Charles Frederick Marvin (October 7, 1858 – June 5, 1943) was an American

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 ...

and chief of the

United States Weather Bureau The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...

from 1913 – 1934.

Biography

Marvin was born in

Putnam, Ohio Zanesville is a city in Muskingum County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located at the confluence of the Licking and Muskingum rivers, the city is approximately east of Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the 2020 cens ...

. He graduated from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

in 1883 and, on September 1, 1884, joined the civilian corps of the United States Army Signal Service (which at the time carried out the duties of nation's first weather service) as a junior professor of meteorology. Following the transfer of the nation's weather service, by an

Act of Congress An act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called Public and private bills, private laws), or to the general public (Public and private bills, public laws). For a Bill (law) ...

, to the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

, on July 1, 1891, Marvin joined the newly created

Weather Bureau The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...

as a professor of meteorology. All the men and duties relating to weather were transferred from the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet ...

. In 1913, upon the recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Marvin chief of the Weather Bureau. Marvin conducted important experiments for determining the amount of moisture in the air, invented instruments for automatically measuring and recording rainfall, snowfall, etc., and produced other advancements during the time when man first began the employment of powered aircraft. Marvin wrote numerous pamphlets and papers published by the

. He contributed to the ''

New International Encyclopedia ''The New International Encyclopedia'' was an American encyclopedia first published in 1902 by Dodd, Mead & Co. It descended from the ''International Cyclopaedia'' (1884) and was updated in 1906, 1914 and 1926. History ''The New Internatio ...

.'' Marvin was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1916. He died at Doctors Hospital,

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, after a month's illness.

References

External links

NOAA History: Profiles in Time/NWS Biographies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marvin, Charles F. 1858 births 1943 deaths American meteorologists People from Zanesville, Ohio Michigan State University alumni Members of the American Philosophical Society