Cloud Physics

In sharp contrast the environment in which scientific research is conducted is ideally without time restraint. In the ideal world the researcher finds the solution to a problem in a time scale governed only by the difficulty of the problem and his initiative and intelligence. Unlike the practitioner the researcher concentrates on a narrow field of enquiry and digs deep in unknown territory. The practitioner is required to cover a broad field and has little time to delve deeply.

This contrast was evident in the Dwyer years when Len Dwyer broadened the Bureau's field of endeavour while the CSIRO meteorologists were able to concentrate on specific areas of investigation.

We learn something of the history of the CSIRO Division of Radiophysics from the record of Jack Warner's discussion when interviewed by Bruce Morton and the article by Brian Ryan in Windows on Meteorology (1997). The CSIR Division of Radiophysics originated when David Martyn of the Radio Research Board joined CSIR. After a brief period he was succeeded by Fred White who was Chief for most of the wartime years. When Taffy Bowen succeeded Fred White he initiated investigation in the fields of radio astronomy, radio research and cloud physics.

The references quoted by Brian Ryan provide evidence of the quality of research by Bigg, Fletcher, Squires and Twomey in cloud and rain physics. They moved from the laboratory into the real atmosphere in aircraft originally used for cloud seeding but more effectively used to examine the physics of clouds.

In some respects the Bureau's rain seminar resembled the Bureau's tropical cyclone conference in September 1955 which was followed by an international symposium organised by the Bureau in 1956. However the rain seminar had the advantage of participation of CSIRO, university and other specialists.

Bureau of Meteorology