Henry Ambrose Hunt
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Henry Ambrose Hunt (7 February 1866 – 7 February 1946) was a British
meteorologist 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 ...
noted for his contribution to meteorology in his adopted home of
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. He was Director of the
Australian Bureau of Meteorology Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...
between 1908 and 1931.


Early life

Hunt was born in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
to Edwin Hunt, a marine engineer, and his wife Annie (née Padley). As a child, he spent three years in
St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
with his father who was managing the Baltic Ironworks and designing battleship engines for the Russian Czar. On his return to England he won a scholarship in mathematics to
Dartford Grammar School Dartford Grammar School is a selective secondary (ages 11–19) foundation school for boys in Dartford, Kent, England, which admits girls to its sixth form (ages 16–18). All of the students joining the school are considered to be from the top ...
in Kent. In March 1884 his family emigrated to
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.


Career

Hunt began working with the government astronomer
Henry Chamberlain Russell Henry Chamberlain Russell (17 March 1836 – 22 February 1907) was an Australian astronomer and meteorologist. Early life Russell was born at West Maitland, New South Wales, the fourth son of the Hon. Bourn Russell and his wife Jane, ''née'' ...
at the Observatory, becoming a meteorological assistant in January 1886, and promoted to second meteorological assistant in 1890. In this role he was responsible for the daily weather report, and also worked with Russell's project studying anti-cyclones in the Southern Hemisphere. In 1894 his work was recognised with the
Ralph Abercromby Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant General Sir Ralph Abercromby (7 October 173428 March 1801) was a British people, British soldier and politician. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-general in the British Army, was appointed Gov ...
prize for "An Essay on Southerly Bursters", and also the next year with "Types of Australian Weather", a wide-ranging survey on meteorology in Australia. He was appointed head meteorologist in 1904, and immediately sent on a world tour to survey the most modern meteorological techniques. In late 1906, Hunt, by now a fellow 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 ...
, was appointed inaugural head of the nascent
Commonwealth Meteorological Bureau A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
in
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, the agency responsible for developing and unifying Australian meteorological services to satisfy the developing needs of industry. On 20–23 May 1907 Hunt convened a conference in Melbourne intended to standardise meteorological practices throughout Australia. As a result of his efforts, a unified national service was created, and began operating on 1 January 1908. As head meteorologist, his expert advice was also consulted on the climate of the proposed new seat of government at
Yass-Canberra The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding township#Aust ...
. Initially, Hunt's main area of research was
synoptic meteorology The synoptic scale in meteorology (also known as large scale or cyclonic scale) is a horizontal length scale of the order of 1000 kilometers (about 620 miles) or more. This corresponds to a horizontal scale typical of mid-latitude depressions (e. ...
, but in 1913 he co-authored (with
Griffith Taylor Thomas Griffith "Grif" Taylor (1 December 1880 – 5 November 1963) was an English-born geographer, anthropologist and world explorer. He was a survivor of Captain Robert Scott's Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica (1910–1913). Taylor was a se ...
and E.T. Quayle) a textbook, ''The Climate and Weather of Australia'', the first of its kind in Australia. He developed a number of new meteorological theories, collected in a 1929 book ''A basis for seasonal forecasting in Australia''. In this book he proposed a four-year weather cycle, according to which non-meteorological factors such as vegetation were causally linked to weather patterns. This theory led to new research into the relationship between the weather cycle and droughts. Before his forced retirement on 6 February 1931, Hunt was considered the foremost weather expert in Australia with an estimated 87% strike rate. One of his most highly regarded achievements was his successful battle, through the First World War and Great Depression, to obtain the resources to grow and professionalise Australia's meteorological service to meet the demands of military and industry.


Personal life and public persona

As a public figure in charge of an often fallible, yet necessary
proto-science __NOTOC__ In the philosophy of science, there are several definitions of protoscience. Its simplest meaning (most closely reflecting its roots of ''proto-'' + ''science'') involves the earliest eras of the history of science, when the scientific me ...
, the "somewhat reserved and mild-mannered" Hunt was often lampooned by the Australian press, particularly the satirical
Melbourne Punch ''Melbourne Punch'' (from 1900, simply titled ''Punch'') was an Australian illustrated magazine founded by Edgar Ray and Frederick Sinnett, and published from August 1855 to December 1925. The magazine was modelled closely on ''Punch'' of Londo ...
, who regularly featured him humorously, if affectionately, in the "People We Know" series. The magazine described him as "a pleasant, meek, well-fed gentleman, who seems quite out of place in control of such an untameable gang as the Australian weather elements... it would be hard to say what his percentage of correct predictions is, but this is certain, that it would be a high one". Outside of his public profile Hunt was a reserved and private person, with a passion for chess, and was an expert handyman and amateur inventor. His innovations included a 'rotating rain clock' and a pressure-cube anemometer to record wind pressure, velocity and direction simultaneously. He died of
myocarditis Myocarditis, also known as inflammatory cardiomyopathy, is an acquired cardiomyopathy due to inflammation of the heart muscle. Symptoms can include shortness of breath, chest pain, decreased ability to exercise, and an irregular heartbeat. The ...
at his home in
Elwood, Victoria Elwood is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 8 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. Elwood recorded a population of 15,153 at the 2021 census ...
on his 80th birthday and was buried in Brighton cemetery. On 11 December 1899 at St Paul's Church of England, Redfern, Sydney, he had married Wilhelmina Eve Linden, who predeceased him. Two of their three daughters survived him.


References


Henry Ambrose Hunt (1866-1946)
Gravesite at Brighton General Cemetery (Vic) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Henry Ambrose 1866 births 1946 deaths Australian meteorologists Meteorologists from Melbourne