The Patterson Medal
Honour Roll of Winners
of the Patterson Medal
The Patterson Distinguished
Service
Medal is presented each year for
distinguished service to meteorology in Canada. The medal was
established
in honour of Dr. John Patterson (1872-1956), Controller (director) of
the
Meteorological Service of Canada from 1929 to 1946.
Born in Oxford County, Ontario,
John
Patterson took degrees in Engineering
in 1899 and the following year in Physics at the University of
Toronto.
He won the Gold Medal in the latter subject and was awarded a two-year
scholarship enabling him to attend Cambridge University where he
obtained
an MA. He was then appointed Professor of Physics at the
University
of Allahabad a position he relinquished in 1905 to become Imperial
Meteorologist
for the Government of India. He returned to Canada in 1910 to become
the
meteorological physicist responsible for organizing upper air
investigations
in Canada. In 1917 he was loaned to the British Admiralty to take
charge
of investigations to extract helium from natural gas. After the
war,
Patterson spent several years designing a new barometer for operational
use and perfecting a new 3-cup anemometer which was later used
extensively
by meteorological services. In 1924 he was appointed Assistant
Director
and in 1929 he succeeded Sir Frederic Stupart as Director of the
Meteorological
Service of Canada..
Despite budget reductions in the
Depression years of the early 1930s,
Dr. Patterson modernized the Service and, recognizing the need to
introduce
more science into weather forecasting, he persuaded the University of
Toronto
to establish a postgraduate degree program in physics (meteorology). In
1937, the meteorological service became part of Air Services of the new
Department of Transport and resources became available for aviation
meteorology.
Then, Patterson organized meteorological services for both
transatlantic
experimental flights and scheduled flying of the new Trans-Canada Air
Lines
(now Air Canada). After World War II began Canada became the host
country
for aircrew training under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
and
the need for aviation meteorological services expanded tenfold.
Under
Dr. Patterson's leadership hundreds of new meteorologists were trained
and sent to serve at dozens of Royal Canadian Air Force stations.
When Dr. Patterson retired in 1946
his
colleagues and friends established
a fund to award a medal in his name and the first one was presented to
him in 1954. Following a gap of seven years, the medal has been
awarded
annually since 1961. The Meteorological Service of Canada now funds the
medal. The Assistant Deputy Minister chairs the the Patterson
Medal Committee which is composed of senior managers from MSC as
well
as representatives from the private sector and academia.
Nominations
are solicited each year and the nominees are judged solely on the basis
of the information provided by the nominators and not by any personal
or
supplementary knowledge the Committee members may possess.
Although not a CMOS Award,
the
Patterson
Medal is traditionally announced during the CMOS Congress.
MSC has kindly agreed to allow the CMOS Web Site to contain the Honour
Roll of Patterson Medal Winners
revised: 14 April 2018
Bob Jones
CMOS
Archivist
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