Charney, Jule Gregory (1917–81)

JULE GREGORY CHARNEY was an American meteorologist who contributed to the advance of numerical weather prediction and to increased understanding of the general circulation of the atmosphere by devising a series of increasingly sophisticated mathematical models of the atmosphere. Charney was one of the dominant figures in the field of atmospheric science in the decades following World War II. Jule Gregory Charney was born in San Francisco, California, on January 1, 1917, to Ely Charney and Stella Littman. His parents were Yiddish-speaking Russian Jews who worked in the garment industry and were left-wing militants. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1922.

Charney earned several degrees from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA): an A.B. in mathematics in 1938, an M.A. in mathematics in ...