renamed Suomi NPP in honour of Suomi's vast contribution to satellite meteorology.

1 Charney, Jule et al., Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A Scientific Assessment, Report of an Ad-Hoc Study Group on Carbon Dioxide and Climate, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 23-27 July 1979, to the Climate Research Board, National Research Council, (Washington DC, National Academies Press, 1979)

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
United StatesNone(Mission 57) cachet on 50th anniv. Explorer-7 launch cover back, also front2009"Verner Suomi" (in text)


Brewer

Brewer, Alan W.
(1915 - 2007)

Alan Brewer was a meteorologist and instrument designer who was born in Canada but grew up and spent much of his life in England. He made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the physics, chemistry and dynamics of the stratosphere.

After obtaining his M.Sc. in physics from University College in London, he joined the Meteorological Office in 1937. He began work as a weather forecaster at an RAF station near Oxford in 1941. In WWII it became urgent to understand the processes of formation of contrails (condensation trails), since they were making Allied aircraft vulnerable to enemy aircraft. The Met Office needed to be able to forecast when and where contrails would form. In 1942 Brewer was assigned as officer-in-charge of the Meteorological Unit of the High Altitude Flight group at Boscombe Down. He immediately plunged into the measurement by aircraft of temperature and humidity. His supervisor, G. M. Dobson, had already done some work on hygrometry (humidity measurement) so Brewer started by developing an improved aircraft-mounted instrument for measuring temperatures. Then turning his attention to hygrometry, he quickly realized that contrails occur in the situation in which the air is saturated with respect to ice but not saturated with respect to supercooled water. This meant in turn that a hygrometer that would provide useful measurements for the study of contrails had to measure the frost point rather than the dew point, so Brewer and his team modified Dobson's hygrometer to provide the frost point. The instruments were mounted in a Flying Fortress, and as it climbed into the stratosphere, Brewer observed that the temperature rose and the humidity plummeted. He was surprised by the exceedingly nature of the stratospheric air: conventional wisdom was that the stratosphere was moist. He made repeated flights to confirm this dryness, and measured frost points as low as 190 K (-83°C). This made him think of studies that had shown that the equatorial tropopause (the lower boundary of the stratosphere) had a temperature of about 190 K (and therefore the frost point could be no higher than that value), which in turn led him to hypothesize that the extremely dry air had come from the area of the equatorial tropopause. He inferred that there must exist a circulation in which air enters the stratosphere in the equatorial area, moves poleward and exits the stratosphere at higher latitudes. Dobson and Brewer published in initial paper on these ideas in 1946, and Brewer continued to develop the theory in the mid- and late 1940s during his Ph.D. studies at Oxford. He was awarded the degree in 1948 and was appointed as a Lecturer in Meteorology at Oxford in that same year. He published the details of what came to be known as the "Brewer-Dobson circulation" in a seminal paper in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society in 1949. The Brewer-Dobson circulation is generally accepted as the breakthrough in understanding why the stratosphere is so remarkably dry. Its details are still a subject of study to this day, world-wide.

Dobson had done work related to ozone since the 1920s, and he and Brewer began to study how ozone would fit into the Brewer-Dobson circulation. A version of Dobson's ozone-measuring spectrograph was mounted in an airplane, and in July 1955 Brewer used it during four stratospheric flights at Tromsö, Norway. The measurements showed that there was a sharp transition to higher values of ozone concentration at the tropopause. This work convinced Brewer that an ozonesonde would have to be developed, and one of his graduate students took on that project. Their ozonesonde was used in the late 1950s to make ozone profile measurements in various parts of the world. The observations showed that ozone concentrations have a strong latitudinal variation in the stratosphere that is consistent with the Brewer-Dobson circulation.

Brewer became a professor at the University of Toronto in 1962. There he continued to measure ozone concentrations, and also studied the UV radiation that was producing the ozone, and showed that the ozone production area was at a level of about 10 hPa. Around 1970 he began to design a new ozone-measuring instrument that would eventually replace the ageing Dobson spectrophotometer. At about the same time, supersonic transport aircraft that would fly in the stratosphere were being designed and built (only the Concorde made it into production) and there were worries that the nitric oxides (NOx) they would introduce into the stratosphere could destroy the ozone there. Brewer modified his new spectrometer to measure atmospheric NO2 and used it to make ground-based and airborne measurements. He concluded that NO2 is present in the stratosphere as well as the troposphere and hypothesized that NOx and ozone coexist naturally in the stratosphere in some photochemical balance whose details are unknown.

In the early 1970s, Brewer developed (with David Wardle of Environment Canada) the Brewer ozone spectrophotometer. It is currently the most accurate available instrument for measuring total column ozone. An automated version of this instrument is used at 12 monitoring sites in Canada which provide data used in the preparation of forecasts of ozone and of an ultraviolet index as well as in ongoing scientific research. The Brewer ozone spectrophotometer is also used in over 40 countries worldwide. It can also be adapted to measure other atmospheric components such as NO2 and aerosols.

Here is a list of Brewer's major scientific papers:

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great BritainNoneSignature on cover199755th anniv. Meteorological Research Flight group, Boscombe Down, England


Day

Day, John
(ca 1915? - 2008)

John Day was an American meteorologist, teacher and photographer. After graduating with a BA in Airline Meteorology in 1937, he became a forecaster for Pan Am Airlines and was posted to several locations around the world. After WWII he pursued advanced studies and obtained his PhD in meteorology in 1956. He taught meteorology at Oregon State University from 1958 to 1978. In the early 1960s he worked on cloud physics at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London. Day later studied the history of cloud classification, also in England, with emphasis on the work of Luke Howard. He was able to combine his love of photography with meteorology in work that led to an early cloud chart, and later worked on the Skywatcher's Cloud Chart in a collaborative project with the Weather Channel. One of his photographs appears on the US stamp 3278m, which shows fair weather cumulus clouds. His cloud images have been exhibited in galleries in the US and in Hong Kong.

Day is the author or co-author of several weather-related books, including:

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
United States3278m (Mi3877)
3278m back
From MS15 (3878 (a-o)), also back2004Photo of cumulus clouds taken by Day
United States3878m fdc1Stamp on FDC
United States3878m fdc2Stamp on FDC (different)
United States3878m fdc3Stamp on FDC (different)
United States3878m fdc4Stamp on FDC (different)
United StatesSP1549
SP1549 back
(USPS) souvenir page (3878)(As above)
United StatesCP719
CP719 back
(USPS) commemorative panel (3878)(As above)
United StatesUX433
UX433 back
Postal card, from booklet of 20, 15 different (UX421-UX435) with booklet cover, also backPhoto of cumulus clouds taken by Day; "John Day" (in text)
United States3278m coverCancel and signature on cover2004"John Day Station"


Parent (at left)
Suomi (at right)
Parent (at left)

Parent, Robert
(1917 - 1978)

Robert Parent was an American professor of electrical engineering at the University of Wisconsin (Madison). He collaborated for many years on satellite-based meteorological instrumentation with professor Verner Suomi, an eminent atmospheric scientist at the same institution.

