Neil B. Ward
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Neil B. Ward
OR:
Neil B. Ward on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Neil Burgher Ward (June 26, 1914 – April 12, 1972) was an American meteorologist who is credited as the first scientific storm chaser, developing ideas of
thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...
and
tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
structure and evolution as well as techniques for forecasting and severe weather intercept. He also was a pioneering developer of
physical model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...
s of tornadoes, first at his home, then at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in
Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, Oklahoma, Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma C ...
. He significantly furthered the modern scientific understanding of atmospheric vortices, particularly tornadoes.


Biography

Ward first studied
mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
at the
University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...
(OU). In 1939, he began working for the Weather Bureau as a weather observer, eventually becoming a forecaster. Earning two scholarships, he attended graduate school at
Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
, the University of Oklahoma, and
Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...
(CSU), beginning in late 1956. He studied
fluid mechanics Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids ( liquids, gases, and plasmas) and the forces on them. It has applications in a wide range of disciplines, including mechanical, aerospace, civil, chemical and bio ...
and developed an increasing interest in atmospheric
vortices In fluid dynamics, a vortex ( : vortices or vortexes) is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools in th ...
by the early 1950s. Neil was a research scientist at NSSL from the first year of its operation in 1964 until his death in 1972. He began actively pursuing storms on the road in 1961, coordinating with radar information via the
Oklahoma Highway Patrol The Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) is a major state law enforcement agency of the government of Oklahoma. A division of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, the OHP has traffic enforcement jurisdiction throughout the state. OHP was legislat ...
radio.


See also

*
Ted Fujita was a Japanese-American meteorologist whose research primarily focused on severe weather. His research at the University of Chicago on severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and typhoons revolutionized the knowledge of each. Although he is ...
*
David K. Hoadley David K. Hoadley (born 1938) is an American pioneer of storm chasing and the first widely recognized storm chaser, as well as the founder and former editor of ''Storm Track'' magazine. He is also a sketch artist and photographer. Biography Hoadl ...


References

* * 1914 births 1972 deaths People from Purcell, Oklahoma University of Oklahoma alumni Texas A&M University alumni American meteorologists Storm chasers {{climate-bio-stub