PALMÉN

FINLAND (see also List of Individuals)

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31.8.1898 Vasa/FI - 19.3.1985 Helsinki/FI

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Erik Herbert Palmén graduated from Helsinki University in 1922 and until 1935 there was an assistant when being appointed professor and director of the Finish Research Institution of Oceanography. In parallel, he was a Private docent in geophysics and then a professor of meteorology of Helsinki University. Palmén was a visiting professor in the 1950s at the Universities of Chicago and Berkeley. Finally, from 1948 to 1968, he was a professor at the Finish Academy of Sciences in Helsinki and presided over it in 1957. Palmén was awarded the Hällström Prize in 1938, the Theodor-Homén Prize in 1954, the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Award from the American Meteorological Society in 1960 and the IMO Prize from the World Meteorological Organization WMO in 1969.

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Palmén was a famous meteorologist and oceanographer who followed up the works of father and son Bjerknes. He is considered the founder of modern aerology, a branch of meteorology involving the observation of the atmosphere by means of balloons or airplanes. The basic parameters of interest are air temperature and humidity, atmospheric pressure and wind magnitude. His contributions to the general circulation of the atmosphere are essential and he was able to describe the structure of cyclones. During his stay at the University of Chicago, Palmén further described in collaboration with a research group the general patterns of atmospheric circulation and the jet stream. The WMO Prize was conferred on him for both excellent research and international corporation towards the advancement of meteorology in general.

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_{Anonymous (1988). Palmén memorial symposium on extratropical cyclones. AMS: Boston. P}

_{Montgomery, R.B., Palmén, E. (1940). Contribution to the question of the equatorial counter current. Journal of Marine Research 3: 112-133.}

_{Palmén, E.H. (1951). The role of atmospheric disturbances in the general circulation. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 77(7): 337-354.}

_{Palmén, E.H. (1955). On the exchange of momentum between the atmosphere, the oceans, and the solid earth. Journal of Marine Research 14: 465-476.}

_{Palmén, E.H., Newton, C.W. (1969). Atmospheric circulation systems: Their structure and physical interpretation. Academic Press: New York.}

_{Poggendorff, J.C. (1936). Palmén, Erik Herbert. Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch}

_{6: 1943; 7b: 3844-3846; 8: 1989. Verlag Chemie: Leipzig, with bibliography.}