Martin Sponholz is 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 ...

. He was born in

Burlington, Wisconsin Burlington is a city in Racine and Walworth counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, with the majority of the city located in Racine County. The population of the city was 11,047 as of the 2020 census. History Prior to the arrival of Europea ...

. He moved to

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

at the age of five (after the death of his parents) to live with relatives. Today he resides in

New Ulm, Minnesota New Ulm ( ) is a city and the county seat of Brown County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,120 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located on the triangle of land formed by the confluence of the Minnesota River a ...

with his wife Nancy. Sponholz has distinguished himself in the field of meteorological research serving on two expeditions to

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. ...

. He was Chief Meteorologist on a team of eight at

Plateau Station Plateau Station is an inactive American research and South Pole—Queen Maud Land Traverse support base on the central Antarctic Plateau. Construction on the site started on December 13, 1965, and the first traverse team (named SPQML II) ar ...

in Antarctica. He is credited with discovering "inversion winds", defined in ''Weather and Climate of the Antarctic'', and represented the U.S. on the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition. He authored ''Among the

Magi Magi (), or magus (), is the term for priests in Zoroastrianism and earlier Iranian religions. The earliest known use of the word ''magi'' is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great, known as the Behistun Inscription. Old Per ...

'', the story of his Antarctic journey during the 1960s. Martin received the

Antarctica Service Medal The Antarctica Service Medal (ASM) was established by the United States Congress on July 7, 1960, under Public Law 600 of the 86th Congress. The medal was intended as a military award to replace several commemorative awards which had been iss ...

for courage, devotion and sacrifice from President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

in 1967. Sponholz PeakSponholz Peak
/ref> in

is named in honor of Martin. Leaving the research world to teach, Martin began serving as professor of science at

Martin Luther College Martin Luther College (MLC) is a Private college, private Confessional Lutheranism, Lutheran college in New Ulm, Minnesota. It is operated by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). Martin Luther College was established in 1995, when Nor ...

in 1982 and continued teaching until the 2010-2011 school year, after which he retired.

References

External links

Plateau StationInversion Winds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sponholz, Martin Living people American meteorologists Year of birth missing (living people)