Stan Paterson
| Stan Paterson | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 20 May 1924 Edinburgh, United Kingdom |
| Died | 8 October 2013 (aged 89) Campbell River, Vancouver Island, Canada |
| Occupation | Glaciologist |
William Stanley Bryce (Stan) Paterson was a leading glaciologist who mined cores which provided climate data for the world's last 100,000 years.[1][2]
Academic career[edit]
In 1953, Paterson joined the British North Greenland Expedition as a surveyor.[1]
In 1956, Paterson joined an expedition to South Georgia where he was involved in the first survey of the island's mountain ranges.[1]
In 1957, Paterson emigrated for work to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, before beginning his studies for a PhD in glaciology at the University of British Columbia the following year.[2]
In 1958, Paterson joined a Scottish East Greenland Expedition to measure the flow rate of a coastal glacier.[1]
Paterson completed his PhD in 1962 and was then appointed to the Canadian Polar Continental Shelf Project (PCSP) as a glaciologist.[2][3]
For the next few decades, Paterson, and a team of glaciologists he put together, spent time in the Canadian Arctic drilling ice cores and carrying out investigations on the ice caps.[3] Each ice core was analysed in terms of its structure and chemistry and provided pioneering data on the earth's climate reaching back 100,000 years into history.[1] Some of this data was then used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.[1]
Also during his time at the PSCP, in 1969, Paterson wrote a key text in the field of glaciology - The Physics of Glaciers, of which a fourth edition was published in 2010 and it remains a key work in the field.[4][5]
Paterson left the PCSP in 1980, and continued his interests of writing and teaching with sabbaticals in Copenhagen, Seattle, Melbourne and China.[2]
The work Paterson carried out was also relevant to the field of planetary science, and in 1992 he was appointed as co-convenor of the NASA and Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) joint Workshop on The Polar Regions of Mars: Geology, Glaciology, and Climate History.[3]
In 2012, the International Glaciological Society awarded Paterson the Richardson Medal for Outstanding Services to Glaciology.[1][5]
Biography[edit]
Paterson was born in Edinburgh on 20 May 1924. He went to school at George Watson's College, then studied Mathematics and Physics at Edinburgh University where he graduated in 1949.[1][3] His experience of the university mountaineering club triggered his lifelong passion for climbing.[1]
Stan Paterson died on 8 October 2013, at Campbell River, Vancouver Island, Canada.[1][2]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Stan Paterson - Obituary". The Telegraph. 18 November 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ a b c d e "Obituary: William Stanley "Stan" Bryce Paterson, glaciologist". The Scotsman. 9 November 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ a b c d "In Memoriam: W. S. B. Patterson (1924-2013)". Lunar and Planetary Institute. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
- ^ Paterson, K.M. Cuffey, W.S.B. (2010). The physics of glaciers (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier. ISBN 9780123694614.
- ^ a b "William Stanley Bryce (Stan) Paterson". International Glaciological Society. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
