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Carl-Gustaf Arvid Rossby (1898–1957)

Basic Facts

  • Born: 28 December 1898, Stockholm, Sweden
  • Died: 19 August 1957, Stockholm, Sweden (heart attack during a conference)
  • Nationality: Swedish; became US citizen 9 January 1939
  • Fields: Meteorology, oceanography, atmospheric chemistry

Family

  • Father: Arvid Rossby (construction engineer)
  • Mother: Alma Charlotta Marelius Rossby
  • Siblings: Eldest of five children
  • Spouse: Harriot Alexander (married 1929)
  • Health: Close friends knew he had suffered from rheumatic fever as a boy and had a weak heart.

Education

  • University of Stockholm (entered 1917): studied mathematics, mechanics, astronomy
  • University of Bergen (1919): studied geophysics under Vilhelm Bjerknes at the Geophysical Institute; joined Bergen school on 20 June 1919 at age 20, after attending one of Bjerknes’s lectures
  • University of Leipzig (1921): studied hydrodynamics
  • Prussian Aerological Observatory, Lindenberg (1921): upper-air measurements via kite and balloon
  • Filosofie Licentiat (equivalent to doctorate), University of Stockholm (1925), in mathematical physics
  • Doctoral advisor: Erik Ivar Fredholm

Career Timeline

  • 1919: Scientific staff, Geophysical Institute at Bergen (Bergen School of Meteorology)
  • 1921–1925: Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Service; participated in oceanographic expeditions
  • 1925: Sweden-America Foundation fellowship “to study the application of the polar front theory to American Weather”
  • 1926–1927: US Weather Bureau, Washington, DC – combined atmospheric turbulence research with establishing first civil aviation weather service
  • 1927: Committee on Aeronautical Meteorology, Daniel Guggenheim Fund – established model weather service for civil aviation in California
  • 1928: Associate Professor, Aeronautics Department, MIT – initiated the first graduate program in meteorology in the United States
  • 1930: Established joint seminars with Woods Hole oceanographers
  • 1931: Research Associate, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; purchased research aircraft and pioneered radiosonde technology adoption
  • 1932: Developed the Rossby diagram for air mass identification
  • 1939: Assistant Chief for Research and Education, US Weather Bureau – reorganized the Bureau’s scientific mission
  • 1940–1947: Chairman, Department of Meteorology, University of Chicago – pivotal period for large-scale atmospheric motion research
  • During WWII: Organized military meteorologist training; supervised thousands of weather cadets; recruited many to his Chicago department afterward
  • 1944: Founded the Journal of Meteorology
  • 1944–1945: President, American Meteorological Society
  • 1947–1957: Founding director, International Meteorological Institute at Stockholm University; divided time between Stockholm, University of Chicago, and Woods Hole
  • 1950s: Founded the journal Tellus
  • 1954–1957: Championed atmospheric chemistry; examined carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and its potential warming effect
  • 19 August 1957: Collapsed from a heart attack during a Swedish conference. “He died while making great plans for the future.”

Major Scientific Contributions

Rossby Waves

Investigated circumpolar long-wave systems in westerly winds. Developed dynamic theory using conservation of absolute vorticity, producing “the Rossby equation” for wave propagation speed (1939–1940). This was described as “perhaps the most celebrated analytic solution of a dynamic equation in meteorological literature.”

Rossby Number

The dimensionless number that characterizes the ratio of inertial to Coriolis forces in a rotating fluid, fundamental for determining whether rotation significantly affects flow behavior.

Jet Stream

Identified and characterized the jet stream – the narrow bands of strong westerly wind in the upper atmosphere.

Other Innovations

  • Isentropic analysis techniques
  • Mixing length and logarithmic wind profile concepts
  • Barotropic atmosphere numerical prediction (1940)
  • Adapted mathematical atmospheric descriptions for electronic weather forecasting using the BESK computer in Sweden

Atmospheric Chemistry Pioneer

In his final years (1954–1957), organized an international network investigating atmospheric trace elements; his final 1956 essay examined “planetary-scale energy balance and ocean circulation, carbon dioxide and climate” and warned of “increasing stress that pollution was placing on” the atmosphere.

