[Sasnet] Fwd: Reid Bryson obituary and memorial announcement

[bonnie.a.b.blackwell at williams.edu]

----- Forwarded message from AMQUA announcement list
<amqua-announce at museum.state.il.us> -----
    Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:16:55 -0500
    From: AMQUA announcement list <amqua-announce at museum.state.il.us>
Reply-To: AMQUA announcement list <amqua-announce at museum.state.il.us>
 Subject: [Amqua-announce] Reid Bryson obituary and memorial announcement
      To: amqua-announce at museum.state.il.us


Reid A. Bryson
7 June 1920 - 11 June 2008

Reid A. Bryson died at his home in Madison WI, 11 June of this year. 
He was born in Detroit 7 June 1920. He is survived by his wife and 
four children.

He completed a BS at Dennison in 1941. Following basic meteorological 
training, he served 3 years in the Air Force during WWII as a weather 
forecaster. He completed his PhD in meteorology at the University of 
Chicago in 1948 and joined the Geography Department of the University 
of Wisconsin-Madison at that time. Recognizing the need for a 
more-thorough meteorological training and research program, he 
founded the UW Dept of Meteorology, which has grown to be the largest 
in the country (now Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Studies) and one 
of the most productive departments in research and of students. He 
formed the Center for Climatic Research in 1963 and was instrumental 
in establishing the Inst. for Environmental Studies in 1970. He was a 
long-time member and strong supporter of AMQUA. He attended the first 
biennial meeting in Bozeman in 1970.

Reid was a tower in the fields of meteorology, climatology, 
paleo-climatology and relationships between the climate, people and 
vegetation.  Early on, he defined the geographic limits of the 
various airmasses which dominate different areas of the globe and 
showed how the climatic conditions of each provided a favorable 
environment for the various natural vegetation areas. He promoted 
continuing interaction with anthropologists, archeologists, 
biologists and geologists

Bryson was a superb grad student's mentor. His mind seemed full of 
research ideas and countless means whereby they could be 
investigated.  He planted innumerable seeds for 
meteorological/climatological research with his students.  He 
produced over 200 research papers on the above topics during his career.

Most recently, he developed a model to reconstruct past climates from 
pollen, tree-ring, geological and archeological evidence, but 
continued to offer thoughtful, critical comment on results of models 
still based on an incomplete understanding of the physical environment.

A memorial gathering will be held at 10 am, 23 August in the 
auditorium of the Heritage Oaks facility, 6205 Mineral Point Rd., 
Madison WI 53705, where friends and colleagues are invited to share 
their experiences with and impressions of this giant of environmental 
science. Reid's wife, Fran, continues to reside at the Heritage Oaks.

--Wayne Wendland



----- End forwarded message -----


_______________________________________________________________________________
Bonnie A.B. Blackwell, Ph.D., F.G.S.A., F.G.A.C.
Director, RFK Science Research Institute, 
Research Scientist, Williams College
_______________________________________________________________________________
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