Sir David Brunt,

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

, FRS (17 June 1886 – 5 February 1965) was a Welsh

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

. He was Professor of Meteorology at

Imperial College, London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

from 1934 to 1952. He was vice-president of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

from 1949 to 1957. The

Brunt Ice Shelf The Brunt Ice Shelf borders the Antarctic coast of Coats Land between Dawson-Lambton Glacier and Stancomb-Wills Glacier Tongue. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-names Committee after David Brunt, British meteorologist, Physical Secreta ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

is named after him. He was born in

Staylittle Staylittle (), sometimes referred to colloquially as Y Stay or Y Stae, is a small village set in the shallow upland basin of the Afon Clywedog on the B4518 road, equidistant from Llanidloes and Llanbrynmair in the historic county of Montgomer ...

, Montgomeryshire, Wales, the youngest of the nine children of farmworker John Brunt. His father moved the family to the mining district In Monmouthshire to work as a coal miner. David attended the local Abertillery School from 1899 to 1904. In 1904 he secured a scholarship to enter the

University College of Wales Aberystwyth University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding member institution of the former federal University of Wales. The university has over 8,000 stude ...

at Aberystwyth, where he studied mathematics, physics and chemistry, gaining a first class honours degree in mathematics in 1907. He then went to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

and in 1909 was elected to the Isaac Newton studentship at the National Solar Physics Observatory. After leaving Cambridge he spent a year as a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Birmingham and two years in a similar post at the Monmouthshire Training College, Caerleon. In 1916 he enlisted in the Royal Engineers (meteorological section) and during the war years did important work related to atmospherical conditions at low levels in chemical warfare. He later became meteorologist to the Air Force. After demobilisation he joined the Meteorological Office which in 1921 became the Air Ministry. He continued his personal research and accepted Sir Napier Shaw's invitation to join him as part-time professor of meteorology at the

. After the retirement of Sir Napier Shaw, Brunt became the first full-time professor of meteorology in Britain, holding the chair from 1934 to 1952. Two years later was elected a Fellow of the college. He independently co-discovered the

Brunt–Väisälä frequency In atmospheric dynamics, oceanography, asteroseismology and geophysics, the Brunt–Väisälä frequency, or buoyancy frequency, is a measure of the stability of a fluid to vertical displacements such as those caused by convection. More precisely ...

. Between 1936 and 1939 he contributed to a theoretical understanding of fog dispersal, information used in the development of the FIDO fog dispersal system. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

(FRS) in 1939 and was awarded their

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society. Two are given for "the mo ...

in 1944. He went on to serve as their secretary from 1948 to 1957 and as their vice-president from 1949 to 1957. He served as president of the

Royal Meteorological Society The Royal Meteorological Society is an organization that promotes academic and public engagement in weather and climate science. Fellows of the Society must possess relevant qualifications, but Members can be lay enthusiasts. It publishes vari ...

from 1942 to 1944 and received both their Buchan prize and their 1947

Symons Gold Medal The Symons Gold Medal is awarded biennially by the Royal Meteorological Society for distinguished work in the field of meteorological science. It was established in 1901 in memory of George James Symons, a notable British meteorologist. Recipient ...

. He was also president of the Physical Society from 1945 to 1947. He was made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

in 1949 and appointed

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(KBE) in 1959.

Private life

While he was working at Caerleon in 1915, he married Claudia Mary Elizabeth Roberts of Nant-y-glo, Monmouthshire, who had been a fellow student both at Abertillery and Aberystwyth. They had one son who died unmarried.

References

External links

Royal Society citationSir David the Weather
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunt, David 1886 births 1965 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire People from Montgomeryshire Presidents of the Physical Society Presidents of the Royal Meteorological Society Royal Medal winners Welsh meteorologists Knights Bachelor People from Abertillery Deans of the Royal College of Science