William Jackson Humphreys

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William Jackson Humphreys
Born(1862-02-03)February 3, 1862
Gap Mills, Virginia
DiedNovember 10, 1949(1949-11-10) (aged 87)
Washington, D.C.
AwardsHoward N. Potts Medal (1916)
Scientific career
Doctoral advisorHenry Augustus Rowland

William Jackson Humphreys (February 3, 1862 – November 10, 1949) was an American physicist and atmospheric researcher.

Biography[edit]

Humphreys was born on February 3, 1862, in Gap Mills, Virginia, to Jackson and Eliza Ann (née Eads) Humphreys.[1] He studied physics at Washington & Lee University in Virginia and later at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1897, studying under Henry Augustus Rowland.[2]

He worked in the fields of spectroscopy, atmospheric physics and meteorology. In the field of spectroscopy he found the shift of spectral lines under pressure. In atmospheric physics he found a very good model for the stratosphere in 1909. He wrote numerous books, including a textbook titled Physics of the Air, first published in 1920 and considered a standard work of the time,[2] though it was last published in 1940.[citation needed] He also held some teaching positions at universities. He concluded that the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora was responsible for the subsequent cooling known as the Year Without a Summer.[3]

From 1905 to 1935 he worked as a physicist for the U.S. Weather Bureau, predecessor of the National Weather Service.[2] In 1919, he served as president of the Philosophical Society of Washington.[4] He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1921.[5] In 1924 he was an Invited Speaker of the ICM in Toronto.[6] He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1929.[7]

He died on November 10, 1949, in Washington, D.C.

Humphreys at the Fourth Conference International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research at Mount Wilson Observatory, 1910

Bibliography[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Hockey, Thomas (2009). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c "NOAA History - Profiles in Time/NWS Biographies". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
  3. ^ "The year without a summer".
  4. ^ Humphreys, W. J. (1930). "The Philosophical Society of Washington through a thousand meetings". Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 20 (13): 245–316. ISSN 0043-0439. JSTOR 24523672.
  5. ^ "William Jackson Humphreys". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 2023-02-09. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  6. ^ Humphreys, W. J. "The effect of surface drag on surface winds". In: Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto, August 11–16. 1924. Vol. 2. pp. 297–304.
  7. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
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