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Jorgen Holmboe (1902–1979)

Basic Facts

  • Born: 8 November 1902, near Hammerfest, Norway
  • Died: 29 October 1979 (some sources say 1970; archival collection dates list 1979)
  • Nationality: Norwegian; naturalized US citizen 1944
  • Fields: Meteorology, dynamic meteorology, atmospheric wave motion

Family

  • Father: Leonhard Christian Borchgrevink Holmboe Jr. (a minister)
  • Mother: Thea Louise Schetelig
  • Great-grandfather: Also named Leonhard Christian Borchgrevink Holmboe, “a priest and national politician”
  • Wife: Kirsten Bendixen (married upon return from Antarctica)
  • Children: One daughter, Anna, born 1941

Education

  • Early education from his father
  • Secondary school in Tromso
  • University entrance examinations in Bodo
  • 1922: Enrolled at the University of Oslo, initially studying mathematics
  • 1925: Became research assistant to Vilhelm Bjerknes at the University of Oslo
  • 1930: Passed Candidate Real examinations (equivalent to MSc)
  • Doctoral advisor: Vilhelm Bjerknes

Career Timeline

Norway (1925–1935)

  • 1925: Research assistant to Vilhelm Bjerknes, founder of the Bergen Geophysical Institute and leader of the Bergen School of Meteorology.
  • 1930: Meteorologist, Norwegian Weather Service (Tromso).
  • 1932: Transferred to Bergen.
  • 1933–1935: Meteorologist with the Lincoln Ellsworth Antarctic Expedition – Ellsworth was attempting to be the first to fly across Antarctica. Holmboe provided weather forecasts for the historic flights.

United States (1936–1970)

  • 1936: Assistant professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • 1940: Joined UCLA to establish a meteorology program with Jacob Bjerknes and Joseph Kaplan. The program was initially part of the physics department.
  • During WWII: UCLA trained approximately 1200 meteorologists for the war effort. Holmboe and colleague Morris Neiburger provided “accelerated meteorology training to young military officers.”
  • 1944: Became naturalized American citizen.
  • 1946: Meteorology became a separate department at UCLA. Holmboe was chairman for the first year.
  • 1949–1958: Department chairman (second tenure).
  • 1970: Retired as professor emeritus.

Major Scientific Contributions

1. Introducing Jule Charney to Meteorology (1940–1941)

This is arguably Holmboe’s most consequential act in the history of science:

  • Around 1940–1941, Charney – then a mathematics graduate student at UCLA – attended a seminar given by Holmboe. “Charney was impressed. He knew nothing about meteorology, but it appeared to be a science worth pursuing.”
  • Holmboe “presented Charney with the option of joining the new meteorology program as a teaching assistant (exempting him from military service) and taking graduate meteorology courses at the same time.”
  • When facing the 1941 military draft, Charney consulted physicist Theodor von Karman before accepting. Von Karman endorsed meteorology over aeronautics, which “nudged Charney into meteorology, a switch he made that July.”
  • Charney earned his PhD at UCLA in 1946 – one of the first two doctoral degrees awarded by the department (the other went to Yale Mintz).
  • Thus Holmboe served as the direct link between the Bergen School tradition and the man who would revolutionize numerical weather prediction.

2. Holmboe Instability (1962)

Holmboe discovered a distinct type of hydrodynamic instability in stratified shear flows, now called Holmboe instability. Unlike the better-known Kelvin-Helmholtz instability:

  • Holmboe instability occurs in strongly stratified flows
  • It produces cusp-like waves that propagate with phase speeds significantly different from the speed at the inflection point of the shear
  • The structures have a lower growth rate than Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities
  • They are not stationary but propagate as wave-like structures with sharp edges along the interface
  • The instability arises from resonant coupling between an internal gravity wave and a wavelike disturbance where the background shear varies vertically

This instability is significant for understanding small-scale mixing in the atmosphere, particularly in the nocturnal atmospheric boundary layer, and contributes to turbulence, momentum, and thermal mixing.

3. Research on Atmospheric Dynamics

His research principally concerned:

  • Wave motion in the atmosphere
  • The formation of cyclones
  • Air flow over the Sierra Nevada (mountain meteorology)

4. Key Publications

  • On the Theory of Cyclones (with J. Bjerknes, 1944)
  • Dynamic Meteorology (1952) – a standard textbook
  • “On the instability of stratified shear flow” (1966) – the foundational Holmboe instability paper
  • “Instability of baroclinic three-layer models of the atmosphere” (1968)

Personal Characteristics

Available sources provide limited personal characterization. From the archival record and biographical details, Holmboe emerges as:

  • A steady, institutionally committed academic who built the UCLA meteorology department over three decades
  • Connected to the Bergen School tradition through Vilhelm Bjerknes and brought that tradition to California
  • Adventurous enough to spend two years in Antarctica with the Ellsworth expedition at age 31–33
  • An effective teacher and recruiter, as evidenced by his ability to attract Charney into meteorology

Awards and Honors

  • Fellow, American Meteorological Society
  • Fellow, American Geophysical Union
  • Foreign member, Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters

Connections to Other People

  • Vilhelm Bjerknes: Doctoral advisor and mentor; Holmboe was his research assistant from 1925. This is the primary Bergen School link.
  • Jacob Bjerknes: Co-founder of the UCLA meteorology department (Bjerknes was the senior figure). They co-authored On the Theory of Cyclones (1944).
  • Jule Charney: Holmboe’s most famous student. Holmboe introduced Charney to meteorology through a seminar, then recruited him into the UCLA program. Charney went on to make the first successful numerical weather prediction (1950).
  • Yale Mintz: The other member of the first UCLA meteorology PhD cohort (1946); later developed GCM work with Akio Arakawa.
  • Morris Neiburger: UCLA colleague who co-taught wartime meteorology courses.
  • Joseph Kaplan: Co-founder of the UCLA meteorology program (physicist).
  • Lincoln Ellsworth: Explorer for whose Antarctic expedition Holmboe served as meteorologist.
  • Theodor von Karman: The Caltech physicist whom Charney consulted before accepting Holmboe’s offer; von Karman endorsed meteorology over aeronautics.

Notes for Blog Use

Holmboe is the crucial bridge figure connecting the Bergen School of Meteorology to American numerical weather prediction. Without his seminar at UCLA, Charney might never have entered meteorology. The chain runs: Vilhelm Bjerknes -> Bergen School -> Holmboe -> UCLA seminar -> Charney -> numerical weather prediction. This makes Holmboe an essential “minor character” in the NWP story.

Sources