In the late 1950s the two men built a radiometer that could measure the Earth's radiation balance from space. This groundbreaking instrument would provide the first measurements of the difference between the solar radiation absorbed and the long wave radiation emitted by the Earth-atmosphere system. This difference, the net radiation, is important because it drives the circulation of the atmosphere. The incoming solar radiation had already been measured from the ground and from balloons, but only a satellite-based instrument could measure the net radiation and its variations over the globe in space and time. The Suomi-Parent flat-plate radiometer was aboard the science satellite Explorer-7 which was launched 13 October 1959. It provided the first measurement of the Earth's heat budget and its changes in space and time. Data from the radiometer combined with the other available radiative measurements proved that clouds and other atmospheric constituents could have a major effect on the net radiation. In particular, it was found that that clouds absorbed more solar energy and reflected less than had previously been estimated (the Earth was "darker" than originally believed).

This successful demonstration of the use of an artificial Earth satellite to study physical characteristics of the Earth-atmosphere system gave confidence to the scientific community that such satellites could be very useful in studies of Earth's weather. Explorer-7, with its Suomi-Parent flat-plate radiometer, can therefore be considered the precursor of all weather satellites. TIROS-1, the first dedicated weather satellite, was launched on 1 April 1960. An updated version of the radiometer was flown on many of the TIROS, ITOS and DMSP weather satellites.

Suomi and Parent continued to collaborate and built more sophisticated instruments in the 1960s and 1970s. They designed a special camera, the spin-scan cloud camera, that could be used to photograph the Earth from rotating spin-stabilized satellites in geostationary orbit. The camera was first flown on the ATS-1 satellite (launched 7 December 1966). The camera was designed to take "high resolution photos of the Earth" (ATS-1_cover) and to "give weathermen their first large-scale observation of weather masses" (ATS-1_cover4). The camera was next flown on the ATS-3 satellite (launched 6 November 1967), from which it provided the first colour image of the Earth from space ("it will take color photos of the western hemisphere's weather" (ATS-3_cover)) and the first photos of the full disk of the Earth ("First full-disk photos of Earth; sunrise & sunset cloud color changes" (ATS-3_cover3)). Here is an example of a colour full-disk photograph of Earth taken from ATS-3. The spin-scan camera came to be known as the VISSR (Visible and Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer) and was used in many later weather satellites. A modified version known as the VAS (VISSR Atmospheric Sounder) was the first instrument to allow the measurement of the vertical distribution of temperature and water vapour in the atmosphere. It was first carried by GOES-4 (launched 9 September 1980) and immediately proved its usefulness. Through the VAS, GOES-4 was "the first US satellite capable of near continuous monitoring of atmospheric water vapor and temperatures" (GOES-4_cover).

Suomi and Parent's spin-scan camera was also modified for use in spacecraft that took early photos of Venus (Pioneer-12 and 13) and Jupiter and Saturn (Pioneer-10 and 11).

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
United StatesNone(Mission 57) cachet on 50th anniv. Explorer-7 launch cover back, also front2009"Robert Parent" (in text)


Lorenz

Lorenz, Edward
(1917 - 2008)

Edward Lorenz was an American meteorologist and pioneer of chaos theory. He worked with some of the earliest numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, and realized in 1961 that minute differences in the initial conditions of those models could lead to grossly different forecast weather patterns. This effect came to be known as the "butterfly effect" (the idea that the way a butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world could have a subsequent effect on the weather in another part of the world, through creating tiny changes that can amplify and propagate with time). Lorenz popularized the term. It may have originated from his demonstration that chaotic motions nevertheless can follow certain patterns known as "strange attractors" or "Lorenz attractors". Some of these patterns have the shape of a butterfly with its wings spread out. However, the butterfly effect idea appears to first have appeared in 1952 in a short story about time travel written by Ray Bradbury. Lorenz's first public use of the term was probably in a paper presented at the 139th Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), on 29 December 1972: "Predictability; Does the Flap of a Butterfly's wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?". This paper was delivered in the AAAS Section on Environmental Sciences - New Approaches to Global Weather: GARP (Global Atmospheric Research Program).

Chaos theory attempts to find underlying order in apparently chaotic behaviour. Lorenz's pioneering work in chaos theory as applied to the atmosphere led him to conclude that there are limits to weather predictability since the atmosphere is a chaotic system, and future weather is highly sensitive to initial conditions. For example, in a paper published in 1965 (A Study of the Predictability of a 28 Variable Model, Tellus, 17, 321-333), Lorenz presented a complete (for the time) treatment of the error growth in the NWP model he used (error growth is of course related to predictability). He considered the variability of error growth and the role of the atmospheric flow structure, and identified the states in which perturbations would have the fastest growth. These were almost revolutionary ideas for the time. Lorenz continued to develop these ideas in his later work.

Lorenz in effect rediscoved the idea of nonlinear chaotic systems after a hiatus of some 60 years. Henri Poincaré has in fact been called the 'father' of chaos theory as a result of his work on the three-body problem, which led him to the conclusion in 1890 that two identical systems set in motion with slightly different initial conditions can quickly exhibit motions that are completely different. He later proposed that a similar effect could also be present in the atmosphere. Jacques Hademard noted in 1898 the divergence of trajectories in spaces of negative curvature. Pierre Duhem in 1908 considered the possible general significance of Hademard's results.

During his long career, Lorenz received many meteorological prizes and awards. He was truly one of the giants of the modern era of meteorology.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Guinea RepublicMi5880From MS6 (Mi5880-5885)12008Lorenz and weather satellite MSG-2
Guinea RepublicMi5881Lorenz with depiction of tropical storm (in background)
Guinea RepublicMi5882Lorenz (at right) and Hademard
Guinea RepublicMi5883Lorenz (at right) and Newton and tornado (in background)
Guinea RepublicMi5884Lorenz and depiction of tsunami (in background)
Guinea RepublicMi5885Lorenz (at right) and Duhem
Guinea RepublicMi5880-5885 fdcMS6 and cachet on FDC
Guinea RepublicBL1582SS1The death of Edward Lorenz; Lorenz and butterfly1
Guinea RepublicBL1582 fdcSS1 on FDC

1The butterfly effect is symbolized by the butterflies in the lower margin of the MS6, and in the stamp of the SS1.


White

White, Robert M.
(ca 1920? - present?)

Robert White was an American meteorological administrator. His introduction to meteorology took place in 1940 when he was a student at Harvard. In the summer of that year he worked as a weather observer at the Blue Hill Observatory in Massachusetts. He later obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in meteorology from Harvard.

White was appointed director of the US Weather Bureau by John F. Kennedy in 1963. Kennedy, in a speech to the United Nations in 1961, had called for the nations of the world to cooperate in weather forecasting. More specifically, he challenged the nations of the world to use technology to significantly improve weather forecasts. Under White, the Bureau moved in this direction. Numerical weather prediction (NWP) techniques were pursued, and the new TIROS and ESSA weather satellites were used to improve the global weather observing system. As US representative to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), White was authorized to pledge money for the improvement of global weather prediction, for the development and use of meteorological satellites and for the purchase of APT (Automatic Picture Transmission) equipment for the reception of satellite data by nations around the world.

In 1970, White was appointed the first Administrator of NOAA by President Nixon. Under his leadership at NOAA, the US weather forecast and warning systems continued to be improved through the use of satellite and radar observations and computer technology.

In 1977, White was the head of a National Research Council committee that warned of the serious effects that unchecked climate change could have. He said that "We now understand that industrial wastes, such as carbon dioxide released during the burning of fossil fuels, can have consequences for climate that pose a considerable threat to future society … the scientific problems are formidable, the technological problems, unprecedented, and the potential economic and social impacts, ominous." (from "Oceans and Climate - Introduction", Oceanus, 21 (1978): 2-3).

