Christophorus Henricus Diedericus Buys Ballot (; October 10, 1817 – February 3, 1890) was a Dutch

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

and

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

after whom Buys Ballot's law and the Buys Ballot table are named. He was first chairman of the

International Meteorological Organization The International Meteorological Organization (IMO; 1873–1951) was the first organization formed with the purpose of exchanging weather information among the countries of the world. It came into existence from the realization that weather systems ...

, the organization that would become the

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics. The WMO originated from the Inter ...

Biography

Buys Ballot was the son of a Dutch Reformed minister, born in Kloetinge,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He attended the Gymnasium at

Zaltbommel Zaltbommel (), also known, historically and colloquially, as Bommel, is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. History The city of Zaltbommel The town of Zaltbommel was first mentioned as "Bomela" in the year 850. Zaltbommel received ...

and the

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

. After receiving his doctorate in 1844, he became lecturer in

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proce ...

and

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other Astronomical object, astronomical objects, the features or rock (geology), rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology ...

at Utrecht; he added theoretical

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

in 1846. In 1847 he was appointed professor of

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and from 1867 until his retirement he was professor of

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

. Buys Ballot tested the

Doppler effect The Doppler effect or Doppler shift (or simply Doppler, when in context) is the change in frequency of a wave in relation to an observer who is moving relative to the wave source. It is named after the Austrian physicist Christian Doppler, who ...

for sound waves in 1845 by using a group of musicians playing a calibrated note on a train in the Utrecht-Amsterdam line. He died in the Dutch city of

Accomplishments

Picture of the first 'wall formula' in the city of Utrecht 01

Buys Ballot is best known for his accomplishments in the field of

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...

, specifically the explanation of the direction of air flow in large weather systems. Furthermore, he founded the

Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = , logo_width = , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = FS IMG 8907 KNMI.jpg , picture_width = 250px , picture_caption = KNMI headquarters in De Bilt , fo ...

in 1854 and he remained its chief director until his death. He was one of the first to see the need for international cooperation, and in 1873 he organized and became the first chairman of the

, a precursor of the

(WMO). Buys Ballot's law states that if a person in the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

stands with his back to the wind, the atmospheric pressure is low to the left, high to the right. His main research effort in meteorology went into examining long-time series for regularities; he was more concerned with establishing the regularities than in explaining them. He made no contributions to the theory of meteorology which is perhaps surprising given his training in physics. The contrast with his American contemporary, William Ferrel, who discovered Buys-Ballot's law slightly earlier, is striking. Buys Ballot devised a tabular method for investigating periodicity in

time series In mathematics, a time series is a series of data points indexed (or listed or graphed) in time order. Most commonly, a time series is a sequence taken at successive equally spaced points in time. Thus it is a sequence of discrete-time data. Ex ...

. In 1847 he used the table now named after him to determine the period of the sun's rotation from daily observations of temperature in the Netherlands from 1729 to 1846. Buys Ballot became member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

in 1855. Among his students was the prominent Dutch

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

Jacobus Kapteyn Prof Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn FRS FRSE LLD (19 January 1851 – 18 June 1922) was a Dutch astronomer. He carried out extensive studies of the Milky Way and was the discoverer of evidence for galactic rotation. Kapteyn was also among the f ...

Eponym

In 1971 the

lunar crater Lunar craters are impact craters on Earth's Moon. The Moon's surface has many craters, all of which were formed by impacts. The International Astronomical Union currently recognizes 9,137 craters, of which 1,675 have been dated. History The w ...

Buys-Ballot, on the

far side of the Moon The far side of the Moon is the lunar hemisphere that always faces away from Earth, opposite to the near side, because of synchronous rotation in the Moon's orbit. Compared to the near side, the far side's terrain is rugged, with a multitu ...

, was named in his honour.

Bibliography

*Harold L. Burstyn "Buys Ballot, Christoph Hendrik Diederik" ''Dictionary of Scientific Biography'' volume 1, p. 628, New York: Scribners 1973. *E. van Everdingen ''C. H. D. Buys Ballot 1817-1890'' The Hague 1953. *O. B. Sheynin On the History of the Statistical Method in Meteorology, ''Archive for the History of the Exact Sciences'', 31, (1984-5) 53-95. *J. L. Klein ''Statistical Visions in Time'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1997. * *

References

External links

M. Buys-Ballot, "Note sur le rapport de l'intensite et de la direction du vent avec les ecarts simultanes du barometre", ''Comptes Rendus'', Vol. 45 (1857), pp. 765–768
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buys Ballot, C.H.D. 19th-century Dutch chemists Dutch meteorologists 19th-century Dutch physicists 1817 births 1890 deaths Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Utrecht University alumni Academic staff of Utrecht University People from Goes Scientists from Utrecht (city)