Helmut Landsberg

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Helmut Landsberg

Helmut Erich Landsberg (born February 9, 1906 in Frankfurt am Main , † December 6, 1985 in Geneva , Switzerland ) was an American climatologist and meteorologist of German descent.

biography

After attending school, Landsberg first studied at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main with Beno Gutenberg and then became an assistant to Franz Linke , who made him head of the Taunus observatory on the Kleiner Feldberg . After the seizure of power of the Nazis , he went in 1934 to the United States , where he remained until 1941, researchers at the Pennsylvania State University was. During the Second World War , from 1941 to 1943, he then made his knowledge of climatology available to the US Army for its military planning.

He then produced meteorological maps for the National Atlas of the USA and undertook a study of the effects of urbanization on the natural environment. He also campaigned for climatology to be recognized as a physical science.

After the end of the Second World War, he became a member of the United States Research and Development Committee in 1946 for the national coordination of scientific research projects. In 1951 he was instrumental in founding the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville and was also employed at the US Air Force research center in Cambridge (Massachusetts) from 1951 to 1954 . There he was the organizer of the first efforts for a numerical weather forecast .

He was then from 1954 to 1965 director of climatology at the US National Weather Bureau . From 1969 to 1978 he was also chairman of the commission for climatology of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations .

Landsberg has received several awards for his services in climatology and meteorology, including the William Bowie Medal in 1978 , the German Alfred Wegener Medal in 1980 and the National Medal of Science in 1983 . In 1958 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Publications

  • Stephen Brush / Helmut Landsberg: History of Geophysics and Meteorology - an annotated bibliography , New York, Garland 1985

literature

  • Who's Who in America: a biographical dictionary of notable living men and women. : volume 33 (1964-1965), Marquis Who's Who, Chicago, Ill., 1964, p. 1152.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Landsberg, Helmut
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Landsberg, Helmut Erich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American climatologist and meteorologist of German descent
DATE OF BIRTH February 9, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1985
Place of death Geneva , Switzerland