Institutional Impact

Rossby was arguably the greatest institution-builder in the history of meteorology:

  • Built the MIT meteorology department – first graduate program in meteorology in the US
  • Reorganized the US Weather Bureau’s scientific mission
  • Established the University of Chicago department – “grounded in the theoretical foundations of Bjerknes and the practical techniques of the Bergen school” but transcending them
  • Founded the Institute of Tropical Meteorology at University of Puerto Rico
  • Reorganized the American Meteorological Society
  • Founded two journals: Journal of Meteorology (1944) and Tellus
  • Created the International Meteorological Institute in Stockholm – a world-class research group
  • Post-WWII international cooperation: called on scientists from former enemy nations to collaborate; worked with Hans Ertel (Berlin) on Rossby wave mathematics
  • Stated: “Communications are the alpha and omega of meteorology.”

Reaction to Phillips’ GCM (1956)

When Norman Phillips created the first general circulation model at the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), Rossby – who had hosted Phillips in Stockholm to help set up a weather model – was “especially interested” in the experiment. The user’s blog series quotes Rossby as saying to Phillips: “Yes Norman, and it should be that!” upon seeing that Phillips’ model reproduced realistic atmospheric features. [Note: This specific quote could not be independently verified in online sources during this research session. It may originate from oral history, Phillips’ own recollections, or Peter Lynch’s writings on the history of NWP. The blog author should verify the source.]

Personal Characteristics

  • Gregarious, high-spirited “powerhouse” who created “moving seminars” wherever he traveled.
  • Bon vivant: “Held court at the best dining and drinking establishments in town.”
  • Chester Newton recalled: “When Rossby was in town, the department was in tumult… it was exciting but exhausting.”
  • Cultured, quick-witted, excitable with diverse interests in music, geology, botany (particularly orchids from Gotland).
  • “A natural orator, and a natural leader” who was “organized and persuasive.”
  • Scientific approach: “approaching a complex problem by introducing bold simplifications to be accounted for later.”
  • On satellite observation: “Right now, we are like crabs on the ocean floor. What we need is a view from a satellite.”
  • At a 1956 National Academy meeting, called for “the definition of meteorology be enlarged to include the role of the atmosphere not simply as an environment but as a milieu that directly influences all human experience.”
  • Bjerknes “may have steered Rossby into a career in meteorology, but he did not capture Rossby’s sole allegiance.”

Notable Doctoral Students

Chaim L. Pekeris, Horace R. Byers, Harry Wexler, Reid Bryson, Ye Duzheng (Yeh Tu-cheng), Hsiao-Lan Kuo, Joanne Malkus (later Joanne Simpson), Bert Bolin, Aksel C. Wiin-Nielsen, Victor P. Starr

Awards and Honors

  • 1934: Elected, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 1934: Sylvanus Albert Reed Award (jointly with H.C. Willett)
  • 1943: Elected, National Academy of Sciences
  • 1944–1945: President, American Meteorological Society
  • 1946: Elected, American Philosophical Society
  • 1946: Robert M. Losey Award
  • 1953: Symons Gold Medal, Royal Meteorological Society
  • 1956: Time Magazine cover (17 December) – the first meteorologist on the cover of a major magazine; article titled “Science: Man’s Milieu”
  • 1957: International Meteorological Organization Prize
  • 1959: Applied Meteorology Award (posthumous)
  • Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal – the AMS’s highest honor, named after him (he was the inaugural recipient)
  • Phenomena bearing his name: Rossby waves, Rossby number, Rossby parameter, Rossby radius of deformation, Rossby-gravity waves, equatorial Rossby waves

Connections to Other People

  • Vilhelm Bjerknes: Mentor at Bergen; Rossby attended his 1919 lecture and became his research assistant, but did not remain solely under Bjerknes’s influence.
  • Jacob Bjerknes: Fellow Bergen School member; later Bjerknes went to UCLA while Rossby built American meteorology via MIT and Chicago.
  • Tor Bergeron: Fellow Bergen School member; later, Rossby’s Stockholm department drew students away from Bergeron’s Uppsala program.
  • Sverre Petterssen: Replaced by Petterssen at MIT in 1939 when Rossby moved to the Weather Bureau and then Chicago.
  • Norman Phillips: Rossby hosted Phillips in Stockholm; was deeply interested in Phillips’ GCM experiment.
  • Hans Ertel: Post-WWII collaborator on mathematical formulation of Rossby waves.
  • Bert Bolin: Doctoral student in Stockholm who would later lead IPCC.

Sources