G. M. B. Dobson

{{short description|British physicist (1889–1976)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | name = G. M. B. Dobson | birth_name = George Miller Bourne Dobson | image = G. M. B. Dobson in 1952.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Dobson in 1952 | birth_date = {{birth date|1889|2|25|df=y}} | birth_place = Knott End, Windermere | death_date = {{death date and age|1976|3|10|1889|2|25|df=y}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = Atmospheric physics | workplaces = University of Oxford | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = University of Cambridge | thesis_title =  | thesis_url =  | thesis_year =  | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = Brewer–Dobson circulation Dobson unit Dobson spectrometer | influences = | influenced = | awards = FRS (1927) Symons Gold Medal (1939) Rumford Medal (1942) {{no wrap|Royal Society Bakerian Medal (1945)}} Chree medal and prize (1949) CBE (1951) | spouse = {{cslist|Winifred Duncombe Rimer (married 1914-52)|Olive Mary Bacon (married 1954-76)}} | partner =  | children = 3 | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Gordon Miller Bourne Dobson''' {{post-nominals|CBE|FRS}}<ref name=frs/> (25 February 1889 – 10 March 1976) was a British physicist and meteorologist who did important work on ozone.<ref>{{cite journal|journal = Applied Optics|volume= 7|issue = 3|pages = 387–405|year= 1968|url = http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ozwv/dobson/papers/Applied_Optics_v7_1968.pdf|title = 40 Years Research on Atmospheric Ozone at Oxford - A History|author = Dobson G. M. B.|doi = 10.1364/AO.7.000387|pmid = 20068600|bibcode = 1968ApOpt...7..387D }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal = Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society|volume= 99|issue = 422|pages = 599–607|year= 1973|doi = 10.1256/smsqj.42201|title = The laminated structure of the ozone in the atmosphere|author = Dobson G. M. B.}}</ref>

==Education== He was educated at Sedbergh School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, graduating with a first in Natural Sciences in 1909.<ref name="MCreg">{{cite book|editor1-last=Levens|editor1-first=R.G.C.|title=Merton College Register 1900–1964|date=1964|publisher=Basil Blackwell|location=Oxford|page=280}}</ref> He was later awarded DSc (Oxon).<ref>[http://www.atm.ox.ac.uk/user/barnett/ozoneconference/dobson.htm G.M.B.Dobson] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060718175632/http://www.atm.ox.ac.uk/user/barnett/ozoneconference/dobson.htm |date=2006-07-18 }}</ref>

==Research and career== In 1913 he became an instructor in meteorology at the Central Flying School, and was at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, from 1916 to 1918. In 1921 he was appointed lecturer in meteorology at the University of Oxford, becoming reader in meteorology in 1927, a position he held until 1950, when he became university demonstrator in physics and climatology. He was a fellow of Merton College, Oxford, from 1937 to 1956.<ref name="MCreg" />

By studying meteorites he noticed that the temperature profile of the tropopause was not constant, as had previously been believed (hence the name stratosphere). In fact there was, he showed, a region where the temperature sharply rose. This, he proposed, was happening because UV radiation was heating ozone in what has become known as the ozone layer.

He noted the connection between sunspots and weather, and measured the ultraviolet levels of our star.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 June 1923 |title=Measurements of the Sun’s Ultra-Violet Radiation and its Absorption in the Earth’s Atmosphere. |url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspa.1923.0107 |access-date=21 Oct 2025 |website=royalsocietypublishing.org}}</ref> He built the first Dobson ozone spectrophotometers and studied the results over many years. The Dobson unit, a unit of measurement of vertically integrated atmospheric ozone density, is named after him. The Brewer-Dobson circulation is a semi-eponymous model of atmospheric currents that explains the distribution of ozone by latitude.

==Awards and honours== Dobson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1927,<ref name=frs>{{cite journal|last1=Houghton|first1=John T.|authorlink1=John T. Houghton|last2=Walshaw|first2=C. D.|title=Gordon Miller Bourne Dobson. 25 February 1889 -- 11 March 1976|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=23|year=1977|pages=40–57|issn=0080-4606|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1977.0003|doi-access=free}} </ref> awarded their Rumford Medal in 1942<ref name=frs/> and delivered their Bakerian lecture in 1945.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=1&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27dobson%27%29| title = Library and Archive Catalogue| publisher= Royal Society|accessdate= 20 December 2010}} {{dead link|date=December 2015}}</ref>

He won the Chree medal and prize in 1949.

He served as president of the Royal Meteorological Society from 1947 to 1949 <ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.rmets.org/about/history/presidents.php| title= Presidents of the Society| publisher= Royal Meteorological Society| access-date= 20 December 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120207191651/http://www.rmets.org/about/history/presidents.php| archive-date= 7 February 2012| url-status= dead| df= dmy-all}}</ref> and was awarded their prestigious Symons Gold Medal for 1938. He was made a CBE in 1951.

==See also== *Umkehr effect

==References== {{Reflist|35em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, Gordon Miller Bourne}} Category:1889 births Category:1976 deaths Category:English meteorologists Category:English physicists Category:Presidents of the Royal Meteorological Society Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Category:Fellows of Merton College, Oxford Category:Atmospheric physicists Category:People educated at Sedbergh School Category:People from Windermere, Cumbria Category:20th-century British physicists Category:British fellows of the Royal Society