In 1979 White chaired the first World Climate Conference sponsored by the WMO. It led to the establishment of the WMO World Climate Programme. Recently he has served as a director with the Washington Advisory Group, where he has advised on issues related to the environment, energy and climate change.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
United StatesNoneCachet (signature) on NOAA-2 launch cover1972


Prud'homme

Prud'homme, André
(1920 - 1959)

André Prud'homme was a French meteorologist. He fell in love with the Antarctic during his first winter at Port Martin in 1951. In 1957 he published an important treatise on polar meteorology, based on his experience in the Antarctic. He was soon thereafter nominated as chief meteorologist of the French meteorological expedition for the International Geophysical Year (IGY), and spent 1958 at the Dumont d'Urville station in Adélie Land. On 7 January 1959 he went out into a blizzard to make the usual meteorological observations. Something happened and he never returned. A coastal headland near the station was later named Cape André Prud'homme in his honour.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
French Southern and Antarctic Territories188 (Mi311)One of pair (189a (188-189 + label)) (Mi311-312)1993
French Southern and Antarctic Territories188 maxiStamp and photo on maxicard
French Southern and Antarctic Territories189a sheetInformation sheet
French Southern and Antarctic Territories221 (Mi?)1996"micrométéorites de Cap Prud'homme"
French Southern and Antarctic Territories294l stamp (Mi470)On stamp in booklet pane of 7 (294h-n) and on stamp and in (upper) margin of one SS1 (294l); booklet contains 28 stamps (14 in two different booklet panes of 7 and in 14 SS1 with margin design the same as each stamp); also booklet cover and back)2001Cape Prud'homme
French Southern and Antarctic Territories340 (BL?)SS12004"Cap André Prud'homme" (in (lower-left) margin text)


Dubois

Dubois, Jacques
(1920 - 2000)

Jacques Dubois was a French meteorologist. He was part of the second French International Geophysical Year (IGY) campaign that lasted from 1956 to 1958. He was the station chief and meteorologist at the Charcot station on the Antarctic plateau from the end of January 1957 to early February 1958. During that period Dubois and two others carried out successful scientific programs in meteorology, magnetism and glaciology. They were relieved in early February 1958 by a team led by René Garcia.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
French Southern and Antarctic Territories304 (Mi?)20022nd anniv. death


Antoine

Antoine, Tex
(Herbert Jon Antoine, Jr.)
(1923 - 1983)

Tex Antoine was an American broadcaster who began his career as a New York City weather presenter in 1949 on station WNBT (later WNBC). He worked with a cartoon sidekick known as Uncle Wethbee. His weather presentations were described by Bob Tilden in his reminiscence about Antoine: "His nightly weather report was a wonderful mix of weather, cartoon art, and storytelling. He would start his weather segment standing next to an easel covered by blank papers, and he would proceed to draw the weather systems that were pertinent to the nation and the area. As his hands drew in the lows, highs, and fronts, his voice would narrate their past and expected movements, and what their effects would be. As he filled page after page of the easel, building the map as he described each feature, he engaged his audience. He instructed the viewers about their weather, rather than just informing them of a forecast.". Here is an image of Antoine at work.

Tex moved to WABC TV in 1966 where he was the television weatherman until 1976. He ended his career at WNEW TV in 1977.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
United StatesNoneMeter1950Uncle Wethbee, the weatherman, WNBT (which later became WNBC), Channel 4, New York NY


Rivolier

Rivolier, Jean
(1923 - 2007)

Jean Rivolier was a French doctor and who specialized in the study of extreme environments. As a member of Paul-Émile Victor's Expéditions Polaires Françaises, he was responsible for the group's "Medical-Physiological Office". In 1969 he became the Chief Medical Officer of the French Southern and Antarctic Territories. There, among many other subjects, he studied questions related to bioclimatology. His broad scientific interest was how humans adapt to life in a polar environment. Rivolier later became the director of the Bioclimatology and Human Ecology Laboratory where he studied, in co-operation with Météo-France, the influence of climate on human health. In particular he looked at the influence on human health of cold weather and of variations in the Earth`s electric and magnetic fields and in the ionisation of the air.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
French Southern and Antarctic Territories423 (Mi?)2010
French Southern and Antarctic Territories423 sheetInformation sheet


Scott, J

Scott, Jack
(1924 - ?)

Jack Scott was a British television meteorologist. He joined the Met Office in 1941 and served at various RAF military stations during the war. In the 1950s and 1960s he worked at RAF stations Watnall and Uxbridge, and also in Nairobi. In 1968 he was transferred to the London Weather Centre, where he started broadcasting on BBC TV and radio. He introduced to the public in 1975 a set of new BBC weather symbols, and also laid the foundations for the BBC's computerized forecast system. After retiring from the Met Office in 1983, he served as weatherman on Thames TV, until 1988.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great Britain959 fdc (Mi? fdc)Cachet and signature on FDC1981


Faure

Faure, Alfred
(1925 - 1968)

Alfred Faure was a French meteorologist.

After his studies, he entered the Météorologie Nationale (the French National Meteorological Service). He graduated as a meteorological technician and was posted to Nantes. He moved to Paris in 1947, where he was part of teams that conducted meteorological studies aboard the North Atlantic weather ships A, J and K.

Beginning in 1949, Faure was part of the mission headed by Martin de Vivičs that established a meteorological observing station on Amsterdam Island. Work started in the austral summer of 1949-1950. The weather observation program began 11 March 1950, and pilot balloon soundings were taken beginning in July of that year. Daily rawinsonde launches began on 16 March 1951. The base, at first known as La Roche Godon, was later renamed for de Vivičs.

Back in Paris, Faure headed the radar section of the Technical Group of the Meteorological Service, and was accepted into the professional meteorologists training program, which he completed before going back to the Southern Territories as head of the French Mission at Amsterdam Island. He then served as head of the 10th French Antarctic expedition to Adélie Land from January 1960 to January 1961. After that, he led a reconnaissance mission to the Crozet Islands in the austral summer of 1961-1962, with the goals of setting up a temporary meteorological station and choosing the site for a permanent base. The mission was composed of 12 men, including Faure and one other meteorologist. Paul-Émile Victor was also a member of the group, which landed on 21 December 1961 and transmitted the first weather observations 8 days later. The group remained at the site until 3 February 1962. Under Faure's direction, a permanent base, including the meteorological observing station with the necessary telecommunications equipment, was finished in 1963, and the first overwintering at the new base took place in 1964. The base received the name Alfred Faure in 1969. Sylvain Le Moal and Olivier Gourdonneau were the last meteorologists posted to the Faure base. On 8 December 1994 the manned station program ceased and an automatic weather station began to provide the weather observations. They are sent to a Meteosat weather satellite in geostationary orbit, which then rebroadcasts them to their various destinations.

