UChicago’s meteorology program shaped the field of climate and weather prediction
Ever since the Wright Brothers called up the weather bureau to find the right place to launch the world’s first plane ride in 1903, pilots and meteorologists have been in a symbiotic relationship. Pilots benefited from weather forecasting for safety and efficiency, and in return, instrument-outfitted aircraft could collect data not available from the ground.
By 1940, Swedish meteorologist and émigré Carl-Gustaf Rossby was the most prominent proponent in America for investigating the upper atmosphere. Rossby led the conversion of weather research from a descriptive to a predictive science by applying the laws of physics and mathematical modeling. When he became the first head of the University of Chicago Institute of Meteorology, the appointment ushered in two crucial decades when the University helped shape the developing field.