Eric Thomas Eady (5 September 1915 – 26 March 1966) was a British

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

researcher and author of the Eady Model of

baroclinic instability In fluid dynamics, the baroclinity (often called baroclinicity) of a stratified fluid is a measure of how misaligned the gradient of pressure is from the gradient of density in a fluid. In meteorology a baroclinic flow is one in which the densi ...

, modelling baroclinic generation of weather systems. Eady was born in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

and attended

Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College West London College, legally known as the Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College is a large further and higher education college in West London, England, formed in 2002 by the merger between Ealing Tertiary College and Hammersmith and West ...

. He earned a scholarship to

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

, where he received a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in mathematics in 1935. In 1937 he became a

weather forecaster A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

in the UK Meteorological Office. In 1946, he resigned from the office to started a PhD in mathematics at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

. His 1948 thesis was titled ''The theory of development in dynamical meteorology'', which was an early work on

atmospheric instability Atmospheric instability is a condition where the Earth's atmosphere is generally considered to be unstable and as a result the weather is subjected to a high degree of variability through distance and time. Atmospheric stability is a measure of th ...

and the development of weather systems. Eady widened his interests to include

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

in his later career. In his later years, he became depressed by his career and isolated himself from his social circle. In 1966, he died at

Royal Surrey County Hospital The Royal Surrey County Hospital (RSCH) is a 520-bed District General Hospital, located on the fringe of Guildford, run by the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital has its origins in a facility at Farnham Road which opened ...

, age 50, after an overdose of sleeping pills.

References

1915 births 1966 suicides People from Ealing People educated at Ealing County Grammar School for Boys Alumni of Imperial College London Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Scientists from London British meteorologists Drug-related suicides in England {{UK-scientist-stub