physics

Roger Revelle Medal

Roger Revelle Medal 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 Roger Revelle Medal rather than just read about it. In short: The Roger Revelle Medal is given out annually by the American Geophysical Union to recognize "outstanding accomplishments or contributions toward the understanding of the Earth’s atmospheric processes, including its dynamics, chemistry, and radiation; and toward the role of the atmosphere, atmosphere-ocean coupling, or atmosphere-land coupling in determining the climate, biogeochemical cycles, or other key elements…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

The Roger Revelle Medal is given out annually by the American Geophysical Union to recognize "outstanding accomplishments or contributions toward the understanding of the Earth’s atmospheric processes, including its dynamics, chemistry, and radiation; and toward the role of the atmosphere, atmosphere-ocean coupling, or atmosphere-land coupling in determining the climate, biogeochemical cycles, or other key elements of the climate system". The award was created in 1991 and named after oceanographer Roger Revelle.

Past recipients The past recipients of the Roger Revelle Medal are:

1992 - Edward N. Lorenz 1993 - Syukuro Manabe 1994 - F. Sherwood Rowland 1995 - Wallace Broecker 1996 - Robert E. Dickinson 1997 - Hans A. Oeschger 1998 - Harold S. Johnston 1999 - John Michael Wallace 2000 - James R. Holton 2001 - James Hansen 2002 - Ralph J. Cicerone 2003 - Jean Jouzel 2004 - Inez Fung 2006 - John E. Kutzbach 2007 - Richard B. Alley 2008 - Michael L. Bender 2009 - Jorge L. Sarmiento 2010 - Pietr P. Tans 2011 - Owen Brian Toon 2012 - Steven C. Wofsy 2013 - Kuo-Nan Liou 2014 - Christopher Field 2015 - Anne M. Thompson 2016 - Ellen R.M. Druffel 2017 - Kevin Trenberth 2018 - Isaac Held 2019 - Eugenia Kalnay 2020 - Claire Parkinson 2021 - Clara Deser 2022 - Dennis L. Hartmann 2023 - Zhisheng An 2024 - Nicolas Gruber 2025 - Edward R. Cook

See also List of geophysicists List of geophysics awards Prizes named after people

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Roger Revelle Medal

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Roger Revelle Medal 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 Roger Revelle Medal 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 Roger Revelle Medal 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 Roger Revelle Medal

In research: Roger Revelle Medal 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 Roger Revelle Medal 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: Roger Revelle Medal is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1991 establishments in the United States, American Geophysical Union awards, Awards established in 1991, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Roger Revelle Medal 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 Roger Revelle Medal in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Roger Revelle Medal in simple terms?

Why does Roger Revelle Medal 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 Roger Revelle Medal?

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 Roger Revelle Medal.