William Charles Redfield

William C. Redfield[lower-alpha 1] (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).[6][7][5][8]

William C. Redfield

Redfield is known in meteorology for his observation of the directionality of winds in hurricanes[9] (being among the first to propose that hurricanes are large circular vortexes[10] (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[11] and an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1845.[5]

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.[12]

Notes
  1. According to Redfield's son John Howard Redfield, his father was baptized simply William Redfield "but on becoming of age, having some occasion to sign some legal paper, at the suggestion of the town clerk, he added the C. to distinguish him from two cousins of the same name".[1] However, the middle name "Charles" is used in several encyclopedias and directories published after Redfield's death.[2][3][4][5]
  1. Redfield, John Howard (1900). Recollections of John Howard Redfield. Philadelphia: Morris Press. p. 9.
  2. "Members of the Academy". Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 11 (1): 51. 1882. JSTOR 25058037.
  3. Adams, Oscar Fay (1898). A Dictionary of American Authors. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. p. 311.
  4. The Encyclopedia Americana. Vol. 23. New York, The Encyclopedia Americana Corp. 1922. p. 287.
  5. Members of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences: 1780–2011 (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. p. 496. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 12, 2012.
  6. Benjamin, Marcus (1899). "The Early Presidents of the American Association". Science. 10 (253): 625–637. Bibcode:1899Sci....10..625B. doi:10.1126/science.10.253.625. PMID 17839278.
  7. Redfield 1860, pp. 46, 107-108, 293-297.
  8. Chronology of Science in the United States 1840-1849
  9. Chronology of Science in the United States
  10. Remembering the 1821 Hurricane
  11. "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  12. Maury's PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA, AND ITS METEOROLOGY p. 66

References
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