Richard Mead Goody (19 June 1921 – 3 August 2023) was a British-American atmospheric physicist and professor of planetary physics at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He was inducted into the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 1970.

Early life and education

A native of Hertfordshire, Goody attended

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 ...

, from which he received a bachelor's degree in physics in 1942. He then worked at the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment until October 1946, when he returned to Cambridge to receive his PhD, doing so in 1949. While there, he was instructed to build an infrared spectrometer for use in an airplane to measure stratospheric dryness. He also made important discoveries into the structure of the

stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second-lowest layer of the atmosphere of Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is composed of stratified temperature zones, with the warmer layers of air located higher ...

during this time, which led him to study radiative transfer in planetary atmospheres. Related to this work, the best known and widely used model of absorption bands in atmospheric opacity is due to the work of Goody in 1952, and the model was initially known as the Goody random model. It was later discovered that Harris Mayer's work under the supervision of Edward Teller at Los Alamos National Laboratory published in 1947 had made similar calculations and many sources now call the model the Mayer-Goody model or the Mayer-Goody statistical model.

Scientific career

Goody was appointed the Abbott Lawrence Rotch Professor of Dynamic Meteorology and director of the Blue Hill Observatory at Harvard in 1958 and elected into the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

the following year.Hitran Database Conference
p. 8 He became a US citizen in 1965. His 1964 book ''Atmospheric Radiation'' has been described as "classic". He served as the director of the Blue Hill Observatory until 1970, and the chair of the Space Studies Board of the

from 1974 to 1976. In 1970, Goody was the co-chair of a National Academy of Sciences study of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

entitled "Venus: Strategy for Exploration", and he was partly responsible for launching the Pioneer Venus project, which launched probes to Venus in 1978. He underwent compulsory retirement from Harvard in 1991. Goody 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 1997.

Death

Richard Mead Goody died on 3 August 2023, at the age of 102.Richard Mead Goody obituary
peacefulalternatives.com. Accessed November 12, 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goody, Richard Mead 1921 births 2023 deaths People from Hertfordshire American men centenarians 21st-century American physicists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Harvard University faculty Alumni of the University of Cambridge Atmospheric physicists British emigrants to the United States Members of the American Philosophical Society Fellows of the American Geophysical Union Naturalized citizens of the United States Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge