William Charles Redfield Explained

William C. Redfield (March 26, 1789 – February 12, 1857) was an American meteorologist. He was the first president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1848).^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

Redfield is known in meteorology for his observation of the directionality of winds in hurricanes,^[5] being among the first to propose that hurricanes are large circular vortexes^[6] (John Farrar had made similar observations six years earlier), though his interests were varied and influential.

Redfield organized and was a member of the first expedition to Mount Marcy in 1837; he was the first to correctly guess that Marcy was the highest peak in the Adirondacks, and therefore in New York. Mount Redfield was named in his honor by Verplanck Colvin. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1844^[7] and an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1845.^[3]

At a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in 1854, Redfield mentioned a storm-path in which no less than seventy odd vessels had been wrecked, dismasted, or damaged.^[8]

References

• Moore, Peter (2015), "The Weather Experiment, the pioneers who sought to see the future", New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
• Book: Redfield, John Howard . 1860 . Genealogical History of the Redfield Family in the United States . Albany, N.Y. . Munsell & Rowland . August 5, 2015.

Notes and References

1. Benjamin . Marcus . The Early Presidents of the American Association . Science . 1899 . 10 . 253 . 625–637 . 10.1126/science.10.253.625. 17839278 . 1899Sci....10..625B .
2. Redfield 1860, pp. 46, 107-108, 293-297.
3. Book: Members of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences: 1780–2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20120212193334/http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterR.pdf. February 12, 2012. American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 496.
4. http://home.earthlink.net/~claelliott/chron1840.htm Chronology of Science in the United States 1840-1849
5. http://home.earthlink.net/~claelliott/chron1830.htm Chronology of Science in the United States
6. http://www.hurricaneville.com/1821_hurricane.htm Remembering the 1821 Hurricane
7. Web site: APS Member History. 2021-04-05. search.amphilsoc.org.
8. Maury's p. 66