James Murdoch Austin
1915 births | 2000 deaths | 20th century mathematicians | american mathematicians | american meteorologists | chaos theorists | massachusetts institute of technology alumni | massachusetts institute of technology faculty | people from concord, massachusetts | people from new zealand
James Murdoch Austin, (1915-2000) was notable for his pioneering modeling of the meteorology of air pollution, especially that of smokestack particulates. He is also notable as the doctoral advisor of the pioneer of chaos theory, Edward Norton Lorenz.
Early Life and Education
Austin was born in Dunedin, New Zealand. He graduated from Otago University in 1935 and obtained a master's degree in mathematics from the University of New Zealand in 1936 and the ScD in meteorology from MIT in 1941. Under Sverre Petterssen, the thesis he produced was entitled Fronts and Frontogenesis in Relation to Vorticity.Personal Life
He was married for 59 years to Dr. Pauline Morrow Austin, who for years directed the MIT Weather Radar project. Their two daughters are Doris A. Price of Annapolis, MD and Carol T. West of Gainesville, FL.Career
He was a professor of meteorology at MIT from 1941-83. He was also the first director of MIT's Summer Session, holding that position from 1956-83.As a forecaster during World War II, he served as a consultant to the US Army Air Force weather service in Europe. His forecasting work was a factor in the decisions on the final bombardment of Cherbourg, France and the D-Day landing of airborne troops, as well as the movement of advance mobile weather stations across northern France. In 1946, President Harry S. Truman awarded him the Medal of Freedom for his civilian wartime service.
He consulted for major power companies in the nation's first efforts to control pollution from energy-generating plants. He also brought meteorology into homes in eastern Massachusetts. On June 9, 1948, he launched a nightly weather forecast on WBZ-TV, the first television program broadcast live from Boston.
Austin was a former secretary of the American Meteorological Society and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Death
As a resident of Concord, Massachusetts, he died on November 26 aged 85.Books by Austin
- Bernhard Haurwitz and James M. Austin, Climatology, New York, London, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1944.
External Links
Category: 1915 births Category: 2000 deaths Category: 20th century mathematicians Category: American meteorologists Category: American mathematicians Category: Chaos theorists Category: Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Category: Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty Category: People from Concord, Massachusetts Category: People from New Zealand
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