Pressure front predictions. Click to enlarge. Frederick G. Shulman, an early pioneer in mathematical weather forecasting, died earlier this summer ( July 29, 2005). Shulman was the first director of the National Meteorological Center, and is credited with helping “to transform numerical prediction from an idea to a functional reality.”

Given all of the chaos materials that I have read that highlight the work of Edward Lorenz in furthering our understanding of weather prediction, I am surprised that I have not come across a reference to Shulman’s importance.

It would be interesting to look into the models developed by Shulman and compare them to Lorenz’s, and to modern-day forecasting models.

Click here for more info on Frederick Shulman’s career.

Also check out the Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service for a look at current modeling efforts, and the linkage between weather and climate. There are a number of excellent animated simulations at this site.