/funds-and-prizes/buys-ballot-medal
The Buys Ballot Medal recognises individual researchers who have made a significant contribution to meteorology, particularly in the field of climate change.
Subject areas
Meteorology
Who is it for?
Researchers in the Netherlands or abroad who have made a significant contribution to meteorology, particularly in the field of climate change.
Who may submit a nomination?
- Executive boards and deans of universities in the Netherlands or elsewhere;
- Directors of research institutes in the Netherlands or elsewhere;
- Academies, meteorological organisations such as EMS, EUMETSAT, ESA, EUMETNET and WMO, and other research organisations in the Netherlands or elsewhere.
About the Buys Ballot Medal
The Buys Ballot Medal was established by the Academy in 1888 as a tribute to the scientific achievements of meteorologist and Academy member C.H.D. Buys Ballot (1817-1890). The medal is awarded in recognition of outstanding and inspiring contributions to meteorology. Since 1893, the Academy has awarded the Buys Ballot Medal once every ten years. Starting from 2023 the Medal will be awarded every five years and with a focus on the field of climate change. The laureate receives a silver-plated medal. The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) and the Academy are joint partners for the Buys Ballot Medal.
Sir Brian Hoskins
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences will present the 2014 Buys Ballot Medal to British meteorologist Sir Brian Hoskins. A mathematician by training, Hoskins is receiving the medal for his pioneering work on weather systems and large-scale atmospheric motion.
About the laureate
Sir Brian J. Hoskins (born in 1945) has introduced numerous concepts and methods in operational meteorology that are now used worldwide to calculate weather forecasts. Thanks to his efforts, the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading has achieved a leading international position.
Hoskins has already received many awards for his work and is regarded as one of the world's foremost meteorologists. He was knighted in 2007 for his services to the environment.
Sir Brian Hoskins received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1970. He has been with the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading since 1976, first as a Reader in Atmospheric Modelling and since 1981 as Professor of Meteorology. From 2000 to 2010, he was a Royal Society Research Professor. In addition to his professorship at the University of Reading, in 2008 he became the first Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London.
Edward Norton Lorenz
The American meteorologist Edward Norton Lorenz was awarded the Buys Ballot Medal 2004 by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The Royal Netherlands Academy is awarding the medal to Lorenz for his contribution to the science of weather and climate forecasting.
Lorenz, the founder of chaos theory, discovered that a small disturbance of the atmosphere in one location can have major consequences for the weather in another. In his own famous example, the 'Butterfly Effect', he described how the beating of a butterfly's wings in China can unleash a tornado in America. Chaos theory has had an important impact on the method currently used by meteorologists to forecast the weather over several days and is now used on a daily basis to draw up medium to long term forecasts. It has influenced not only meteorology, but also biology, medicine and even the social sciences.
About the laureate
Edward Norton Lorenz (1917 - 2008 ) started out as a mathematician. His career in meteorology began during the Second World War, when he became a weather forecaster for the U.S. Army Air Corps. He went on to study meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he took his Ph.D. and was appointed a professor. Lorenz retired in 1987 but has continued to study the atmosphere.
1995
V. Ramanathan, United States
1982
Axel Wiin-Nielsen, Denmark
1973
Joseph Smagorinsky, United States
1963
Eric Palmén, Finland
1953
Gustav Swoboda, Czech Republic
1948
Sverre Petterssen, Norway
1943-
1933
Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norway
1923
Sir Napier Shaw, United Kingdom
1913
Hugo von Hergesell, Germany
1903
W. Assman / F.A. Berson, Germany
1893
Julius von Hann, Austria