Professor Percival Albert "Peter" Sheppard

CBE 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 ...

FRS (12 May 1907 – 22 December 1977) was a

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 ...

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 1952 to 1974 and thereafter emeritus professor. He was born in

Box, Wiltshire Box is a large village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Wiltshire, England, about west of Corsham and northeast of Bath, Somerset, Bath. Box also falls in the easternmost pa ...

and was educated at City of Bath Boys School and the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

, graduating with a first class honours BSc in 1927. He stayed on there as a student demonstrator, doing research on the loading of gaseous ions by polar molecules. In 1929, he joined the

Meteorological Office The Met Office, until November 2000 officially the Meteorological Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather and climate service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and ...

at Kew Observatory, where he carried out studies on the atmospheric electrical balance in good and bad weather. In 1932 he was one of a six-man British expedition to Fort Rae in Northwest Canada, where he carried out observations of atmospheric electricity. The following year he was posted to the Chemical Warfare Experimental Station at

Porton Down Porton Down is a science and defence technology campus in Wiltshire, England, just north-east of the village of Porton, near Salisbury. It is home to two British government facilities: a site of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and ...

in Wiltshire, where he spent five years studying air motion in the boundary layer (the first few 100 metres above the Earth's surface). In 1939 he was appointed a reader in Meteorology at

Imperial College Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a cultural district in South Kensington that included museums ...

but when war broke out was seconded to the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

to set up a Meteorological Office Training School in London to train weather forecasters. After the war, he returned to Imperial College, where he helped Professor

David Brunt Sir David Brunt, KBE, FRS (17 June 1886 – 5 February 1965) was a Welsh meteorologist. He was Professor of Meteorology at Imperial College, London from 1934 to 1952. He was vice-president of the Royal Society from 1949 to 1957. The Brunt Ice ...

establish a teaching programme for the Diploma of Imperial College and the University of London Master of Science degree, eventually succeeding him as professor in 1952. He continued his work on atmospheric motion in the boundary layer, but gradually became more involved in committee work and lecturing. In 1939 he was elected a Fellow 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 ...

and served as a council member, editor of the ''Quarterly Journal'', vice-president and president (1957–59). In 1963 he was honoured for his lifetime's work with the society's

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 ...

and with the award of a

. 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 ...

in 1964. He died in 1977. He had married Phyllis and had two sons.

References

1907 births 1977 deaths People from Wiltshire People educated at City of Bath Boys' School Alumni of the University of Bristol Academics of Imperial College London Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English meteorologists Fellows of the Royal Society Place of death missing Presidents of the Royal Meteorological Society {{England-academic-bio-stub