John Lumley
I am so sorry that I cannot be present for this celebration of
John Wyngaard’s career.
John was one of my earliest students. He was not quite
finished when I went on my first sabbatical, and Henk Tennekes
supervised his final year; I am happy to share him with Henk.
Since I went to Penn State in 1959 and collaborated with Hans Panofsky,
small scale meteorology had been one of Henk’s and my major interests. It
was natural that John would gravitate to that field, where he has spent the best
part of his career. Meteorology is a small and somewhat hermetic field. It
requires not only talent, but hard work and application to gain the trust and
attention of the meteorologists. I think John has been one of the most influential
and trusted people working in fluid-mechanical meteorology. As a meticulous
and creative experimentalist, he has been directly or indirectly responsible for
much of the small-scale data on which the modern field is based. At the same
time he has contributed great insight to the interpretation of this data. This
combination of expertise and insight is extraordinarily rare.
John has been a splendid colleague, and I wish him all the best in the
coming years.
With best regards,
John L. Lumley
Cornell University
Henk Tennekes
… One of the highlights of our intertwined careers was the
1972 AMS Workshop on Micrometeorology, which was
organized by Duane Haugen. Both of us were much impressed
by the fact that Duane had invited us, youngsters compared to
Hans Panofsky and Coleman duPont Donaldson. Those were
great years, which I remember with gratitude.
Best,
Henk
Duane Haugen and Chandran Kaimal
Dear John,
Forty-three years ago you joined our group at the Air Force
Cambridge Research Laboratories as we were preparing for the
1968 Kansas Experiment. A fresh Ph.D. from Penn State, you
started contributing to the preparations with ideas for hot-wire
measurements of energy dissipation rate.
The experiment is memorable for many reasons. The flat terrain and
sleepless nights are hard to forget, and so is the image of you and Owen Cote
balancing on a tall ladder to reach your probes on a 4-m mast.
Most satisfying for us were the three years we had to analyze and make sense
of the data. Many people were involved, but your contribution stand out for its
breadth and significance. It was an extraordinary productive period. The 1973
Minnesota Boundary Layer Experiment also yielded important papers.
Our scientific interestes eventually took us to different places, NOAA and
NCAR, but we stayed in touch. As we wish you the very best on your retirement,
we remember happily the eight years we shared as colleagues and friends.
With warmest regards,
Duane Haugen, Chandran Kaimal
Boulder Colorado, Hamilton, New York
Peter Bradshaw
John I'm sorry not to be here in person, but Jim Brasseur suggested
I should send you greetings from the sunny, beautiful and bankrupt
State of California.
I forget where we first met face to face. Doubtless at a conference.
I first met you on paper when your thesis work on a curved mixing layer
was published in 1968, and since then I have logged about 15 of your papers, which I'm
sure is a small fraction of your output. I haven't been a very faithful admirer because I'm
not directly involved in meteorology as such: to me it's just one of many reasons to study
turbulence. Like almost everybody in the room I have studied atmospheric
turbulence....from the inside of an airplane.
John, about 25 years ago you chaired a panel to explore whether NASA Ames' work
on turbulence should be centralized, in preference to having the work done in several
different branches. I was worried that the long-haired turbulence would be stuck in an
ivory tower without much interaction with the rest of Ames. Fortunately I was either
ignored or shouted down, and the panel recommended the establishment of what is now
the Ames/Stanford Center for Turbulence Research. John, you did a good day's work.
Best wishes for a happy retirement - like all retirees you'll find there still aren't enough
hours in the day to do everything you want to. I hope the Nittany Lion gives a friendly roar
when you leave.
- Peter
Stanford University
Monique Leclerc
John,
Evaluating the impact that every action, every word has
on the life of budding scientists is unlikely, even for someone
like you. I will always treasure the time Chandran Kaimal
took me into your office as I had just taken my first job at
Utah State. You and I had a vivacious discussion on canopy flows and this, in
turn, led to my six-month visit at NCAR in MMM under Don Lenschow's group.
