Dr Archibald Hayman Robertson Goldie CBE

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FRMS (usually referred to simply as A. H. R. Goldie in references) (1888-1964) was a Scottish meteorologist. He was Assistant Director at the London Meteorological Office 1938-1953. He researched the global circulation of air currents at high level and atmospheric turbulence affecting aircraft. He did much research on vapour trails from aircraft, and published several papers on how to avoid such in a military context. He was also one of the first scientists to explain the scintillation (twinkling) of stars at night.

Life

He was born in Glenisha,

Angus, Scotland Angus (; ) is one of the 32 Local government in Scotland, local government council areas of Scotland, and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Dundee City (council area), Dundee City and Per ...

, the son of Rev Andrew Goldie (1854-1933), minister, and his wife, Isabella Robertson. He studied at

Harris Academy Harris Academy is a co-educational comprehensive school in the affluent residential area of West End, Dundee, West End of Dundee, Scotland. Harris Academy was founded in 1885 and is the oldest state school in Dundee. Previously academically-se ...

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. He then was awarded a place at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

graduating MA in 1913. He immediately began training as a weather forecaster, training first at Falmouth Observatory. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

in 1925, his proposers including Sir

Ernest Wedderburn Sir Ernest MacLagan Wedderburn (3 February 1884 – 3 June 1958) was a Scottish lawyer, and a significant figure both in the civic life of Edinburgh and in the legal establishment. He held the posts of Professor of Conveyancing in the Univers ...

. He served as Vice President of the Society from 1953 to 1956.

St Andrews University The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

awarded him a doctorate in 1936 (DSc). In 1951 he was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for service in the Meteorological Office. Through the 1950s he served on the government’s Atmospheric Pollution Committee which brought around the evolution of the Clean Air Act and various early atmospheric pollution controls, largely aimed at eliminating

smog Smog, or smoke fog, is a type of intense air pollution. The word "smog" was coined in the early 20th century, and is a portmanteau of the words ''smoke'' and ''fog'' to refer to smoky fog due to its opacity, and odour. The word was then inte ...

. He died in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

on 24 January 1964. He is buried with his parents and first wife in the

Grange Cemetery The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hi ...

on the east side of the south-west extension. The Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society published his obituary in July 1964.

War service

He served as a Major in the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

largely connected to the army’s meteorological service (which played a major role in many campaigns). He was twice

Mentioned in Dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he worked firstly in the Climatological and Instruments Division based at

Stonehouse, Gloucestershire Stonehouse is a town in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire in southwestern England. The town centre is 2.5 miles east of the M5 motorway, junction 13. Stonehouse railway station has a regular train service to London. The town is situated ...

and then in 1941 became responsible for the administration of the Meteorological Research Committee, which was most famously responsible for many areas in the planning of the

D-Day landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

Family

He married twice: firstly in 1928 to Marion Nairne Wilson (d.1948); and secondly in 1952 to Helen Carruthers. At the time of his first marriage he lived at 6 Drumsheugh Gardens in Edinburgh’s West End.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldie, Archibald Hayman Robertson 1888 births 1964 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh British meteorologists People educated at Harris Academy People from Angus, Scotland