Charles Henry Brian (Bill) Priestley, FRS (8 July 1915 – 18 May 1998) was a British meteorologist who was born in London, UK

Education

He was born in London and educated at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

, where he graduated with first class honors in Applied Mathematics in 1937 and in Economics a year later.

Career

He joined the British

Meteorological Office The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope ...

in 1939 and was asked to study turbulent diffusion in the atmospheric boundary layer (the first few hundred meters of the atmosphere above the earth's surface). In 1943 he was transferred to the upper-air unit and helped prepare the D-Day weather forecast. After the war, he was recommended for a new position as head of a research group at CSIRO in Australia to carry out atmospheric research. He moved with his wife to Melbourne in 1946 as Officer-in-Charge of the Meteorological Physics Section. There, over some 30 years, the team studies included atmospheric turbulence, geophysical fluid dynamics, and atmospheric chemistry. He retired from the position in 1972 to become Chairman of CSIRO's Environmental Physics Research Laboratories from 1973 to 1977 and then part-time Professor of Mathematics at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...

. He retired completely in the late 1980s and died in 1998.

Honors and awards

*1937 Mayhew Prize from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

*1949 Awarded Buchan Prize of the

Royal Meteorological Society The Royal Meteorological Society is a long-established institution that promotes academic and public engagement in weather and climate science. Fellows of the Society must possess relevant qualifications, but Associate Fellows can be lay enthus ...

*1953 D.Sc. Cambridge University *1955 Elected Fellow of the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soc ...

*1956 Awarded David Syme Research Prize from

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

*1966 Elected

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

*1967 Awarded Symons Gold Medal of the Royal Meteorological Society *1973 IMO Prize from the

World Meteorological Organisation The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics. The WMO originated from the Internat ...

*1974 Rossby Research Medal from the

American Meteorological Society The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is the premier scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic sciences. Its mission is to advance th ...

*1976

Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture The Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture of the Australian Academy of Science is awarded biennially to recognise exceptional research by Australian scientists in the physical sciences. Nominations can only be made by Academy Fellows. Recipients Sourc ...

of the

*1976

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gov ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Priestley, Charles Henry Brian 1915 births 1998 deaths Scientists from London Alumni of the University of Cambridge British meteorologists Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal recipients Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Fellows of the Royal Society Officers of the Order of Australia 20th-century British scientists