Frederick Gale Shuman

Dr. Frederick Gale Shuman (July 13 1919 - July 29 2005) was an American pioneer in the development of operational numerical weather prediction. Shuman participated in the major events that brought computer forecasting from academic concepts to the foundation of weather prediction. He began his work in the early 1950s to discover numerical methods that give modern day meteorologists the ability to issue extended weather forecasts and to predict severe weather several days in advance.

Biography

Frederic Gale Shuman was born in South Bend, Indiana and graduated from South Bend Central High School in 1937. His father worked at the Studebaker Motor Company in the design shop. Shuman earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1941 from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana during which time he worked for the Weather Bureau as a junior weather observer at the Indianapolis Airport. He entered military service in June 1941 serving during World War II as a weather officer in North Africa and Italy. As part of his military training, Shuman received a master's degree in meteorology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1942.

After the war, Shuman returned to the Weather Bureau where he worked as an airways forecaster at Wayne County Airport. He again attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a doctor of science in meteorology. Shuman authored the first doctoral thesis on numerical weather prediction at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then moved to Washington D.C. to research tornado forecasting.

The U.S. Weather Bureau sent him to the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, New Jersey, where his work on numerical weather prediction progressed. Shuman developed his mathematical models on one of the world's first computers, the JOHNNIAC. He also attended classes taught by J. Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein.

In 1954, Dr. Shuman was assigned to the Joint Numerical Weather Prediction Unit. In 1958, the National Meteorological Center was established by merging the National Weather Analysis Center with the Joint Numerical Weather Prediction Unit. Shuman served as Chief of the National Meteorological Center Development Division.

Dr. Shuman became the director of the National Meteorological Center in April 1964 and served for an additional 17 years in the position until his retirement in January 1981.

Awards

*1980 The Second Half Century Award (Jule Gregory Charney Award) (shared with Dr. Andre Robert) for "scientific leadership in the construction of different and original operational primitive equations models that produced significant benefits to Canadian and U.S. weather services."
*1967 Commerce Gold Medal.
*1957 Commerce Silver Medal.

References

* [http://www.nws.noaa.gov/com/nwsfocus/fs20050815_fgs.htm Passing of NMC Director Frederick Gale Shuman]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/20/AR2005082001255.html?nav=rss_metro/obituaries Washington Post]
* [http://wwwt.ncep.noaa.gov/nwp50/ Symposium on the 50th Anniversary of Operational Numerical Weather Prediction]
* [http://www.ncep.noaa.gov/officenotes/NOAA-NPM-NCEPON-0002/013BA229.pdf "Weather Prediction" by Frederick G. Shuman, 1979]
* [http://www.ametsoc.org/getpastawards/get_awardsyear.cfm?AwardYear=1980 Jule Charney Award 1980 winners]