EAPS

Title: Inventing Atmospheric Science: Gordian Knots and the Quest for Prevision

Abstract: Atmospheric researchers have long attempted to untie the Gordian Knot of meteorology—that intractable and intertwined tangle of observational imprecision, theoretical uncertainties, and non-linear influences—that, if unraveled, would provide perfect prevision of the weather for ten days, of seasonal conditions for next year, and of climatic conditions for a decade, a century, a millennium, or longer. This presentation, based on Inventing Atmospheric Science (The M.I.T. Press, 2016), examines the work of three interconnected generations of scientists and the influence of three families of transformative technologies in the first six decades of the twentieth century, from the dawn of applied fluid dynamics to the emergence, by 1960, of the interdisciplinary atmospheric sciences.

About the speaker: Jim Fleming is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Science, Technology, and Society at Colby College, Maine. He earned a B.S. in astronomy from Pennsylvania State University, an M.S. in atmospheric science from Colorado State University,​
and a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University. He has written extensively on the history of weather, climate, technology, and the environment including social, cultural, and intellectual aspects. His books include Meteorology in America (Johns Hopkins, 1990), Historical Perspectives on Climate Change (Oxford, 1998), The Callendar Effect (AMS, 2007), Fixing the Sky (Columbia, 2010), and Inventing Atmospheric Science (MIT, 2016). He is series editor of Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology, a research associate of the Smithsonian Institution, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a fellow of the American Meteorological Society.

Jim is a resident of China, Maine (not Mainland China!) He enjoys fishing, good jazz, good BBQ, seeing students flourish, and building the community of historians of science and technology. "Everything is unprecedented if you don't study history."

Profile: http://www.colby.edu/directory/profile/jfleming/