John Patterson (January 3, 1872 – February 22, 1956) was a Canadian physicist and meteorologist. Born on a farm in

Oxford County, Ontario Oxford County is a regional municipality in the Canadian province of Ontario. Highway 401 runs east–west through the centre of the county, creating an urban industrial corridor with more than half the county's population, spanning 25 km be ...

, he was one of thirteen children of Francis Patterson and Annie (Telfer). He matriculated to the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

, graduating in 1900 with a B.A. in engineering, and was awarded a '' 1851 Exhibition Science Research Scholarship'' to study physics for his M.A. at the Cavendish Laboratory,

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 ...

. There he performed studies of thin metallic films and their electrical properties,

ionization Ionization, or Ionisation is the process by which an atom or a molecule acquires a negative or positive charge by gaining or losing electrons, often in conjunction with other chemical changes. The resulting electrically charged atom or molecul ...

of the air, and the variation of

electrical resistance The electrical resistance of an object is a measure of its opposition to the flow of electric current. Its reciprocal quantity is , measuring the ease with which an electric current passes. Electrical resistance shares some conceptual paralle ...

of metals when exposed to magnetic fields. Patterson traveled to India in 1903 where he served as professor of physics at the

University of Allahabad , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...

, until in January 1905 he was named imperial meteorologist to the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

Simla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, th ...

. On January 1, 1906, he was married to Margaret Norris, a medical practitioner and professor of obstetrics working in India. The couple had two children, one of whom died in India. With John suffering from ill health, the couple left for Toronto with their son Arthur in 1910. He became a physicist for the Canadian Meteorological Service, where he was responsible for organizing a pilot program for performing upper air observations using balloons. In 1912 he was placed in charge of the newly formed department of physics at the Central Office in Toronto. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he worked for the British Admiralty to perform an experiment in extracting helium from

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

. Following the war, he was involved in designing a new

barometer A barometer is a scientific instrument that is used to measure air pressure in a certain environment. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather. Many measurements of air pressure are used within surface weather analysis ...

and was responsible for developing the 3-cup

anemometer In meteorology, an anemometer () is a device that measures wind speed and direction. It is a common instrument used in weather stations. The earliest known description of an anemometer was by Italian architect and author Leon Battista Alberti ...

now in widespread use. In 1925 he became assistant director of the Meteorological service, then in 1929 he was named director (controller), succeeding the retiring Sir Frederic Stupart. Patterson held this post until his retirement in 1946. He was elected to serve as president of 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 ...

during 1930–31 and president of the

Royal Canadian Institute The Royal Canadian Institute for Science (RCIScience), known also as the Royal Canadian Institute, is a Canadian nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting the public with Canadian science. History The organization was formed in Toronto as t ...

in 1932–33. In 1954, the Patterson Distinguished Service Medal was created in his honnor and attributed to him..

Bibliography

* ''A meteorological trip to the Arctic Circle'' (1915) * ''Upper air investigation in Canada: observations by registering balloons'' (1915) * ''Pilot-balloon work in Canada'' (1920) * ''The cup anemometer'' (1926) * ''Airship meteorology'' (1931) * ''Canada's program for the International Polar Year 1932-33'' (1932) * ''The development of meteorological science'' (1933) * ''Meteorological services for Trans-Canada Airways'' (1939) * ''Weather services for Canada's airways'' (1939) * ''A century of Canadian meteorology'' (1940) * ''Sir Frederic Stupart'' (1941) * ''Meteorology related to the science of aviation'' (1944) * ''Meteorology in peace and war'' (1949) * ''Meteorology'' (1949)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, John 1872 births 1956 deaths People from Oxford County, Ontario Canadian meteorologists University of Toronto alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada