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John Aitken (meteorologist)

May 02, 2024

John Aitken, FRS, FRSE LLD (18 September 1839 – 14 November 1919) was a Scottish meteorologist, physicist and marine engineer. He was one of the founders of cloud physics and aerosol science, who built the first apparatus to measure the number of dust and fog particles in the atmosphere, a koniscope.[1][2]

John Aitken
FRS FRSE
Born18 September 1839
Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland
Died14 November 1919 (1919-11-15) (aged 80)
Ardenlea, Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland
NationalityScottish
Alma materGlasgow University
Known forcloud physics
aerosol
AwardsKeith Prize 1883-5
Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize 1893-6
Royal Medal (1917)
Scientific career
Fieldsmeteorology and physics
InstitutionsPractised meteorology from his home at Darroch, Falkirk.
Signature

Life edit

Aitken was born at Darroch House in Falkirk on 18 September 1839, one of eight children of Henry Aitken of Darroch, a Falkirk lawyer in the firm of Russell & Aitken.

John was educated at Falkirk Grammar School and studied marine engineering at Glasgow University, undertaking his engineer training with Messrs Napier & Sons, the Glasgow shipbuilder.[3]

He returned to his home town of Falkirk, where he carried out his various experiments. In 1875 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, Edward Sang, James Thomson Bottomley and Allen Thomson.[4]

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1889 and was awarded the Royal Medal in 1917.[5] He also received the Keith Medal (1883-1885) and Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize (1893-6) from the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[6] In April 1902 he received an honorary doctorate (LL.D.) from the University of Glasgow.[7] [8]

He died at "Ardenlea", his villa on Redding Road in Falkirk 13 November 1919.

Work edit

He carried out experiments on atmospheric dust in relation to the formation of clouds and mists (1882), on the formation of dew (1885) and on the laws of cyclones (1891). His instrument for counting the dust particles in the air has been used in principle by many later workers. He also invented new forms of thermometer screens which aided the development of meteorology.[6]

One of his experiments conducted with a self-designed apparatus provided the first evidence of new particle formation in the atmosphere. This work was documented in an article titled "On some nuclei of cloudy condensation", in the 39th volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh published in 1898.[9]

John Aitken was the author of a number of important pioneering discoveries "On Dust, Fogs and Clouds" (the title of an 1880 article he penned).[10] As early as 1874, Aitken had concluded that when water vapour in the atmosphere condenses, it must condense on some solid particle, and thus, without the presence of dust and other aerosol particles in the air, there would be no formation of fog, clouds, or rain. In 1884, he concluded that the brilliant colours often seen in the sunset are due to the refraction of light by dust particles in the upper atmosphere.[11]

Today, his name is given by atmospheric scientists to the smallest atmospheric aerosol particles (Aitken nuclei), those with a radius less than 0.1 micrometres.[12] This size range include the newly nucleated particles whose existence Aitken demonstrated.

Cargill Gilston Knott assembled and edited Aitkens works for the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and contributed an introductory Memoir:[13]

Bibliography of Aitken's Papers edit

  1. Aitken, J. 1872. Melting and regelation of ice. Nature 6:396.
  2. Aitken, J. 1873. Glacier motion. Nature 7(172):287–288.
  3. Aitken, J. 1875. On boiling, condensing, freezing, and melting. Transactions of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts (1874–1875) 9:240–287.
  4. Aitken, J. 1875. Experiments illustrating rigidity produced by centrifugal force. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1875–1876) 9(94):73–78.
  5. Aitken, J. 1876. Experiments illustrating rigidity produced by centrifugal force. Proceedings of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow (1875–1876) 10(1):99–106.
  6. Aitken, J. 1878. Experiments illustrating rigidity produced by centrifugal force. The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, Fifth series, 5(29):81–105.
  7. Aitken, J. 1876–77. On ocean circulation. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1876–1877) 9(98):394–400.
  8. Aitken, J. 1880. On a new variety of ocular spectrum. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1878–1879) 10(104):40–44.
  9. Aitken, J. 1880. On the distribution of temperature under the ice in frozen lakes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1878–1879) 10(104):409–415.
  10. Aitken, J. 1880. On dust, fogs, and clouds. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1880–1881) 11(108):14–18; 122–126.
  11. Aitken, J. 1880. On dust, fogs, and clouds. Nature 23(583):195–197.
  12. Aitken, J. 1881. Dust and fogs. Nature 23(588):311–312.
  13. Aitken, J. 1881. Dust, fogs, and clouds. Nature 23(591):384–385.
  14. Aitken, J. 1881. On dust, fogs, and clouds. Van Nostrand's Engineering Magazine 24(148):308–310.
  15. Aitken, J. 1882. On the colour of the Mediterranean and other waters. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1881–1882) 11:472–483.
  16. Aitken, J. 1882–1883. On the effect of oil on a stormy sea. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1882–1883) 12:56–75.
  17. Aitken, J. 1883. On dust, fogs, and clouds. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 30(1):337–368.
  18. Aitken, J. 1883–84. The remarkable sunsets. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 12:448–450,647-660. (See 1883 eruption of Krakatoa.)
  19. Aitken, J. 1884. On the formation of small clear spaces in dusty air. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1883–1884) 32:239–272.
  20. Aitken, J. 1884. Second note on the remarkable sunsets. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1883–1884) 12:123–133.
  21. Aitken, J. 1885. Chromomictors. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1884–1885) 13:122–130.
  22. Aitken, J. 1885. On dew. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1885–1886) 13(121):446–450.
  23. Aitken, J. 1885. On thermometer screens. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1885–1886) 13:632–642.
  24. Aitken, J. 1886. On dew. The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, Fifth Series, 22(135):206–212; (137):363–368.
  25. Aitken, J. 1887. Note on hoar-frost. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 14(2):121–125.
  26. Aitken, J. 1888. On the number of dust particles in the atmosphere. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 35(1):1–19.
  27. Aitken, J. 1889. Dust particles in the atmosphere at Ben Nevis Observatory. Nature 40:350–351.
  28. Aitken, J. 1889. On improvements in the apparatus for counting the dust particles in the atmosphere. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 16(129):134–172.
  29. Aitken, J. 1890. On the number of dust particles in the atmosphere of certain places in Great Britain and on the continent, with remarks on the relation between the amount of dust and meteorological phenomena. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1889–1890) 17(130):193–254.
  30. Aitken, J. 1890. On the number of dust particles in the atmosphere of certain places in Great Britain and on the continent, with remarks on the relation between the amount of dust and meteorological phenomena. Nature 41(1061):394–396.
  31. Aitken, J. 1891. On a simple pocket dust-counter. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1890–1891) 18(February):39–52.
  32. Aitken, J. 1891. On a method of observing and counting the number of water particles in a fog. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1890–1891) 18:259–262.
  33. Aitken, J. 1891. On the solid and liquid particles in clouds. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 36:313–319.
  34. Aitken, J. 1892. On the number of dust particles in the atmosphere of certain places in Great Britain and on the continent, with remarks on the relation between the amount of dust and meteorological phenomena. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 37(3):17–49; (28):621–693.
  35. Aitken, J. 1892. On some phenomena connected with cloudy condensation. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 51(312):408–439.
  36. Aitken, J. 1892–95. On some observations made without a dust counter on the hazing effect of atmospheric dust. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 20:76–93.
  37. Aitken, J. 1893. Particles in fogs and clouds. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 37(20):413–425.
  38. Aitken, J. 1893. Breath figures. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 20:94–97.
  39. Aitken, J. 1894. Dust and meteorological phenomena. Nature 49(1275):544–546.
  40. Aitken, J. 1894. Phenomena connected with cloudy condensation. Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, July 1893, pp. 201–230.
  41. Aitken, J. 1895. On the number of dust particles in the atmosphere of certain places in Great Britain and on the continent, with remarks on the relation between the amount of dust and meteorological phenomena. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 37(3):17–49; (28):621–693.
  42. Aitken, J. 1896. Observations of atmospheric dust. In: Fassig, O. (ed), United States Department of Agriculture, Weather Bureau Bulletin 11, Part III, pp. 734–754.
  43. Aitken, J. 1898. On some nuclei of cloudy condensation. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 39(3):15–25.
  44. Aitken, J. 1902. Report on atmospheric dust. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 42(2):479–489.
  45. Aitken, J. 1903. On the formation of definitive figures by the deposition of dust. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A 201:551–558.
  46. Aitken, J. 1905. Evaporation of musk and other odorous substances. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 25(10):894–902.
  47. Aitken, J. 1912. The sun as a fog producer. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1911–1912) 32:183–215.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Second Edition, Seinfeld and Pandis, 2006.
  2. ^ "John Aitken | British physicist and meteorologist | Britannica". www.britannica.com.
  3. ^ Waterston, Charles D; Macmillan Shearer, A (July 2006). (PDF). Vol. I. Edinburgh: The Royal Society of Edinburgh. ISBN 978-0-902198-84-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2006. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
  4. ^ "missing" (PDF).
  5. ^ "Award winners : Royal Medal". Retrieved 30 November 2018 – via docs.google.com.
  6. ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). "Aitken, John" . Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company.
  7. ^ "University intelligence". The Times. No. 36749. 23 April 1902. p. 7.
  8. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  9. ^ Aitken, J. 1898. On some nuclei of cloudy condensation. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 39(3):15–25.
  10. ^ Aitken, J. 1880. On dust, fogs, and clouds. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1880–1881) 11(108):14–18; 122–126.
  11. ^ Podzimek, J. (1989). "John Aitken's Contribution to Atmospheric and Aerosol Sciences—One Hundred Years of Condensation Nuclei Counting". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 70 (12): 1538–1545. Bibcode:1989BAMS...70.1538P. doi:10.1175/1520-0477(1989)070<1538:JACTAA>2.0.CO;2.
  12. ^ "Dr. John Aitken from the Gazetteer for Scotland".
  13. ^ C. G. Knott (1923) Collected Scientific Papers of John Aitken, Cambridge University Press via HathiTrust

External links edit

  • Collected Scientific papers of John Aitken

May 02, 2024
john, aitken, meteorologist, john, aitken, frse, september, 1839, november, 1919, scottish, meteorologist, physicist, marine, engineer, founders, cloud, physics, aerosol, science, built, first, apparatus, measure, number, dust, particles, atmosphere, koniscope. John Aitken FRS FRSE LLD 18 September 1839 14 November 1919 was a Scottish meteorologist physicist and marine engineer He was one of the founders of cloud physics and aerosol science who built the first apparatus to measure the number of dust and fog particles in the atmosphere a koniscope 1 2 John AitkenFRS FRSEBorn18 September 1839Falkirk Stirlingshire ScotlandDied14 November 1919 1919 11 15 aged 80 Ardenlea Falkirk Stirlingshire ScotlandNationalityScottishAlma materGlasgow UniversityKnown forcloud physicsaerosolAwardsKeith Prize 1883 5Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize 1893 6Royal Medal 1917 Scientific careerFieldsmeteorology and physicsInstitutionsPractised meteorology from his home at Darroch Falkirk Signature Contents 1 Life 2 Work 3 Bibliography of Aitken s Papers 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksLife editAitken was born at Darroch House in Falkirk on 18 September 1839 one of eight children of Henry Aitken of Darroch a Falkirk lawyer in the firm of Russell amp Aitken John was educated at Falkirk Grammar School and studied marine engineering at Glasgow University undertaking his engineer training with Messrs Napier amp Sons the Glasgow shipbuilder 3 He returned to his home town of Falkirk where he carried out his various experiments In 1875 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh His proposers were William Thomson Lord Kelvin Edward Sang James Thomson Bottomley and Allen Thomson 4 He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1889 and was awarded the Royal Medal in 1917 5 He also received the Keith Medal 1883 1885 and Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize 1893 6 from the Royal Society of Edinburgh 6 In April 1902 he received an honorary doctorate LL D from the University of Glasgow 7 8 He died at Ardenlea his villa on Redding Road in Falkirk 13 November 1919 Work editHe carried out experiments on atmospheric dust in relation to the formation of clouds and mists 1882 on the formation of dew 1885 and on the laws of cyclones 1891 His instrument for counting the dust particles in the air has been used in principle by many later workers He also invented new forms of thermometer screens which aided the development of meteorology 6 One of his experiments conducted with a self designed apparatus provided the first evidence of new particle formation in the atmosphere This work was documented in an article titled On some nuclei of cloudy condensation in the 39th volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh published in 1898 9 John Aitken was the author of a number of important pioneering discoveries On Dust Fogs and Clouds the title of an 1880 article he penned 10 As early as 1874 Aitken had concluded that when water vapour in the atmosphere condenses it must condense on some solid particle and thus without the presence of dust and other aerosol particles in the air there would be no formation of fog clouds or rain In 1884 he concluded that the brilliant colours often seen in the sunset are due to the refraction of light by dust particles in the upper atmosphere 11 Today his name is given by atmospheric scientists to the smallest atmospheric aerosol particles Aitken nuclei those with a radius less than 0 1 micrometres 12 This size range include the newly nucleated particles whose existence Aitken demonstrated Cargill Gilston Knott assembled and edited Aitkens works for the Royal Society of Edinburgh and contributed an introductory Memoir 13 Bibliography of Aitken s Papers editAitken J 1872 Melting and regelation of ice Nature 6 396 Aitken J 1873 Glacier motion Nature 7 172 287 288 Aitken J 1875 On boiling condensing freezing and melting Transactions of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts 1874 1875 9 240 287 Aitken J 1875 Experiments illustrating rigidity produced by centrifugal force Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1875 1876 9 94 73 78 Aitken J 1876 Experiments illustrating rigidity produced by centrifugal force Proceedings of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow 1875 1876 10 1 99 106 Aitken J 1878 Experiments illustrating rigidity produced by centrifugal force The London Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science Fifth series 5 29 81 105 Aitken J 1876 77 On ocean circulation Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1876 1877 9 98 394 400 Aitken J 1880 On a new variety of ocular spectrum Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1878 1879 10 104 40 44 Aitken J 1880 On the distribution of temperature under the ice in frozen lakes Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1878 1879 10 104 409 415 Aitken J 1880 On dust fogs and clouds Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1880 1881 11 108 14 18 122 126 Aitken J 1880 On dust fogs and clouds Nature 23 583 195 197 Aitken J 1881 Dust and fogs Nature 23 588 311 312 Aitken J 1881 Dust fogs and clouds Nature 23 591 384 385 Aitken J 1881 On dust fogs and clouds Van Nostrand s Engineering Magazine 24 148 308 310 Aitken J 1882 On the colour of the Mediterranean and other waters Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1881 1882 11 472 483 Aitken J 1882 1883 On the effect of oil on a stormy sea Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1882 1883 12 56 75 Aitken J 1883 On dust fogs and clouds Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 30 1 337 368 Aitken J 1883 84 The remarkable sunsets Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 12 448 450 647 660 See 1883 eruption of Krakatoa Aitken J 1884 On the formation of small clear spaces in dusty air Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1883 1884 32 239 272 Aitken J 1884 Second note on the remarkable sunsets Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1883 1884 12 123 133 Aitken J 1885 Chromomictors Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1884 1885 13 122 130 Aitken J 1885 On dew Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1885 1886 13 121 446 450 Aitken J 1885 On thermometer screens Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1885 1886 13 632 642 Aitken J 1886 On dew The London Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science Fifth Series 22 135 206 212 137 363 368 Aitken J 1887 Note on hoar frost Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 14 2 121 125 Aitken J 1888 On the number of dust particles in the atmosphere Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 35 1 1 19 Aitken J 1889 Dust particles in the atmosphere at Ben Nevis Observatory Nature 40 350 351 Aitken J 1889 On improvements in the apparatus for counting the dust particles in the atmosphere Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 16 129 134 172 Aitken J 1890 On the number of dust particles in the atmosphere of certain places in Great Britain and on the continent with remarks on the relation between the amount of dust and meteorological phenomena Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1889 1890 17 130 193 254 Aitken J 1890 On the number of dust particles in the atmosphere of certain places in Great Britain and on the continent with remarks on the relation between the amount of dust and meteorological phenomena Nature 41 1061 394 396 Aitken J 1891 On a simple pocket dust counter Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1890 1891 18 February 39 52 Aitken J 1891 On a method of observing and counting the number of water particles in a fog Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1890 1891 18 259 262 Aitken J 1891 On the solid and liquid particles in clouds Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 36 313 319 Aitken J 1892 On the number of dust particles in the atmosphere of certain places in Great Britain and on the continent with remarks on the relation between the amount of dust and meteorological phenomena Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 37 3 17 49 28 621 693 Aitken J 1892 On some phenomena connected with cloudy condensation Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 51 312 408 439 Aitken J 1892 95 On some observations made without a dust counter on the hazing effect of atmospheric dust Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 20 76 93 Aitken J 1893 Particles in fogs and clouds Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 37 20 413 425 Aitken J 1893 Breath figures Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 20 94 97 Aitken J 1894 Dust and meteorological phenomena Nature 49 1275 544 546 Aitken J 1894 Phenomena connected with cloudy condensation Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution July 1893 pp 201 230 Aitken J 1895 On the number of dust particles in the atmosphere of certain places in Great Britain and on the continent with remarks on the relation between the amount of dust and meteorological phenomena Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 37 3 17 49 28 621 693 Aitken J 1896 Observations of atmospheric dust In Fassig O ed United States Department of Agriculture Weather Bureau Bulletin 11 Part III pp 734 754 Aitken J 1898 On some nuclei of cloudy condensation Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 39 3 15 25 Aitken J 1902 Report on atmospheric dust Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 42 2 479 489 Aitken J 1903 On the formation of definitive figures by the deposition of dust Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A 201 551 558 Aitken J 1905 Evaporation of musk and other odorous substances Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 25 10 894 902 Aitken J 1912 The sun as a fog producer Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1911 1912 32 183 215 See also editBreath figure self assemblyReferences edit Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Second Edition Seinfeld and Pandis 2006 John Aitken British physicist and meteorologist Britannica www britannica com Waterston Charles D Macmillan Shearer A July 2006 Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783 2002 Biographical Index PDF Vol I Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh ISBN 978 0 902198 84 5 Archived from the original PDF on 4 October 2006 Retrieved 25 September 2010 missing PDF Award winners Royal Medal Retrieved 30 November 2018 via docs google com a b Chisholm Hugh ed 1922 Aitken John Encyclopaedia Britannica 12th ed London amp New York The Encyclopaedia Britannica Company University intelligence The Times No 36749 23 April 1902 p 7 missing PDF Archived from the original PDF on 19 September 2015 Retrieved 20 March 2015 Aitken J 1898 On some nuclei of cloudy condensation Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 39 3 15 25 Aitken J 1880 On dust fogs and clouds Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1880 1881 11 108 14 18 122 126 Podzimek J 1989 John Aitken s Contribution to Atmospheric and Aerosol Sciences One Hundred Years of Condensation Nuclei Counting Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 70 12 1538 1545 Bibcode 1989BAMS 70 1538P doi 10 1175 1520 0477 1989 070 lt 1538 JACTAA gt 2 0 CO 2 Dr John Aitken from the Gazetteer for Scotland C G Knott 1923 Collected Scientific Papers of John Aitken Cambridge University Press via HathiTrustExternal links editCollected Scientific papers of John Aitken Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title John Aitken meteorologist amp oldid 1204335282, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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