After 1964, Faure continued to work mostly in the Southern Territories. For example, in early 1967, he and Victor were again together as part of a team that launched four Dragon rockets (here are a stamp and a cover referring to those launches) from the Dumont d'Urville station in Adélie Land to an altitude of 310 km for ionospheric research. The launches took place 26-29 January 1967 and were sponsored by the Ionospheric Research Group of the CNES (Centre national des Études spatiales). The goal of the flights was to study anomalies in upper atmospheric behaviour at magnetic midday.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesC35a (Mi?)Strip of 3 (C35a (C33 - C35))1974"Base Alfred Faure: 1963-1973"
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesC35a fdcStrip of 3 and cancel and cachet on FDC10th anniv. Base Alfred Faure
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesNoneCancel (different) and three cachets on cover1982Alfred Faure Base, Crozet District
French Southern and Antarctic Territories111 (Mi?)1984(60th anniv. birth, in 1985)
French Southern and Antarctic Territories111 sheetInformation sheet
French Southern and Antarctic Territories111 fdc1Stamp and cancel on FDC
French Southern and Antarctic Territories111 fdc2Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet on FDC
French Southern and Antarctic Territories111 fdc3Stamp and cancel (same) and cachet (different) on FDC
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesC106 fdc (Mi? fdc)Cancel on FDC1989"Alfred Faure - Crozet"
French Southern and Antarctic Territories189a cover1 (Mi311-312 cover1)(Rectangular latitude-longitude) cachet and oval world map cachet on cover1993Station météorologique Alfred Faure (Îles Crozet)
French Southern and Antarctic Territories189a cover2 (Mi311-312 cover2)Three cachets (two same) on cover1994Last overwintering at the Faure meteorological station (in red cachet)
French Southern and Antarctic Territories211 fdc (Mi? fdc)Cancel and registered-letter tag on FDC1995"Alfred Faure - Crozet" (on cancel)
French Southern and Antarctic Territories333 (Mi?)200440th anniv. Alfred Faure base
French Southern and Antarctic Territories342 (Mi?)In (left) margin of MS4 (342 (a-d))2004Alfred Faure [base] cachet with latitude/longitude (on one cachet); part of the base (in 342b)


Shaw

Shaw, Peter
(ca 1925? - present?)

Peter Shaw was an Australian meteorologist whose career with the Bureau of Meteorology spanned 41 years, starting in 1951. He retired in 1992 from his position as head of the Networks and Measurement Section. He specialized in instrumentation, and noted that he was lucky to have been "on the spot while some of the recent developments in observations systems have been occurring". As he pointed out, "the new radiosonde system, automatic weather stations, radars and other technologies still coming are greatly improving the quantity and quality of data and making work better for everyone". With a colleague, Shaw wrote a pioneering paper in 1969 which laid the foundations of the acoustic sounding technique for probing the lower atmosphere.

Shaw was the meteorologist with the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) trip of 1954 that briefly landed in the Vestfold Hills area on a scouting mission to determine possible locations for a future Antarctic research station. Phillip Law, the head of the Antarctic Division of ANARE at the time, was also present. Shaw returned to the Antarctic as part of another ANARE expedition in 1955-6. He studied the weather at Mawson base, and published his work in 1957 (Shaw, P. J., 1957: The Climate of Mawson During 1955, Australian Meteorological Magazine, no.18, September 1957, p.1-20). Many of his results are summarized in the abstract of that paper:

"This paper is principally a description of the climate at Mawson. The prevailing wind is shown to be katabatic. As yet no complete model has been deduced for the characteristic sudden wind changes. The summer westerly wind is shown to be a sea breeze, and the existence of sea ice is shown to reduce wind speed. There is a tendency for the tropopause to vanish in winter, due to radiative cooling aloft. The distribution of humidity near the ground is used to estimate ablation of plateau ice. Details of snow and sea ice are given which may be of use to analysts".

Concerning precipitation at Mawson, Shaw found that "it seems clear from weather conditions and from the complete absence of permanent snow along the coast that Mawson has a much lower annual precipitation than any other part of Antarctica for which records are so far available". He noted that "there is a 'snow line' which advances to within eight miles of the coast" and explained that beyond this line the "snow does accumulate because there is no thaw at high altitude and also probably the density of blizzards is greater".

Concerning humidity, he noted that "the air near the ground at Mawson has recently descended from the plateau, being warmed adiabatically during the descent, so the relative humidity at the surface should be very low, as it is in fact a few hundred feet above the surface. The additional moisture in the lower layer must be due to evaporation from the plateau ice during the descent...".

Shaw also presented a table with the mean and extreme temperatures observed at Mawson in 1955-6. From those data, he pointed out that "during the warmer months, November to February, the daily maximum and minimum temperatures, when plotted, form a fairly smooth curve, but in winter there is very large variation within any week or month." He then went on to discuss several possible reasons for the large wintertime variations. The warmest observed temperature during the year of observations (Feb 1955 - Jan 1956) was 7.4°C while the coldest was -30.1°C.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Australian Antarctic TerritoryL4 (Mi?)1957Shaw (at left) with Phillip Law (in centre) in Vestfold Hills, Antarctica


Rowland

Rowland, F. Sherwood
(1927 - 2012)

Sherwood Rowland is an American physicist who has conducted research into ozone. In 1974 he and Mario J. Molina published a seminal article in Nature in which they discussed the threat posed to the ozone layer by chlorofluorocarbon gases (CFCs) and by the freons used in aerosol spray cans, refrigeration fluids and plastic foams. This followed the work of Paul J. Crutzen, who discovered in 1970 that nitrogen oxides can accelerate ozone destruction. The three received in 1995 the Nobel Prize in physics for their research on ozone. Rowland has continued to work on problems of atmospheric chemistry since his collaboration with Molina in the 1970s.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Ghana2283b (Mi3385)From MS6 (2283 (a-f))2001


Crutzen

Crutzen, Paul J.
(1933 - present)

Paul Crutzen is a Dutch physicist who conducted upper atmospheric research in the 1960s. This led to a deep interest in the photochemistry of atmospheric ozone, and he became a world expert on the chemical interactions of trace gases and trace components in the atmosphere. In 1970 he discovered that nitrogen oxides can accelerate ozone destruction. Later, he helped develop a theory for the cause of rapid ozone loss in the Antarctic winter, and eventually was involved in international negotiations concerning the restriction of the use of CFCs. Crutzen was director of research at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, from 1977 through 1980, and in 1980 was appointed director of research at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. In 1995, Crutzen, Mario J. Molina and Sherwood F. Rowland were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for their research on ozone.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Ghana2281f (Mi3375)One of MS6 (2281 (a-f))2001
Grenada Carriacou2418a (Mi3480)One of MS6 (2418 (a-f))2002
Ross DependencyNoneCover1991Crutzen address and signature


Sagan

Sagan, Carl
(1934 - 1996)

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer who studied the planets of the solar system and their atmospheres. Through his study of the atmosphere of Venus, he developed the idea of a runaway 'greenhouse effect' to explain why the Venusian temperatures are so high (though he assumed that the effect was mostly due to water vapour, whereas later studies showed that Venus' atmosphere has little water, and its greenhouse effect is instead due to its dense CO2 atmosphere). Sagan also explained the seasonal changes observed on Mars (due to windblown dust) and the reddish haze of Titan (due to complex organic molecules).

Sagan played an important role in the American space program and was involved with the Mariner, Viking, Voyager and Galileo missions to various planets.

He also worked with other scientists to formulate the idea of a 'nuclear winter'. This was the idea that a nuclear war would create such huge dust clouds that sunlight would be blocked and plant photosynthesis halted. There would also be a drastic drop in temperature. Most of Earth's life would become extinct as a result. Large comets or asteroids striking the Earth could have the same result, and in fact work by Luis Alvarez and his son published in 1989 showed that this almost certainly happened around 65 million years ago and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Central Africa1369 (Mi2597-2599)In (upper-right) margin of MS3 (1369 (a-c))2000
Comoro Islands207 (Mi306A)
i207 (Mi306B)

Imperforate
1976Sagan (in middle)
GrenadaUnknown ss (BL?)In (lower-left) margin of SS12000
Guinea RepublicBL990In (upper-right) margin of SS12006(10th anniv. death)
Guinea RepublicBL1390 stamp (Mi?)On stamp of SS12007(10th anniv. death, in 2006)
Guinea RepublicBL1390 fdcSS1 and cachet on FDC
Guinea RepublicMi5067On one stamp of MS3 (Mi5067-5069_ms3)
Guinea RepublicMi5067-5069_ms3 fdcOn one stamp of MS3 and cachet on FDC
Guinea RepublicUnknown (Mi?)On stamp of SS12008
Guinea RepublicUnknown a (Mi?)From MS6 (a-f)
Guinea RepublicUnknown f (Mi?)
JapanNonePhonecard1989
Mali1035b (Mi?)One of MS4 (1035 (a-d))1999
Palau557p (Mi?)One of MS20 (557 (a-t))2000(5th anniv. death)
St. VincentUnknown ss (BL?)(possible) SS1 essay2000?(5th anniv. death)
United States1281+1557 cover (Mi? cover)Cachet on LAGEOS-1 launch cover1976
United States4143e cover (Mi? cover)(Printed) cachet on cover2007


Scott, W

Scott, Willard
(1934 - present?)

Willard Scott was an American broadcast meteorologist. From 1956 to 1972 he did regular weather reports on AM radio station WRC. In 1980, he became the weatherman for NBC's Today show.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
United States2x3207+3208 fdc (Mi? fdc)Cachet on FDC1998


Theon

Theon, Dr. John S.
(ca 1935? - present?)

John Theon is an American satellite meteorologist. He was project scientist for the Nimbus-5 and Nimbus-6 meteorological satellites, and also for the TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) satellite. He was Chief of the Climate Processes Research Program at NASA from 1982 to 1992.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
United StatesNone(Space Voyage) cachet on Nimbus-6 launch cover1975"John Theon, project scientist"


Shackleton-N

Shackleton, Sir Nicholas
(1937 - 2006)

Nicholas Shackleton was a British geologist and climatologist who specialized in the study of the climates of past ages. He is considered to be one of the founding fathers of this scientific specialty, known as paleoclimatology. He was the great-nephew of the south polar explorer Ernest Shackleton.

Nicholas Shackleton was particularly interested in the causes of changes in climate, and the rates at which those changes could occur. He showed how to calculate the global (mostly northern hemisphere) volume of ice sheets and how it changed through a series of ice ages. With the paleontologist John Imbre, he produced the first global map of sea surface temperatures during the last glacial maximum (around 21,000 years ago). Using deep sea sediment core records, Shackleton, Imbre and James Hayes were able to confirm Milutin Milanković's theory relating long term astronomical changes in the Earth's orbital characteristics to the occurrence of the ice ages. Their results were published in a paper in Science in 1976 (Variations in the Earth's Orbit: Pacemaker of the Ice Ages). Shackleton then used historical orbital cycles to relate sedimentary records to their associated climates. He went on to study the positive feedbacks that amplify orbital forcings into significant changes in climate. He also demonstrated the close relationship between CO2 levels and atmospheric temperature change during the last 400,000 years.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great Britain2756 (Mi?)One of block of 10 (2756a (2727-2756)), or one of booklet pane of 4 (2756b (2747+2751-2752+2756)), from 2756a presentation pack2010
Great Britain2756 maxiMaxicard
Great Britain2756a fdcOne of block of 10 stamps on FDC


Dylan

Dylan, Bob
(1941 - present)

Bob Dylan is an American songwriter and musician who is considered to be one of the giants of modern music. One unusual aspect of his work is how much he has used weather imagery in his songs. According to Alan Robock1, "out of approximately 465 Dylan songs, the word 'sun' is found in 63 different ones, 'wind' in 55, 'rain' in 40, 'sky' in 36, 'cloud' in 23, 'storm' in 14, 'summer' in 12, and 'snow' in 11, with fewer numbers of 'weather', 'hail', 'winter', 'fall', 'spring', 'hurricane', 'lightning', 'thunder', 'wave', 'breeze' and 'flood' ". Dylan's most famous song in this context is probably Blowin' in the Wind. In another song (Subterranean Homesick Blues), meteorologists can't fail to be struck by the line "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows". Dylan's weather references can be lyrical or harsh. As an example of the latter, the chilling words of the song title A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall evoke darkness, injustice and warfare.

1 Robock, Alan, 2005: Tonight as I Stand Inside the Rain: Bob Dylan and Weather Imagery. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 86, (April), 483-487.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Congo (Democratic Republic)Unknown e (Mi?)possibly unofficial MS6 (a-f)2001(60th anniv. birth)
Congo (Democratic Republic)Unknown d (Mi?)possibly unofficial MS9 (a-i)
Gambia1825a (Mi?)On each (identical) stamp and in (right) margin of MS16 (16x 1825)1996(60th anniv. birth)?
Kabardino-Balkaria (Russian Republic)LocalNine different stamps in MS9?
Somali RepublicUnknown (Mi?)In (upper-left) margin of MS22002(60th anniv. birth, in 2001)
Tanzania1414b (Mi?)One of MS9 (1414 (a-i))1995
TatarstanUnknown h (Mi?)One of MS9 (a-i)2001(60th anniv. birth)
TogoUnknown ss (BL?)SS1201170th anniv. birth
TouvaUnknown j (Mi?)One of MS12 (a-l)2000(60th anniv. birth, in 2001)
TouvaUnknown j fdcStamp and cachet on FDC2001(60th anniv. birth, in 2001)
Tuva RepublicLocal?1995?(at right and in text)
UdmurtiaUnknown i (Mi?)One of MS12 (a-l)2001(60th anniv. birth)
United StatesNoneCancel and cachet on cover2003Dylan Days 2003
United StatesNoneCancel and cachet on cover2005Dylan Days 2005
United StatesNoneCancel and cachet on cover2007Dylan Days 2007
United StatesNoneText and cancel (same) on lettersheet2007Dylan Days 2007
United StatesNoneCancel and cachet on cover2008Dylan Days 2008
United StatesNoneCancel and cachet on cover2009Dylan Days 2009
United StatesNoneCancel and cachet on cover2010Dylan Days 2010; (70th anniv. birth, in 2011)


Berger

Berger, André
(1942 - present)

André Berger is a distinguished Belgian climatologist. Since 1989 he has been a professor of meteorology and climatology at the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium. He is the co-founder of the International Polar Foundation.

Berger's research interests are in the areas of paleoclimate, climate modelling, remote sensing, nuclear energy and the envioronment. He extended and updated the work of Milanković on the relationship between long term changes in astronomical parameters and climatic change and the ice ages. He recalculated the expected variations of these parameters over a period of more than a million years and showed how they affect the amount of solar energy received by the Earth and how they can be detected in proxy records of past climate, such as global sea level and ice volume. His research predicts that astronomical orbital effects will keep the Earth out of an Ice Age for another 30,000 years.

