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| English
meteorologist who introduced the millibar as the meteorological unit of
atmospheric pressure (in 1909, but not used internationally until 1929).
He also invented the tephigram, a thermodynamic diagram widely used in meteorology,
in about 1915. Shaw was born in Birmingham and studied at Cambridge, where he worked at the Cavendish Laboratory for experimental physics 1877-1900. He was director of the Meteorological Office 1905-20, and professor of meteorology at the Royal College of Science (part of London University) 1920-24. Shaw pioneered the study of the upper atmosphere by using instruments carried by kites and high-altitude balloons. His work on pressure fronts formed the basis of a great deal of later work in the field. His books include Life History of Surface Air Currents 1906 and The Air and its Ways 1923 (both with his colleague R Lempfert) and (with J. S. Owens) The Smoke Problem of Great Cities 1925, an early work on atmospheric pollution. Shaw's Manual of Meteorology 1926-31 is still a standard reference work. |