Sir Basil John Mason (18 August 1923 – 6 January 2015) was an expert on

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 former Director-General of the

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 ...

from 1965 to 1983 and Chancellor of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) from 1994 to 1996.

Education and early life

Mason was born in

Docking, Norfolk Docking is a village and ancient civil parish in the north-west of the English county of Norfolk. It is near the North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest. Topography Parish The parish covers an area of (one of the larger ones in ...

. and educated at

Fakenham Fakenham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, about north west of Norwich. The town is the junction of several local roads, including the A148 from King's Lynn to Cromer, the A1067 to Norw ...

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

and University College, Nottingham. He served in the Radar branch of the RAF during the Second World War as a Flight-lieutenant. After being awarded a first class degree in physics by the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

he was in 1948 appointed lecturer in the postgraduate Department of Meteorology at Imperial College, London. He married Doreen Jones, with whom he had two sons.

Career

He worked at Imperial College from 1948 to 1965, being appointed Professor of Cloud Physics in 1961. His work concerned the physical processes involved in the formation of clouds and the release of rain, snow or hail and led to the Mason Equation, which defines the growth or evaporation of small water droplets. In the 1960s, he helped to modernise the

World Meteorological Organization 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 Intern ...

From 1965 to 1983 he was Director of the UK

at Bracknell where he also developed theories to explain how electric charge is separated in thunderclouds, ultimately leading to lightning. Mason was elected a Fellow at Imperial College in 1974. His doctoral students included John Latham. John Mason died in 2015. After his death, the Sir John Mason Academic Trust, was established by his family and is chaired by his son, Professor Nigel Mason OBE, currently Head of the School of Physical Sciences at the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

Awards and honours

In 1965 he was awarded the Chree Medal and in 1974 the Glazebrook Medal from the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physic ...

and was President of the

Institute An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations ( research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

from 1976 to 1978. From 1968 to 1970 he was President 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 ...

of which he was an honorary member, and from whom he received the Symons Gold Medal in 1975. In 1974 he was invited to deliver the MacMillan Memorial Lecture to the

Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland The Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland (IESIS) is a multi-disciplinary professional body and learned society, founded in Scotland, for professional engineers in all disciplines and for those associated with or taking an interes ...

, choosing the subject "Recent Developments in Weather Forecasting". Mason was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1965 and in 1972 received their Rumford Medal. He was Treasurer of the Society from 1976 to 1986, gave their 1990

Rutherford Memorial Lecture The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physica ...

in Canada and in 1991 received their Royal Medal. In 1991 Mason also received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University. He was a fellow of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Unive ...

from 1993. In 1973, he was made a companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

and in 1979 was knighted for his services to meteorology. He was Chancellor of the

University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research. On 1 Oct ...

from 1965 to 1996, when he was succeeded by Sir Roland Smith. In 1998 he received an honorary

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

degree from the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

. The National Portrait Gallery contains a portrait of Mason. In 2004, Mason opened the Mason Centre for Environmental Flows at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

. In 2006, an endowment from Mason enabled the Royal Meteorological Society to establish the Mason Gold Medal. Mason was also Chairman of the British

Physics Olympiad The International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) is an annual physics competition for high school students. It is one of the International Science Olympiads. The first IPhO was held in Warsaw, Poland in 1967. Each national delegation is made up of at ...

Committee.

Bibliography

* ''The Physics of Clouds'' (1957) * ''Clouds, Rain and Rainmaking'' (1962); 2nd edition 1976 * ''The Surface Waters Acidification Programme'' (editor, 1990) * ''Acid Rain: Its Causes and its Effects on Inland Waters'' (1992)
''Highlights in Environmental Research – Professorial Inaugural Lectures at Imperial College''
(editor, 2000). * B.J. Mason (1957) ''The Physics of Clouds'' Oxford University Press

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, John 1923 births 2015 deaths People from Docking, Norfolk Alumni of the University of London Academics of Imperial College London British meteorologists Fellows of the Royal Society Presidents of the British Science Association Presidents of the Institute of Physics Presidents of the Royal Meteorological Society Royal Medal winners Knights Bachelor Presidents of the Association for Science Education Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force officers