Self-organized criticality in earth systems

History of Geo- and Space Sciences, 2020

The scientific career of Michael Rycroft (born in 1938) spans the space age, during which significant changes have occurred in how scientists work, experiment, and interact. Here, as part of his 80th birthday celebrations, we review his career to date in terms of the social and structural changes in collaborative international science. His contributions to research, teaching, and management across solar-terrestrial and ionospheric physics as well as atmospheric and space science are also discussed. 2 Education-scientific training at Cambridge Following a first degree in physics at Imperial College London, Michael Rycroft was amongst the first cohort of post-Published by Copernicus Publications. 106 K. L. Aplin et al.: Michael Rycroft at 80 graduate students to arrive at the newly founded Churchill College in Cambridge in 1960. He was registered with the university for a PhD in the Meteorological Physics Group at the Cavendish Laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Thomas W. (Will) Wormell. 2.1 Meteorological physics at Cambridge before 1960 Atmospheric physics, or meteorological physics as the research group was named, at Cambridge, had a long and distinguished history, mainly due to the influence of Charles Thomas Rees Wilson (who was always known as "CTR"). CTR's career was dominated by a fascination with atmospheric science and, in particular, atmospheric electricity, which had been triggered by a 2-week stay at Ben Nevis Observatory in 1894. The cloud chamber, which earned CTR the 1927 Nobel Prize, was an attempt to recreate phenomena he had seen on Ben Nevis. Despite the significance of the cloud chamber for particle physics and the huge research effort it triggered at Cambridge and elsewhere, CTR worked exclusively on atmospheric electricity for the rest of his long life, between Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory and its Solar Physics Observatory located west of the town centre on Madingley Road (Harrison, 2011). Even by the standards of the time, CTR had relatively few co-workers, due to his "shy and very modest" personality (Dee and Wormell, 1963). Philip Dee, one of his few postgraduate students, even suggested that CTR had moved to the observatory: "nominally, he always claimed, to get away from the radioactive contamination in the Cavendish, but I suspect in order to live in a quieter atmosphere" (Dee, 1971). This meant that CTR's research programme developed relatively slowly at Cambridge. An Indian student, Prasanta Chandra Malhanobis, was recruited before the onset of World War I but was in India when war broke out and never returned. CTR's next PhD student was Wormell, taken on about the same time as Cecil Powell in 1925; Wormell "started on some experiments on thunderstorms in which Wilson had been interested for many years.. . " (Powell, undated; reproduced in 1987), obtaining his PhD on the electrical properties of rain in 1929 (Wormell, 1929). (A student contemporary of Wormell at Cambridge, John Alan Chalmers, began similar experiments at Durham after his own PhD, establishing a strong and enduring base for atmospheric electricity in the North of England (Aplin, 2018).) Wormell worked at the Solar Physics Observatory for many years and developed broad interests in atmospheric physics, before becoming university lecturer in meteorological physics at the Cavendish Laboratory in 1950 (Longair, 2016). It was this research group, at that time with around six members, that Michael Rycroft joined in 1960. Rycroft's colleagues included Desmond Walshaw, a senior researcher in atmospheric infrared absorption, who supervised students

Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2012

Carsten Reinhardt: How did you become involved in meteorology? Paul Crutzen: I had studied civil engineering. I wanted to be a scientist really. One day I saw an advertisement in a newspaper for a programmer, and I applied for it. I didnt know what a programmer was, but I found out soon enough and got a position at a meteorological institute at the University of Stockholm. At the time it was a Mecca for meteorological research. I applied, and was chosen from 80 applicants-I was lucky. And the best thing was that I was at the university, so apart from the programming I could occasionally go to lectures. That is how I entered the world of academia. Work that I particularly liked was on ozone. […] I began to gain the freedom to carry out science, not just programming, but also thinking about what was going on in the atmosphere. As I was already working on the ozone problem, I expanded on that, and then I discovered the significance of the nitrogen oxides. Nitrogen oxide in the troposphere generates ozone, whereas it destroys ozone in the stratosphere. Bullseye. Furthermore, at the time the supersonic jets were being built that emit NO x , nitrogen oxide. My interest in atmospheric chemistry, and how it takes place in nature, thus took on major significance. I came in as I was successful, and then one has a taste for blood and cant turn back… Reinhardt: When was the first moment for you when you realized, on an atmospheric scale, that climate change exists that is caused by mankind? Was it a surprise for you to discover this? Crutzen: No, I could see the relevance of the nitrogen oxides directly. And I also knew then of the significance for humankind, that dangerous radiation is filtered by ozone. At the time I dedicated my first publication on nitrogen oxides to my wife. I wrote "Lets hope that it doesnt disturb our future too much." Gregor Lax: How was the situation as you moved to the MPI of Chemistry? Crutzen: We were interested in returning to Europe, my wife and I. We had spent six years in the USA, and one day I received a call. That was in 1979, and I was asked whether I would be interested in coming to the Max Planck Society. Reinhardt: How did you find it in Mainz? How was the institute, what was it like? Crutzen: As I came to Mainz, programming and descriptions of models were my interests. You applied for resources, and you got them. I had my first students here at the institute. And many colleagues, and students from Holland, came over, and returned as professors to Holland or became professors here. One of them, Jos Lelieveld, was made my successor, that is, scientific Head of Department. In the meantime there is no longer one section, but rather three, which are involved with atmospheric chemistry, physics, and biogeochemistry. That is how it has developed.

Advances in Radio Science, 2014

This laudation is given in honor of the 100<sup>th</sup> birthday of Prof. Karl Rawer which happens to coincide with the 45th anniversary of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI). The ionosphere was discovered during Karl Rawer's lifetime, and he has dedicated his professional life to its exploration. World Wars I and II shaped his early life, but they also launched his career as one of the eminent geophysical scientists of the twentieth century. The paper looks back at Karl Rawer's life and his pioneering work and leadership in advancing and shaping the exploration of the ionosphere.

Bulletin of the AAS

Science, 1981

1986

This is the first presentation of the Harry Hess Medal. Harry Hess was long Professor of Geology at Princeton. He is most renowned as a founding father of seafloor spreading but contributed significantly to a variety of advances in geology and petrology. Harry Hess died in 1969 after seeing man land on the moon, an event of interest to him as chair of the Space Science Board.

2007

List of Illustrations xxvii List of Tables xxxiii List of Abbreviations xxxv Other Works xli Prologue xliii 1 The Wrong Stuff 1 Organising the effort 1 A manned satellite project 2 Orbital piloted spaceship of the Soviet Union 3 Security over science? 3 Who should or could fly? 7 Requirements for astronaut selection-the USAF approach ... 7 Requirements for astronaut selection-the NASA approach ... 8 The first cosmonauts 12 Pilot-astronauts not scientist-astronauts 13 Science and manned space flight 13 NASA's long-term planning 1959-64 14 In a packed programme 17 Science and manned orbital space flight 1961-76 19 Salyut, Skylab and Spacelab-orbital research labs for scientists? 22 References 23 vi Contents 2

2013

Atmospheric Environment, 2002

Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 1990