physics

Norman A. Phillips

Norman A. Phillips is a physics 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 Norman A. Phillips rather than just read about it. In short: Norman A. Phillips (July 9, 1923 – March 15, 2019) was an American meteorologist notable for his contributions to geophysical fluid dynamics.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Norman A. Phillips (July 9, 1923 – March 15, 2019) was an American meteorologist notable for his contributions to geophysical fluid dynamics. In 1956, he developed a mathematical model that could realistically depict monthly and seasonal patterns in the troposphere, which became the first successful general circulation model of climate.

About Phillips was born in Chicago, Illinois. His parents, Alton Elmer Anton Phillips and Linnea (Larson) Phillips, were the children of Swedish immigrants to the United States. He enrolled at the University of Chicago in 1940, intending to study chemistry, but the start of World War II and the influence of Carl-Gustaf Rossby inspired him to join the Army Air Corps in 1943. After graduating from the meteorological cadet program at Chanute Field as fourth in a class of 391, he served in the Azores and then at Westover Field until October 1946. He returned to the University of Chicago after the war, earning his bachelor's degree in 1947, his master's in 1948, and his PhD in 1951. Shortly before completing his PhD, Phillips accepted a position on the research staff of the Electronic Computer Project at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1956, he was recruited by the Department of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, eventually becoming department head. In 1974, Phillips left MIT to join the National Weather Service at the National Meteorological Center, where he served as the principal scientist of the NMC Development Division. When he retired, the Nested Grid Model was popularly known as "Norm's Great Model." Phillips died at Grace House in Windham, New Hampshire on March 15, 2019. He published his last academic paper, on the Foucault pendulum, at the age of 90.

Awards In 1956, his seminal paper, "The general circulation of the atmosphere: a numerical experiment," was recognized with the first Napier Shaw Memorial Prize from the Royal Meteorological Society. Phillips was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1976. He and his colleague Joseph Smagorinsky were awarded a Benjamin Franklin Medal (Franklin Institute) in 2003. Phillips was also an honorary member of the American Meteorological Society, and a recipient of their highest honor, the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal.

Works Phillips, Norman A. (April 1956). "The general circulation of the atmosphere: a numerical experiment." Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 82 (352): 123–154. Bibcode:1956QJRMS..82..123P. doi:10.1002/qj.49708235202.

References

Cox, John D. (2002). Storm Watchers. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 210. ISBN 0-471-38108-X.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Norman A. Phillips

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Norman A. Phillips claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, 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 Norman A. Phillips 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 Norman A. Phillips 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 Norman A. Phillips

In research: Norman A. Phillips appears in physics 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 Norman A. Phillips 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: Norman A. Phillips is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1923 births, 2019 deaths, American meteorologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Norman A. Phillips 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 Norman A. Phillips in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Norman A. Phillips 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 Norman A. Phillips out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Norman A. Phillips in simple terms?

Norman A. Phillips (July 9, 1923 – March 15, 2019) was an American meteorologist notable for his contributions to geophysical fluid dynamics.

Why does Norman A. Phillips matter?

Because it connects several physics 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 Norman A. Phillips?

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 Norman A. Phillips.