Tim Palmer (physicist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tim Palmer
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Palmer at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos 2013
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Timothy Noel Palmer
31 December 1952 Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England
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| Thesis | Covariant conservation equations and their relation to the energy- momentum concept in general relativity (1977) |
| Doctoral advisor | Dennis William Sciama |
Timothy Noel Palmer (born 31 December 1952) is a smart scientist who studies math and physics. He has spent most of his career learning about how weather and climate work. He also figures out how to predict them.
He helped create new ways to predict weather and climate. These methods use many different forecasts to get a more likely answer. This helps people make important choices for businesses and helping others.
Contents
Early Life and School
Tim Palmer was born in Kingston upon Thames, England, in 1952. He went to the University of Bristol and earned a top degree in Math and Physics. Later, he got his PhD from the University of Oxford. His PhD was about a complex part of physics called General Relativity Theory.
Understanding Weather and Climate
Dr. Palmer's work focuses on how the climate system changes in complex ways. He helped find the world's biggest breaking waves. He also suggested a new way to understand how climate change affects different areas. This idea is based on how weather patterns behave.
He was one of the first to say that we need to use "unified" models. These models would predict both short-term weather and long-term climate. As of 2016, Dr. Palmer is working on making climate models even better. He uses special math to make predictions more accurate. He also uses new computer methods to create very detailed climate models.
Dr. Palmer strongly believes that scientists and computers around the world should work together. This teamwork can help us create the best climate prediction systems. He also studies basic physics. He has a special idea called the "Cosmological Invariant Set Postulate." This idea helps explain how physics works for both very big and very small things.
His Career Journey
After meeting a scientist named Raymond Hide, Tim Palmer became very interested in climate. He started working at the Met Office, which is the UK's national weather service. He even spent a year working at the University of Washington in the USA.
In 1986, he joined the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Here, he led a new team that focused on predictions. His team developed important systems for predicting weather and seasonal climate.
In 2010, Dr. Palmer became a Professor of Climate Physics at the University of Oxford. He was chosen as one of the Royal Society Research Professors. This was part of a celebration for the Royal Society's 350th birthday. At Oxford, he also helps lead a program that models and predicts climate. He is also a professor at Jesus College, Oxford.
Awards and Special Recognitions
Dr. Palmer has received many awards for his important work. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2003. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK. In 2015, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his contributions to science.
Some of his other awards include:
- World Meteorological Organisation Norbert Gerbier-Mumm International Award (2006)
- American Meteorological Society Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal (2010)
- Institute of Physics Dirac Gold Medal (for theoretical physics) (2014)
- Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Bristol (2016)
- European Geosciences Union Lewis Fry Richardson Medal (2018)
- Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal (for Geophysics) (2023)
- Honorary member, Royal Irish Academy (2023)
The Primacy of Doubt Book
In October 2022, Dr. Palmer wrote a book for everyone called The Primacy of Doubt. This book explains the science of uncertainty without using difficult equations. It talks about how chaos works in weather, climate, and even things like economics and pandemics.
The book also discusses if quantum uncertainty (a type of uncertainty in tiny particles) is different from chaotic uncertainty. Dr. Palmer believes they are not different. Many famous scientists praised his book. One reviewer even called it "quite possibly the best popular science book I've ever read."