In his book Le Climat et La Terre, Berger presents his synthesis of the science of natural and man-made climatic variations.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Belgium2259h (Mi4756)One of MS9 (2259 (a-i))2007
Belgium2259h maxiMaxicard


Ewins

Ewins, Peter David
(1943 - present)

Peter Ewins is a British aeronautical engineer and meteorological administrator. After various occupying various positions in the Royal Aircraft Establishment and the Ministry of Defence, he was appointed in 1997 as the Chief Executive Officer of the UK Meteorological Office. He oversaw the move of the Met Office from Bracknell to Exeter, and retired in 2003 to become chairman of WeatherXchange, a joint venture between the Met Office and the private sector that had been established in 2001 to serve the financial derivatives market. It went bankrupt in 2005.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great BritainNoneSignature on cover199755th anniv. Meteorological Research Flight group, Boscombe Down, England


Molina

Molina, Mario J.
(1943 - present)

Mario Molina is a Mexican-born physicist who shared with F. Sherwood Rowland and Paul J. Crutzen in 1995 the Nobel Prize in physics for their research on ozone. Molina and Rowland together published in 1974 a seminal article in Nature in which they discussed the threat posed to the ozone layer by chlorofluorocarbon gases (CFCs) and by the freons used in aerosol spray cans, refrigeration fluids and plastic foams. This followed the work of Crutzen, who discovered in 1970 that nitrogen oxides can accelerate ozone destruction. Molina continued to conduct research on ozone chemistry and the Antarctic ozone "hole" in the 1980s and 1990s. In particular, he demonstrated that chlorine atoms can combine with ozone to form chlorine oxide and oxygen: this simple equation describes the desctruction of ozone by chlorine.

More recently, Molina has led a team studying the effect of aerosols (and in particular sooty sulphurous coal smoke from China and India) on the storm track over the Pacific. His team has used satellite data to analyze deep Pacific storms following wind-blown bursts of pollution. They determined that the aerosols have a climatologically-significant effect, and found increased storm activity that they ascribe to the aerosols.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Ghana2283c (Mi3386)From MS6 (2283 (a-f))2001
Mexico2060 (Mi2663)1997
Mexico2060 fdcStamp and cancel and cachet on FDC


Page

Page, Robin
(1943 - present?)

Robin Page is a British author and television presenter. He is the author of Weather Forecasting: the Country Way. Published in 1977, it is a popular book of meteorological history, science, legend and folklore. It includes the following subjects:

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great Britain1963-1966 fdc (Mi1924-1927 fdc)Signature on FDC, also insert2001


Fish

Fish, Michael
(1944 - present)

Michael Fish is a well-known British television meteorologist. He joined the Meteorological Office in 1962 and went to work at Gatwick Airport. In 1965, he was transferred to the Met Office headquarters (then at Bracknell) where he worked on research projects. From 1966 to 1968 he was based at the London Weather Centre.

Fish's broadcasting career dates from 1971, when he began forecasting for BBC Radio. In January 1974 he moved to the weather team at BBC Television. He was later involved in training television weather presenters from various African countries. In March 2004 he won the award for Best Weather Presenter at the TRIC (Television and Radio Industries Clubs) Awards. He retired from the BBC in October 2004. Since then he has appeared as the regional weatherman on BBC South East, and has created a free telephone weather service.

Fish has written numerous articles on travel and weather and acted as consultant for several meteorological books, and is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society. In 2007 he co-authored the book Storm Force: Britain's Wildest Weather, in which he, Ian McCaskill and Paul Hudson describe the "most devastating storms and ferocious floods" in Britain's history.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great Britain956-959 fdc (Mi? fdc)Cachet and signature on FDC1981
Great Britain959 fdcCachet and signature on FDC
Great Britain1966a cover (Mi1924-1927 cover)Cachet and signature on cover2002


Hayes

Hayes, Denis
(1944 - present)

Denis Hayes is an American environmental activist. In 1970, when just in his mid-20s, he became the national coordinator of the very first Earth Day. He is now the emeritus chair of the International Earth Day Network. Climate change, threats to the hydrological cycle, acidification of the world's oceans and energy are some of the issues with which Hayes has grappled. He is currently focusing on the politics of the debate on global warming and climate change in the US, and emphasizes that obtaining meaningful climate change legislation will require much more than slogans, green talk and hard science: it will demand intense and determined political action in the face of powerful lobbies. He has pointed out that "the tragedy is that we still have a chance to solve the global warming crisis, but we are blowing it by chasing false hopes in the form of an inadequate cap-and-trade bill." Furthermore, he notes that following decades of denial of climate science, the US now lags far behind Europe and Japan in the tools needed to become carbon-neutral. What should a serious American energy and climate policy look like? As a first step, Hayes advocates the capping of carbon where it enters the economy rather than where it leaves it.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Palau479p (Mi?)One of MS16 (479 (a-p))1999


Bacon, J.

Bacon, Jim
(1940s? - present?)

Jim Bacon is a British meteorological broadcaster. He joined the Met Office in 1968 and took the BSc course in meteorology at Reading University from 1974 to 1978. He was then posted to the London Weather Centre where he joined the BBC forecast team under Jack Scott. Bacon was also the weatherman on 'The Travel Show' on BBC 2 during its early years.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great Britain959 fdc (Mi? fdc)Cachet and signature on FDC1981


Foot

Foot, John Stuart
(1940s? - present?)

John Foot is an English meteorologist who after obtaining his Ph.D. joined the UK Meteorological Office in 1971, where he conducted cloud physics research at Bracknell. In 1979 he was posted to the Meteorological Research Flight group at Boscombe Down where he did atmospheric radiation studies using the Canberra and Hercules research aircraft. In 1988 he was posted to the Remote Sensing Branch of the Met Office as project scientist for the AMSU-B satellite microwave sounding instrument. In 1995 he returned to the Meteorological Research Flight group as its Head of Branch. He later became the head of observational-based research with the Met Office.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great BritainNoneSignature on cover199755th anniv. Meteorological Research Flight group, Boscombe Down, England


Giles

Giles, Bill
(1940s? - present?)

Bill Giles is a well known British television weather broadcaster. He presented the weather on BBC Television for over 25 years. In 1983 he became the senior forecaster and leader of the Met Office broadcast meteorologist team, a position he held until retiring in January 2000. Since then, he has advised clients on questions related to broadcast meteorology.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great Britain959 fdc (Mi? fdc)Cachet and signature on FDC1981
Great Britain1963-1966 fdc1 (Mi1924-1927 fdc1)Cachet and signature on FDC2001
Great Britain1963-1966 fdc2 (Mi1924-1927 fdc2)Signature on FDC


McCaskill

McCaskill, Ian
(1940? - present?)

Ian McCaskill is a British television weather broadcaster. In 1959 he joined the Meteorological Corps of the RAF. As an airman meteorologist he served in Kinloss, Scotland and then in Cyprus. He joined the UK Met Office in 1961 and was posted to various locations until a transfer in 1978 took him to the London Weather Centre, where he became part of the BBC Television forecast team. He remained in that position until his retirement in 1998.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great Britain1963-1966 fdc1 (Mi1924-1927 fdc1)Signature on FDC2001
Great Britain1963-1966 fdc2 (Mi1924-1927 fdc2)Signature on FDC (different)
Great Britain1966a fdc (Mi1924-1927 fdc)Signature on FDC


Schwarzenegger

Schwarzenegger, Arnold
(1947 - present)

Arnold Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-born American actor who was elected governor of California in 2003. As a politician, he became something of an environmental activist, and has been characterized as a Republican who stands up for the environment. He has stated that "The science is in. The facts are there that we have created, man has, a self-inflicted wound through global warming". As governor, he has shown leadership in addressing the issues of global warming and climate change, and has even made them something of a personal crusade.

Under his leadership, California became the first state to limit the emissions of greenhouse gases in 2006 (through the landmark Global Warming Solutions Act (AB-32). With this bill he placed his state at the forefront of the fight against global warming and climate change. Opponents of the bill, however, hope to take advantage of economic difficulties to get elected in California in 2010 and roll the bill back.

