Napier Shaw
{{Short description|British meteorologist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name = Sir Napier Shaw
|image = Pencil sketch of William Napier Shaw by Stehen C Dickson.jpg
|birth_date = 4 March 1854
|birth_place = Birmingham, England, UK
|death_date = {{death-date and age|23 March 1945|4 March 1854}}
|death_place = London
|residence =
|citizenship =
|nationality = British
|ethnicity =
|field = Meteorologist
|work_institutions =
|alma_mater =
|doctoral_advisor =
|doctoral_students =
|known_for = Tephigram
|influences =
|influenced =
|prizes =Royal Medal {{small|(1923)}}
Buys Ballot Medal {{small|(1923)}}
}}
Sir William Napier Shaw {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Gold | first1 = E. | title = William Napier Shaw. 1854-1945 | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1945.0013 | journal = Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 5 | issue = 14 |page=203 | year = 1945 | s2cid = 162320211 }} (4 March 1854 – 23 March 1945) was a British meteorologist.{{cite journal|title=Obituary Notice: Shaw, William Napier|journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society|volume=106|issue=1|year=1946|pages=35–37|bibcode=1946MNRAS.106...35.|doi=10.1093/mnras/106.1.35|doi-access=free}} He introduced the tephigram, a diagram for evaluating convective instability in the atmosphere.{{Cite journal | last1 = Burton | first1 = J. | title = William Napier Shaw – Father of modern meteorology | doi = 10.1256/wea.45.04 | journal = Weather | volume = 59 | issue = 11 |page=307 | year = 2004 |bibcode = 2004Wthr...59..307B | doi-access = }} He also served as president of the International Meteorological Committee and Royal Meteorological Society.
Biography
Shaw was born at 84 Vyse Street in Birmingham the son of Charles Thomas Shaw, a goldsmith and jeweller, and his wife, Kezia Lauden. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=2018-06-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}
He studied at Cambridge University graduating MA in 1876, then at the University of Berlin in Berlin.
Returning to Britain he began as a Demonstrator in Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory linked to Cambridge University in 1879. In 1887 he began lecturing in Experimental Physics. In 1898 he became Assistant Director of the Cavendish Laboratory.
In 1891, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.{{cite magazine|author1=Addison, Henry Robert|author2=Oakes, Charles Henry|author3=Lawson, William John|author4=Sladen, Douglas Brooke Wheelton|title=SHAW, William Napier|magazine=Who's Who|year=1907|volume= 59|pages=1591–1592|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yEcuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1592}}{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Shaw, William Napier|year=1905}}
In 1900 he became Secretary of the Meteorological Council. From 1905 to 1907 he was Director of the Meteorological Office. In 1907 he became the first Professor of Meteorology at Imperial College, London.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=2018-06-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}
In 1911 he served as President of the International Meteorological Committee, forerunner of the World Meteorological Organization.{{cite web |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/william-napier-shaw-frs/ |title = William Napier Shaw, F.R.S. - Scientific American| website=Scientific American | date=19 August 1911 }} In 1915, he developed the tephigram. He was knighted by King George V later that year.
He was President of the Royal Meteorological Society 1918/19. In 1933 he was elected an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=2018-06-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}
Shaw also studied air pollution, and was the first to study and discuss smog and look at its health problems. In 1925, he co-authored the book The Smoke Problem of Great Cities with John Switzer Owens.{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Napier |last2=Owens |first2=John Switzer |title=The Smoke Problem of Great Cities |date=1925 |publisher=Constable & Company |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/smokeproblemofgr00shaw|access-date=17 January 2022}}
Shaw retired in 1924 aged 70 and died in London aged 91.
Family
In 1885 he married Sarah Jane Dugdale Harland (d.1923). They had no children.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=2018-06-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}
Publications
- Practical Physics (1893)
- Forecasting Weather (1911)
- Articles on "Dew", "Fog","Squall" and "Sunshine" in the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)
- The Smoke Problem of Great Cities (1925)
- Manual of Meteorology (1926) plus several later editions
Honours and awards
- 1910: He was awarded the Symons Gold Medal of the Royal Meteorological Society
- 1923: He was awarded a Royal Medal by the Royal Society.
- 1924: He was an Invited Speaker of the ICM in Toronto.{{cite book|author=Shaw, Napier|chapter=The convective energy of saturated air in a natural environment|title=In: Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto, August 11–16. 1924|volume=2|pages=305–313}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{wikisource|works=or}}
- [http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=34&dsqSearch=((text)='shaw') Royal Society c.v.]
- [http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqSearch=RefNo=='EC/1891/16'&dsqCmd=Show.tcl Royal Society certificate of election]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Napier}}
Category:Academics of Imperial College London
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Category:Air pollution in the United Kingdom
Category:English meteorologists
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
Category:People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham
Category:Presidents of the Royal Meteorological Society
Category:Recipients of the Buys Ballot Medal (Netherlands)
Category:Scientists from Birmingham, West Midlands
Category:Scientists of the Cavendish Laboratory
{{UK-scientist-stub}}