Richard Segar Scorer (30 August 1919 – 21 May 2011) was a British meteorologist. He was a contributor to the theory on

mountain waves In meteorology, lee waves are atmospheric stationary waves. The most common form is mountain waves, which are atmospheric internal gravity waves. These were discovered in 1933 by two German glider pilots, Hans Deutschmann and Wolf Hirth, above ...

. Scorer also worked on the

cloud physics Cloud physics is the study of the physical processes that lead to the formation, growth and precipitation of atmospheric clouds. These aerosols are found in the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere, which collectively make up the greatest p ...

and his exchanges with the American meteorologist

Joanne Simpson Joanne Simpson (formerly Joanne Malkus, born Joanne Gerould; March 23, 1923 – March 4, 2010) was the first woman in the United States to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, which she received in 1949 from the University of Chicago.Atlas D and Lemone ...

helped to better understand the formation of cumulus clouds.

Biography

Richard Scorer was born in Lincoln, England, in 1919. His father was a senior partner in a firm of solicitors, and later clerk to

Lindsey County Council Lindsey County Council was the county council of Parts of Lindsey in the east of England. It came into its powers on 1 April 1889 and was abolished on 1 April 1974. The county council was initially based at the County Hall, Lincoln Castle and then ...

. His mother was a lecturer at Bishop Grosseteste College, a teacher training college. A brother was architect

Sam Scorer Hugh Segar "Sam" Scorer FRIBA FRSA (2 March 1923 – 6 March 2003) was an English architect who worked in Lincoln, England and was a leading pioneer in the development of hyperbolic paraboloid roof structures using concrete. He also was involved ...

, and like him went to

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, independent, day and boarding school in the English public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school whi ...

. From his youth, he showed great aptitude for mathematics and won a scholarship to 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 ...

where he did his undergraduate studies. In 1941, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he joined the UK Met Office as a junior forecaster, first for RAF Bomber Command and the Supply Command then he was transferred to

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

to do

weather forecasting Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th cent ...

for North Africa. He was commissioned as a flying officer in January 1943.

Research

Scorer returned to Cambridge after the war to complete his Master and Doctoral studies with G. I. Taylor and

George Batchelor George Keith Batchelor FRS (8 March 1920 – 30 March 2000) was an Australian applied mathematician and fluid dynamicist. He was for many years a Professor of Applied Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, and was founding head of the ...

. He then joined the meteorology department 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 ...

where he worked with his friend and colleague Frank Ludlam. In 1949, he published an article titled "Theory of Waves in the Lee of Mountains" where he developed the mathematics of this air flow, in particular trapped waves that produce stable oscillations. From this paper was extracted the 'Scorer parameter' for the atmospheric gravity waves over a mountain barrier: where N = N(z) is the

Brunt–Väisälä frequency In atmospheric dynamics, oceanography, asteroseismology and geophysics, the Brunt–Väisälä frequency, or buoyancy frequency, is a measure of the stability of a fluid to vertical displacements such as those caused by convection. More precisely ...

and U = U(z) is the vertical profile of the horizontal wind, both quantities are determined from an atmospheric sounding upstream of the barrier. When ''l²(z)'' is nearly constant with height, conditions are favourable for vertically propagating mountain waves. When ''l²(z)'' decreases strongly with height, the waves are trapped in the layer around the mountain top and below. Scorer also wrote articles with Frank Ludlam on the cumulus lifecycle. Their views were in conflict with those of the American

which led to an exchange of letters and a meeting in 1954 for a significant advancement of knowledge in this field. Scorer went afterward to the Department of Mathematics where he became professor of theoretical mechanics in 1962, and played an important role in the growth of the group on applied mathematics. Richard Scorer established the Research Group on air pollution at Imperial College, the first in the UK to be devoted exclusively to this field of study. He was chosen on the National Council for the quality of the air and played an important role in the drafting of the British ''Clean Air Act''. He was also an adviser to the environmental impact survey of

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

Politics

In the general elections of

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

and

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

, Scorer was the Labour Party candidate for the constituency of Esher but was defeated each time. He was an

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...

of the

London Borough of Merton The London Borough of Merton () is a borough in Southwest London, England. The borough was formed under the London Government Act 1963 in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton ...

from 1970 to 1977 and was elected a trustee of

Wimbledon Common Wimbledon Common is a large open space in Wimbledon, southwest London. There are three named areas: Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common, which together are managed under the name Wimbledon and Putney Commons totalling 4 ...

for four years. In addition to being the author of 16 books, he was a photographer, a cyclist, a marathon runner, a mountaineer, a bird watcher, a carpenter and talented luthier.

Private life

Richard Scorer married Joan, whom he had met in Cambridge and they had three daughters: Beatrice, Margaret and Valerie. Joan died of cancer in 1964 and he remarried later with Margaret, with whom he had two sons, Jason and

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

, and a daughter, Josephine. Scorer and his wife were also foster parents for two children during the 1970s. There is a wooden memorial bench dedicated to Richard Segar Scorer on the New Precipice Walk above Penmaenpool in North Wales. It provides a spectacular view across the Mawddach Estuary to the mountain Cadair Idris. The inscription describes his love of watching the clouds form over the mountain and also carries a quotation from 'The Cloud' by Shelley.

Notoriety

Richard Scorer was elected to the Royal Meteorological Society in December 1949 and was president from 1986 to 1988. He became Honorary Fellow of the Society in 1992, the highest form of recognition for an outstanding contribution to the Society and meteorology.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scorer, Richard S. 1919 births 2011 deaths Military personnel from Lincoln, England Alumni of the University of Cambridge Academics of Imperial College London English meteorologists Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates People educated at Repton School People from Lincoln, England UK Met Office staff and researchers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force officers