Schwarzenegger also signed agreements on climate between California and other states and foreign governments. And his state has, in the California Climate Change Center, one of the few state-funded climate research programs in the US

In 2007, Schwarzenegger praised Tony Blair's environmental leadership as "truly a model for the world" and emphasized that California had modeled its program to curb carbon emissions on the British cap-and-trade model.

Blair in turn lauded Schwarzenegger's "vision and leadership" on the climate issue, referring to California's action of leading a few US states to adopt Kyoto-style targets, despite the overall US rejection of the accord.

At the Copenhagen Climate Conference COP-15, Schwarzenegger referred to the activism of the '60s and suggested that a similar approach to reducing carbon emissions, through a sub-national climate conference, might be more effective than full international conferences. In this he was supported by José Serra, the governor of the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo.

In December 2009, Schwarzenegger announced CalAdapt, a new Google Earth-based tool whose goal is to allow Californians to learn about climate change impacts and adaptation.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
This list is an incomplete sample of the numerous postal items that contain this person.
Austria1961 (Mi?)2004
Austria1961 blackBlackprint
Austria1961 fdcStamp on FDC
ChadUnknown ms (Mi?)MS4 (a-d)2003
FranceNoneMeter1994
Guinea RepublicUnknown a (Mi?)From MS6 (a-f)2007(60th anniv. birth)
Guinea RepublicUnknown f (Mi?)
Guinea RepublicUnknown (Mi?)Stamp from SS1
Guinea RepublicUnknown b (Mi?)One of MS3 (a-c)2008(60th anniv. birth, in 2007)
Guinea RepublicMi7582One of MS6 (Mi7578-7583)2010
MaliUnknown ss (BL?)In (lower-right) margin of SS12011
Sierra LeoneUnknown (Mi?)
Unknown imp

Imperforate
201
Tuvalu1031 (BL1)MS6 (1031 (a-f))2007Name and quotation (in right margin text); (60th anniv. birth)
United StatesNoneCancel and cachet on cover2007Austria 1961 (in cachet)


Gore

Gore, Albert
(1948 - present)

Al Gore was the 45th Vice-president of the US He narrowly missed becoming President in 2000. He has been interested in environmental issues since his university days, and since 2000 has devoted most of his time to environmental activism.

Gore's interest in global warming and other environmental issues was sparked by Roger Revelle, with whom he took a class during his studies at Harvard. Gore won a seat in the US House of Representatives in 1976, where he held the first congressional hearings on climate change and co-sponsored hearings on global warming and toxic waste. In the late 1990s, he strongly advocated that the Kyoto Protocol be ratified, but found no support in the Senate. After losing the 2000 presidential race, Gore became a tireless advocate for the environment and traveled the world warning of the consequences of anthropogenic global warming and climate change. He had a central role in the 2006 film An Inconvenient Truth which outlined the challenges posed by global warming. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film in 2007. Also in 2006 he published his book An Inconvenient Truth: the Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It. At about the same time, he founded the Alliance for Climate Protection, an organization whose aim is to "persuade people of the importance, urgency and feasibility of adopting and implementing effective and comprehensive solutions for the climate crisis."

Gore, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2007.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Guinea-BissauUnknown ms (Mi?)MS4 (a-d)2007(60th anniv. birth, in 2008)
Guinea-BissauBL21A
BL21B
SS1
Imperforate SS1
Gore awarded Nobel Prize; the fight against global warming; (60th anniv. birth, in 2008)
Guinea-BissauBL21A fdc
BL21B fdc
SS1 and cachet on FDCGore awarded Nobel Prize; the fight against global warming; (60th anniv. birth, in 2008)
Guinea RepublicUnknown c (Mi?)One of MS6 (a-f)2007(60th anniv. birth, in 2008)
Guinea RepublicUnknown d (Mi?)
Guinea RepublicUnknown (Mi?)On stamp in SS12007
Guinea RepublicUnknown ss (BL?)SS12007
Guinea RepublicUnknown c (Mi?)One of MS3 (a-c)2008(60th anniv. birth)
Guinea RepublicUnknown (Mi?)On stamp in SS1
Palau479j (Mi?)One of MS16 (479 (a-p))1999
St. Thomas and Prince IslandsMi4042One of MS4 (Mi4039-4042)2009(60th anniv. birth, in 2008)
St. Thomas and Prince IslandsMi4039-4042 ms4 fdcOn one stamp of MS4 on FDC
Tuvalu1030 (BL5)In (left) margin of MS6 (1030 (a-f))2007(60th anniv. birth, in 2008)
United StatesNoneCachet on cover1993Inauguration Day cover


Carlson

Carlson, David
(ca 1950? - present)

David Carlson is an American oceanographer and scientific administrator. He joined UCAR (University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) in 1991, where he led the TOGA-COARE IPO (Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere - Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment International Project Office). TOGA-COARE was carried out over the warm tropical ocean of the western Pacific because of that region's influence on global atmospheric circulation and global climate variability. He was the Director of the Atmospheric Technology Division (ATD) at NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) from 1994 to 2003. The ATD provided advanced observing systems and tools for weather, climate and air quality research throughout the world. In 2004, Carleson worked on upper ocean - lower atmospheric exchange processes with the NCAR's Climate and Global Dynamics Division. In 2005, he became the director of the IPO (the International Polar Year (IPY) Program Office).

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Guinea RepublicUnknown (BL?)In (right) margin of SS12008name (in text); also IPY
Guinea RepublicUnknown ss fdcSS1 on FDC


Davies

Davies, Martyn
(1956 - present)

Martyn Davies is a British television weather broadcaster who joined the ITV network in 1989. He was their chief presenter until early 2009, when he began work as a holiday relief forecaster. Davies was also involved in a series of short films designed to aid the teaching of meteorology.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great Britain1963-1966 fdc (Mi1924-1927 fdc)Signature on FDC2001


Braine

Braine, David
(ca 1960? - present?)

David Braine is an English television meteorologist with the BBC. From 1986 to 1987 he worked as research assistant at Oxford University's Department of Atmospheric Physics, where he studied the ozone hole and global warming. David joined the Meteorological Office in 1995 and became a member o the BBC's team of presenters, initially working for the two BBC satellite channels. He went on to become one of the best known BBC forecasters, appearing on all the main television channels and on BBC Radio. In 1997 he was promoted to Deputy Training Manager and senior broadcast meteorologist. He took over as the Training Manager responsible for the training of BBC Weather Centre staff and of regional broadcasting staff. David first started working for BBC Southwest in 2002 when he became a regular holiday relief presenter.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great Britain1966a fdc (Mi1924-1927 fdc)Signature on FDC, also insert2001


snowflake

Libbrecht, Ken
(1958 - present)

Ken Libbrecht is an American professor of physics at CalTech University. Trained in solar astronomy, he has become an expert in the physics of ice crystals and snowflakes, and is known for his beautiful photographs of snowflakes. He has said that "to capture the characteristics of each crystal, I have developed a special microscope that allows me to add backlighting. The snow crystal functions as a complex lens that reflects light, resulting in beautiful coloring effects." Libbrecht takes pictures of both artificial and natural snowflakes. He is a recipient of the Lennart Nilsson Award, which is given to scientists renowned for their scientific images. He has also published books about snowflakes (The Secret Life of a Snowflake: an Up-Close Look at the Art and Science of Snowflakes; The Little Book of Snowflakes; The Art of the Snowflake: A Photographic Album; Ken Libbrecht's Field Guide to Snowflakes) and maintains a website (http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals) that also celebrates the art and science of snowflakes.

