Keith Beven facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Keith Beven
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Beven in 2017
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| Born | 23 July 1950 Barnehurst, Kent, England
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| Education | Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School |
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| Known for | Generalised likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) |
| Awards | Robert E. Horton Medal (2012) |
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| Fields | Hydrology |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | A Deterministic Spatially Distributed Model of Catchment Hydrology (1975) |
| Doctoral advisor | Keith Clayton |
Keith John Beven (born 23 July 1950) is a famous British hydrologist. A hydrologist is a scientist who studies water and how it moves on and under the Earth's surface. He is a professor at Lancaster University and is known as one of the most important hydrologists in the world.
In 2017, Keith Beven became a member of the National Academy of Engineering. This was for his important work in understanding how water moves and for creating new ways to model water systems.
Contents
Studying Water Science
Keith Beven went to Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School. He then studied geography at the University of Bristol, finishing in 1971. Later, he earned his PhD from the University of East Anglia (UEA) in 1975. His PhD research was about how water flows in a catchment area, which is an area of land where all the water drains into a single river or lake.
Career and Research in Hydrology
Keith Beven has worked at several universities and research centers. He worked at the University of Leeds and the Institute of Hydrology. He also spent time as a professor at the University of Virginia in the United States. In 1985, he joined Lancaster University in the UK. He has also visited other universities around the world, like the University of California, Santa Barbara and KU Leuven in Belgium.
Understanding Water Flow with Models
His main research is about using computer models to understand how water moves. These models help predict things like floods or how water quality changes. He also studies how sure we can be about these predictions.
He helped create a method called Generalised Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE). This method helps scientists understand the uncertainty (how much we can trust) in their computer models. GLUE has been used for many different things, such as:
- Predicting how much water flows after rain.
- Forecasting floods.
- Studying water quality.
- Looking at how plants grow.
- Even predicting forest fires!
Keith Beven has written many books and over 350 scientific papers. His work helps us better understand and manage water resources.
Awards and Special Honours
Keith Beven has received many important awards for his work. Some of these include:
- He was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2017. This is a very high honour for scientists in the UK. He was the first hydrologist to receive this award since 1969.
- He became a foreign member of the US National Academy of Engineering in 2017.
- He received the Horton Award from the American Geophysical Union in 1991.
- He was made a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1995.
- He won the John Dalton Medal from the European Geophysical Society in 2001.
- He received the Robert E. Horton Medal from the American Geophysical Union in 2012.
- He was given an honorary degree (DSc) by the University of Bristol in 2015.