I treasure this memory because it is at NCAR that I met with scientists who, in
a myriad of forms, had a lasting impact on my career.
As you have opened the door to me, I cannot help but wonder to how many
other scientists you have done that to. It is as if, through that brief contact, I
was allowed to get a glimpse of who you are, John, and that is so much more
than 'just' a bright scientist.
With my kindest, warmest, most heartfelt wishes,
Monique Y. Leclerc
University of Georgia
Bill Easterling
Jose,
I am honored to receive your invitation to speak at John
Wyngaard's symposium. Unfortunately, I have an out-of-town
commitment that day and therefore cannot attend and
speak. I hope that my deepest apology for missing this event
is conveyed to John and the attendees.
William E. Easterling, Dean
College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
Penn State University
Sergej Zilitinkevich
… I am very sorry for missing this great event. John
Wyngaard is the key name in boundary-layer meteorology
and geophysical turbulence. I admire his ground-breaking
ideas and his clear and elegant way of presentation. …
Please convey my congratulations, admiration and best
wishes to John,
Yours Sergej
University of Helsinki
Brian Sawford
Unfortunately I am committed … What a shame - I would
certainly have enjoyed participating.
I hope that the Symposium is a great success. Please pass on
my best wishes to John.
Regards,
Brian
Monash University
Branko Kosovic
Dear John,
I would like to join, in spirit, if not in person, your colleagues who
gathered in State College this week, in celebrating your seminal
contributions to the field of atmospheric turbulence.
Personally, I will be always in debt to you for introducing me to this
fascinating field, selflessly sharing your knowledge and scientific insight,
and setting me on the path of scientific research.
Your insight, clarity of exposition, rigor, and excellence will always be
beacons to those who embark on scientific exploration of atmospheric
turbulence.
Thank you and best wishes,
Branko
NCAR
Mike Raupach
Thank you very much for the honour of this invitation. I regret that I
won't be able to participate…
Please convey my very best wishes to John Wyngaard for the
occasion, and for his retirement. His career has been inspirational to
many, including me.
With best regards
Mike Raupach
CSIRO, Australia
Chris Bretherton
Thanks very much for your generous invitation, and I certainly
hold John Wyngaard's contributions to the field in high
esteem. Unfortunately, I … will not be able to come.
Chris Bretherton
University of Washington
Robert Wood
… I greatly admire Dr. Wyngaard's contributions to the field of
boundary layer meteorology which have helped me in my own
research to understand cloudy boundary layers. Unfortunately, …
it will not be possible for me to attend …
Regards
Robert Wood
University of Washington
Fontina Chow
…I wish I could attend, as John Wyngaard's work has inspired and
set a framework for my LES turbulence modeling approaches. … I
think Bob Street will attend, so I will ask him to convey my best
wishes to John…
Best regards,
Tina
University of California, Berkeley
William R. Stockwell
Dear John,
I will never forget how deeply you contributed to my early
career development and how much I appreciate it. There
were three things in particular.
1) Your leadership in the founding of the Acid Deposition
Modeling Project (ADMP) at NCAR critically shaped my lifetime career path.
2) Our discussions on the role of sub-grid scale processes and
atmospheric chemistry lead to my lifelong interests and has shaped
many of my papers.
3) Your student, Richard A. Brost, became one of my closest
collaborators and friends in the development of new science.
For all of this I publicly thank John Wyngaard for his inspiration and
his mentorship to a (then) young scientist at NCAR.
Bill Stockwell
Howard University
James McWilliams
I had heard via Peter about John's retirement, and I'm glad
you're organizing a symposium. Over the years I've greatly
enjoyed John as a colleague. Unfortunately I … will not be
able to participate in the symposium. …
Jim
UCLA
Joseph Klewicki
… I am sorry to miss this, as John’s impact on the field has been
very significant and certainly worth honoring.
Best Regards,
Joe
University of New Hampshire