Libbrecht's photographs of snowflakes appeared on a set of stamps issued by the US Postal Service in 2006, and on a set issued by the Swedish Postal Service in 2010.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Sweden2647From MS4 (2647a (4x 2647))2010Snowflake images by Libbrecht
Sweden2648aFrom booklet pane of 5 (2648 (a-e))
Sweden2648b
Sweden2648c
Sweden2648d
Sweden2648e
United States4101 (Mi4181)One of block of 4 (4104a (4101-4104)); or five of sheet of 20 (4104b (5x (4101-4104)))2006Snowflake images by Libbrecht
United States4102 (Mi4182)
United States4103 (Mi4183)
United States4104 (Mi4184)
United States4104 fdcStamp on FDC (also cancel and cachet with other snowflakes)
United States4105 (Mi?)One of block of 4 (4108a (4105-4108)); or five of booklet of 20 (4108b (5x (4105-4108)))
United States4106 (Mi?)
United States4107 (Mi?)
United States4108 (Mi?)
United States4109 (Mi?)One of block of 4 (4112a (4109-4112)); or five of vending booklet of 20 (4112b (5x (4109-4112)))
United States4110 (Mi?)
United States4111 (Mi?)
United States4112 (Mi?)
United States4113 (Mi?)One of block of 4 (4116a (4113-4116)); or either four or five of ATM booklet of 18 (4116b (5x (4113+4114) + 4x (4115+4116)))
United States4114 (Mi?)
United States4115 (Mi?)
United States4116 (Mi?)


Gourdonneau signature

Gourdonneau, Olivier
(ca 1960? - present?)

Olivier Gourdonneau is a French meteorologist who participated with fellow meteorologist Sylvain Le Moal in 1994 in the 31st Crozet mission at the Alfred Faure base on Île de la Possession in the Crozet Archipelago in the southwestern Indian Ocean. Here are some of the weather measurements they recorded for the year 1994:

Gourdonneau and Le Moal were the last meteorologists posted to the Faure base. On 8 December 1994 the manned station program ceased and an automatic weather station began to provide the weather observations. They are sent to a Meteosat weather satellite in geostationary orbit, which then rebroadcasts them to their various destinations.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
French Southern and Antarctic Territories189a cover (Mi311-312 cover)Names and signatures on cover1994Last manned overwintering at the Faure base weather station; also Le Moal


Guinot

Guinot, Benjamin
(ca 1960? - present?)

Benjamin Guinot is a French atmospheric chemist with the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE) in France.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
French Southern and Antarctic TerritoriesNoneCachet and signature on cover2001


Lang

Lang, Isobel
(ca 1960? - present?)

Isobel Lang is a British television weather presenter. She joined the Meteorological Office in September 1991 and worked as a forecaster at the London Weather Centre where her duties included preparing forecasts for the press and presenting the weather on local radio. Isobel also worked as a holiday relief forecaster for Meridian Television in Kent. She joined the BBC Weather Centre team in May 1995 and has been a regular BBC TV forecaster since December of that year. She co-presented the BBC 2 series 'The Essential Guide to Weather' and presented some stories about climate change in the program 'Country File'.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great Britain1963-1966 fdc (Mi1924-1927 fdc)Signature on FDC, also insert, also insert22001


Le Moal signature

Le Moal, Sylvain
(ca 1960? - present?)

Sylvain Le Moal is a French meteorologist who participated with fellow meteorologist Olivier Gourdonneau in 1994 in the 31st Crozet mission at the Alfred Faure base on Île de la Possession in the Crozet Archipelago in the southwestern Indian Ocean. Here are some of the weather measurements they recorded for the year 1994:

Le Moal and Gourdonneau were the last meteorologists posted to the Faure base. On 8 December 1994 the manned station program ceased and an automatic weather station began to provide the weather observations. They are sent to a Meteosat weather satellite in geostationary orbit, which then rebroadcasts them to their various destinations.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
French Southern and Antarctic Territories189a cover (Mi311-312 cover)Names and signatures on cover1994Last manned overwintering at the Faure base weather station; also Gourdonneau


Young

Young, Helen
(ca 1965? - present?)

Helen Young is a British weather broadcaster. She joined the Meteorological Office in 1990 and worked in the Commercial Services Division as a consultant providing climatological data for the building and transport industries. She then moved to the Bristol Weather Centre where she began her broadcasting career as a regional weather presenter for BBC West. Then in 1993 she was transferred to the BBC Weather Centre in London. She became the team's Deputy Manager in 1998, Broadcast Manager in 2000, and Senior Forecaster and Lead Presenter in 2002. She left the BBC in 2005 after 12 years of television weather forecasting.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Great Britain1966a fdc (Mi1924-1927 fdc)Signature on FDC, also insert2001


Knabb

Richard Knabb
(19?? - present)

Dr. Richard Knabb is a tropical meteorologist who has worked as a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. He also served for two years as the Weather Channel's tropical weather expert, and recently (June, 2012) became the director of the National Hurricane Center.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
United StatesNoneCachet on cover2011"Weather Channel Hurricane Expert Dr. Rick Knabb" (in text)


meteorologist

Other
Modern Era
Contributors

The following postal items contain additional names of modern era contributors to meteorology and climatology, for whom the details are limited or unknown. Overall, these items are given in chronological order, thus determining the order for the contributors in the table below.

CountryCatalog NumberType of ItemYear of IssueNotes on Content
Bravo, Pablo (ca 1920? - ?)
ArgentinaNoneSignature and cachet on cover1964Pablo Bravo, meteoroligist-in-charge, Orcadas (Naval) Meteor. Observatory, in 1964
Chambers, M. J. (ca 1930? - ?)
British Antarctic TerritoryNoneSignature on cover1960sM. J. Chambers, base meteorologist at the British Signy Island Base, in the South Orkneys, at some time in the 1960s
Webster, Bruce D. (19?? - present?)
United StatesNoneSignature on cover1973Bruce D. Webster, meteorologist-in-charge at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
Brooks, David (19?? - present?)
Bahamas732-735 fdc (Mi? fdc)(Cyan rubber-stamp and autograph) cachets on FDC1991David Brooks, a weather forecaster in the Bahamas
Brault, Robert (ca 1960? - present?)
United StatesNoneSignature on cover1992Robert Brault, meteorologist at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole station in the early 1990s
González, E. (ca 1960? - present?)
French Southern and Antarctic Territories224 cover (Mi359 cover)Name in cachet on cover1997B. González, part of the meteorological team at the Dumont d'Urville base in 1997
Lambert, M. (ca 1960? - present?)
French Southern and Antarctic Territories224 cover (Mi359 cover)Name in cachet on cover1997M. Lambert, part of the meteorological team at the Dumont d'Urville base in 1997
Tanguy, C. (ca 1960? - present?)
French Southern and Antarctic Territories224 cover (Mi359 cover)Name in cachet on cover1997C. Tanguy, part of the meteorological team at the Dumont d'Urville base in 1997
Jinghe, Zhou (19?? - present?)
China (People's Republic)NonePostal card2006Zhou Jinghe, Chief, Yiyang Weather Bureau (in text below the lower-left photograph)
Tao, Wu (19?? - present?)
China (People's Republic)NoneAddress on postal card2007Wu Tao, Chief Administrative Officer, Jiangxi Province Weather Bureau


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