Helmut Landsberg
Helmut Erich Landsberg | |
---|---|
Born | February 9, 1906 Frankfurt, Germany |
Died | December 6, 1985 Geneva, Switzerland | (aged 79)
Citizenship | United States |
Alma mater | University of Frankfurt |
Known for | Climatology |
Awards | William Bowie Medal (1978) National Medal of Science (1983) |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | University of Frankfurt Pennsylvania State University NOAA University of Maryland |
Doctoral advisor | Beno Gutenberg |
Helmut Erich Landsberg (1906–1985) was a noted and influential
Origins and education
Landsberg was an only child of a Jewish couple. His father, Georg Landsberg, was a physician and his mother, Clare Zedner Landsberg was a housewife. He attended the city’s Woehler Realgymnasium High School, and then went on to study at the University of Frankfurt, physics, mathematics, and geosciences. After further studies at Frankfurt’s Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics, he received his PhD in 1930 from the University of Frankfurt,[1] where Beno Gutenberg was his advisor. Gutenberg was a pupil of the founder of modern seismology Emil Johann Wiechert. Beno and Hertha Gutenberg later sponsored Landsberg's emigration to the U.S., during the rise of the Nazi regime.[2]
Career
He served as a supervisor of the Taunus Observatory of Geophysics and Meteorology at that university before moving to the United States in 1934 to teach geophysics and meteorology at the Pennsylvania State University.[1][3][4] While there, he offered a graduate seminar on bioclimatic problems, the first such graduate course to be taught in the United States.
He was subsequently appointed to the faculties of the University of Chicago (1941-1943) and the University of Maryland (1967-1976), with which he continued to work until his death.[1] At Maryland, he served as first Director of the Graduate program in Meteorology (later named the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science), and of the Institute for Fluid Dynamics and Applied Mathematics.
Landsberg was skeptical of the risks of man-made
In addition to his work in the field of education, Landsberg was active in public service. During World War II, he headed a project for the United States Air Force that provided information on climate and weather statistics in areas undergoing military missions.[1] The U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff officially commended him for this service. Landsberg became the acting director of the Joint Research and Development Board's Committee on Geophysical Sciences (1946) and then the director (1949).[1] In 1949, Landsberg was appointed to the Air Pollution Committee of U.S. President Harry S. Truman, where he helped to shape U.S. air pollution regulations.
Landsberg's other work included administrative service and editing. For 15 volumes from 1964, Landsberg was the editor in chief of the journal World Study of Climatology. He served at the Cambridge Research Center as Director of the Geophysics Directorate (1951-1954) and at the
He was a fellow, an honorary member, and Certified Consulting Meteorologist of the American Meteorological Society. He was president of the American Geophysical Union from 1968 to 1970. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1966. Wilfried Schröder has published memorial note on Helmut Landsberg in " Meteorologische Rundschau," 1985.
Publications
Landsberg's early publications dealt with
Honors
Landsberg received a number of honors and recognitions throughout his career. Among his notable honors were the International Meteorological Organization Prize (1979), the William Bowie Medal of the American Geophysical Union (1978), the Outstanding Achievement in Bioclimatology Award (1983) and the Cleveland Abbey Award (1983) of the American Meteorological Society, and the National Medal of Science (1985), presented to him by US President Ronald Reagan.
In recognition of his achievements, his name is associated with several awards bestowed on others. In 1986, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration created the "Helmut E. Landsberg" award in his honor as "one of the preeminent climatologists of our time"; the award is granted to "all observer who have completed 60 years of service as cooperative observers."[9] In 2006, The American Meteorological Society created a "Helmut E. Landsberg Award" to recognize outstanding contributions in urban meteorology, climatology, or hydrology.[10]
Bibliography
- Physical Climatology, first written in 1941. ASIN B000O19HKO
- Urban Climate, last published in 1981. ISBN 0-12-435960-4 [11]
- Weather and Health: An Introduction to Biometeorology, last published in 1969.[12]
- Weather, Climate and Human Settlements, last published in 1976.[12]
References
- ^ a b c d e "Collection: Helmut Landsberg papers | Archival Collections". archives.lib.umd.edu. Retrieved 2020-09-10.
- ^ Gutenberg, Hertha (1981). "Interview with Hertha Gutenberg". resolver.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
- ^ Penn State Meteorology and Atmospheric Science: Our History Archived 2006-02-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Helmut Erich Landsberg Archived 2004-01-20 at the Wayback Machine The Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science. University of Maryland. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
- ^ Henderson, Gabriel (2014). "The Dilemma of Reticence: Helmut Landsberg, Stephen Schneider, and public communication of climate risk, 1971-1976" (PDF). History of Meteorology. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-11-12. Retrieved 2015-04-20.
- S2CID 32538619.
- ^ Staff (April 1967). "New Director of Environmental Data Service" (PDF). ESSA World. Environmental Satellite Services Administration: 26.
- ^ Microsoft Word - weather_and_humans.doc Archived 2006-09-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ NOAA History - NOAA Legacy/NWS/Cooperative Weather Observers
- ^ "American Meteorological Society, award descriptions". Archived from the original on 2017-03-07. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
- ^ Powell's Books - Urban Climate by Helmut Landsberg
- ^ a b "Helmut Erich, Landsberg, books on Helmut Erich, Landsberg". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2006-05-28.