astronomy

Louis J. Battan

Louis J. Battan is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Louis J. Battan rather than just read about it. In short: Louis Joseph Battan (February 9, 1923 – October 29, 1986) was an American atmospheric scientist who received his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1953, where he was hired to work in the field of the physics of clouds and precipitation. In 1958 he was appointed professor of meteorology and associate director of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Key takeaways

Louis J. Battan belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Louis J. Battan to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Louis J. Battan from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Louis Joseph Battan (February 9, 1923 – October 29, 1986) was an American atmospheric scientist who received his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1953, where he was hired to work in the field of the physics of clouds and precipitation. In 1958 he was appointed professor of meteorology and associate director of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He was a pioneer in cloud physics and radar meteorology. Battan was born in the New York City and grew up in Brooklyn. He was the second of the four sons born to Annibale and Luisa Battan, devout Catholics who immigrated to the United States from the village of Vigo in the Tyrolean Alps of Austria.

Career Along with his colleague and close friend, David Atlas, Battan underwent rigorous training in radar engineering and meteorology in the U.S. Army Air Corps, at Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) during World War II. He received his B.S. from New York University (NYU) in 1946 and then moved to the University of Chicago where he obtained his M.S. and a Ph.D. in 1953. During the Thunderstorm Project (1946–48), Dr. Battan used radar analysis to show precipitation initiation from coalescence in midlatitude convective clouds. He, along with Dr. Roscoe Braham Jr. and Dr. Horace R. Byers, conducted one of the first randomized experiments on cloud modification by the artificial nucleation of cumulus clouds. After obtaining his Ph.D., he remained at Chicago until 1958. Then he became a professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences and Institute for Atmospheric Physics, University of Arizona, and served as its director from 1973 to 1982. There he conducted research on clouds, precipitation processes, lightning, and radar relationships. He led the development of the first 3-cm Doppler weather radar to measure vertical motion and particle sizes in thunderstorms in 1964. He was the American Meteorological Society (AMS) president from 1966 to 1967 and served on numerous national and international committees including the U.S. President's National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere in 1978. He was instrumental in the founding of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), including serving as a long-time member on its Board of Trustees and many advisory capacities. He received many awards including the AMS Meisinger Award (1962), the AMS Charles Franklin Brooks Award for Outstanding Service to the Society (1971), and the AMS Second Half Century Award (1975).

The Louis J. Battan Author's Award Battan was a prolific writer whose repertoire includes one of the first textbooks on radar meteorology in 1959 and Radar Observation of the Atmosphere in 1973, which became the reference text on the subject. He authored 16 books and more than 100 articles. His contribution to meteorological education, through publications written in an accessible and informative style, has been honored by the AMS with the establishment of two annual "Louis J. Battan Author's Awards". Recipients of the Louis J. Battan Author's Award (Adult) include: James Rodger Fleming, Professor of Science, Technology, and Society, Colby College, Waterville, Maine (2012); Chris Mooney, Contributing Editor, Science Progress & Author, Washington, DC (2009); Kerry Emanuel (2007); Charles Wohlforth (2006); John M. Nese, Glenn Schwartz (2005); Robert C. Sheets (2004); Susan Solomon (2003); Erik Larson (2002); Howard B. Bluestein (2001); Richard C. J. Somerville (2000); Zbigniew Sorbjan (1998); Jack Fishman, Robert Kalish (1997); Thomas E. Graedel, Paul J. Crutzen (1996); Edward N. Lorenz (1995); Jack Williams (1994); Robert Marc Friedman (1993); John W. Firor (1992); Stephen H. Schneider (1990); Craig F. Bohren (1989).

Legacy Dr. Battan's work and contributions to the world of meteorology:

1964. The nature of violent storms (La Naturaleza de las Tormentas, en español, EUDEBA). 158 pp. 1965. Física y siembra de nubes. Volumen 26 de Ciencia joven. EUDEBA. 159 pp. 1980. The unclean sky; a meteorologist looks at air pollution. 153 pp. Cloud physics and cloud seeding Radar observes the weather (El radar explora la atmósfera, en español) 1969. Harvesting the Clouds: Advances in Weather Modification. 148 pp. 1984. Fundamentals of Meteorology. 1983. Weather in Your Life. 230 pp. ISBN 0-7167-1437-X Radar meteorology Radar observation of the atmosphere Weather. Foundations of Earth Science Series. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. 1974. pp. 74. ISBN 0139477624. The Thunderstorm 2003. Cloud Physics: A Popular Introduction to Applied Meteorology. 160 pp. 1978. The Weather. Omega Ed. 144 pp.. ISBN 84-282-0436-5

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Louis J. Battan

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Louis J. Battan claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Louis J. Battan before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Louis J. Battan ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Louis J. Battan

In research: Louis J. Battan appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Louis J. Battan in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Louis J. Battan is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1923 births, 1986 deaths, 20th-century American people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Louis J. Battan outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Louis J. Battan in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Louis J. Battan means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Louis J. Battan out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Louis J. Battan in simple terms?

Why does Louis J. Battan matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Louis J. Battan?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Louis J. Battan.