Author: David McWilliams Ludlum
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Storms
Languages : en
Pages : 236
Book Description
Early American Tornadoes, 1586-1870
Author: David McWilliams Ludlum
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Storms
Languages : en
Pages : 236
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Storms
Languages : en
Pages : 236
Book Description
Tornado God
Author: Peter J. Thuesen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019068030X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 313
Book Description
One of the earliest sources of humanity's religious impulse was severe weather, which ancient peoples attributed to the wrath of storm gods. Enlightenment thinkers derided such beliefs as superstition and predicted they would pass away as humans became more scientifically and theologically sophisticated. But in America, scientific and theological hubris came face-to-face with the tornado, nature's most violent windstorm. Striking the United States more than any other nation, tornadoes have consistently defied scientists' efforts to unlock their secrets. Meteorologists now acknowledge that even the most powerful computers will likely never be able to predict a tornado's precise path. Similarly, tornadoes have repeatedly brought Americans to the outer limits of theology, drawing them into the vortex of such mysteries as how to reconcile suffering with a loving God and whether there is underlying purpose or randomness in the universe. In this groundbreaking history, Peter Thuesen captures the harrowing drama of tornadoes, as clergy, theologians, meteorologists, and ordinary citizens struggle to make sense of these death-dealing tempests. He argues that, in the tornado, Americans experience something that is at once culturally peculiar (the indigenous storm of the national imagination) and religiously primal (the sense of awe before an unpredictable and mysterious power). He also shows that, in an era of climate change, the weather raises the issue of society's complicity in natural disasters. In the whirlwind, Americans confront the question of their own destiny-how much is self-determined and how much is beyond human understanding or control.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019068030X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 313
Book Description
One of the earliest sources of humanity's religious impulse was severe weather, which ancient peoples attributed to the wrath of storm gods. Enlightenment thinkers derided such beliefs as superstition and predicted they would pass away as humans became more scientifically and theologically sophisticated. But in America, scientific and theological hubris came face-to-face with the tornado, nature's most violent windstorm. Striking the United States more than any other nation, tornadoes have consistently defied scientists' efforts to unlock their secrets. Meteorologists now acknowledge that even the most powerful computers will likely never be able to predict a tornado's precise path. Similarly, tornadoes have repeatedly brought Americans to the outer limits of theology, drawing them into the vortex of such mysteries as how to reconcile suffering with a loving God and whether there is underlying purpose or randomness in the universe. In this groundbreaking history, Peter Thuesen captures the harrowing drama of tornadoes, as clergy, theologians, meteorologists, and ordinary citizens struggle to make sense of these death-dealing tempests. He argues that, in the tornado, Americans experience something that is at once culturally peculiar (the indigenous storm of the national imagination) and religiously primal (the sense of awe before an unpredictable and mysterious power). He also shows that, in an era of climate change, the weather raises the issue of society's complicity in natural disasters. In the whirlwind, Americans confront the question of their own destiny-how much is self-determined and how much is beyond human understanding or control.
The Deadliest Woman in the West
Author: Rod Beemer
Publisher: Caxton Press
ISBN: 0870044559
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417
Book Description
Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for Caxton Press Earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, prairie fires, lightning, and droughts tested the mettle of both native and newcomer. This is the story of man’s encounters with Mother Nature on America’s prairies and plains during nineteenth-century westward expansion and settlement.
Publisher: Caxton Press
ISBN: 0870044559
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417
Book Description
Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for Caxton Press Earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, prairie fires, lightning, and droughts tested the mettle of both native and newcomer. This is the story of man’s encounters with Mother Nature on America’s prairies and plains during nineteenth-century westward expansion and settlement.
Proceedings of the Symposium on Tornadoes, Assessment of Knowledge and Implications for Man, June 22-24, 1976, Texas Tech University
Author: Richard Emil Peterson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Building failures
Languages : en
Pages : 710
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Building failures
Languages : en
Pages : 710
Book Description
History of Meteorology to 1800
Author: H. Howard Frisinger
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1940033918
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 156
Book Description
The objectives of the American Meteorological Society are "the development and dissemination of knowledge of meteorology in all its phases and applications, and the advancement of its professional ideals." The organization of the Society took place in affiliation with the American Association for the Advancement of Science at Saint Louis, Missouri, December 29, 1919, and its incorporation, at Washington, D. C., January 21, 1920. The work of the Society is carried on by the Bulletin, the Journal, and Meteorological Monographs, by papers and discussions at meetings of the Society, through the offices of the Secretary and the Executive Secretary, and by correspondence. All of the Americas are represented in the membership of the Society as well as many foreign countries.
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1940033918
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 156
Book Description
The objectives of the American Meteorological Society are "the development and dissemination of knowledge of meteorology in all its phases and applications, and the advancement of its professional ideals." The organization of the Society took place in affiliation with the American Association for the Advancement of Science at Saint Louis, Missouri, December 29, 1919, and its incorporation, at Washington, D. C., January 21, 1920. The work of the Society is carried on by the Bulletin, the Journal, and Meteorological Monographs, by papers and discussions at meetings of the Society, through the offices of the Secretary and the Executive Secretary, and by correspondence. All of the Americas are represented in the membership of the Society as well as many foreign countries.
From Coastal Wilderness to Fruited Plain
Author: Gordon G. Whitney
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521576581
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 492
Book Description
From Coastal Wilderness to Fruited Plain is an account of the making of a large part of the American landscape following European settlement. Drawing upon land survey records and early travellers' accounts, Dr Whitney reconstructs the 'virgin' forests and grasslands of the north-eastern and central United States during the pre-settlement period. He then documents successively the clearance and fragmentation of the region's woodlands, the harvest of the forest and its game, the ploughing of the prairies, and the draining of wetlands. The degree to which these activities altered the soil, climate, plant and animal communities, and water cycle are evaluated, and the sustainability of present-day ecosystems is brought into question in this account.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521576581
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 492
Book Description
From Coastal Wilderness to Fruited Plain is an account of the making of a large part of the American landscape following European settlement. Drawing upon land survey records and early travellers' accounts, Dr Whitney reconstructs the 'virgin' forests and grasslands of the north-eastern and central United States during the pre-settlement period. He then documents successively the clearance and fragmentation of the region's woodlands, the harvest of the forest and its game, the ploughing of the prairies, and the draining of wetlands. The degree to which these activities altered the soil, climate, plant and animal communities, and water cycle are evaluated, and the sustainability of present-day ecosystems is brought into question in this account.
The Tornado
Author: T. P. Grazulis
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 9780806132587
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
"Recreating the incredible drama so often accompanying interactions between people and tornadoes. The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm provides detailed meteorological and statistical information on these marvels of nature, which are among the most fascinating scientific puzzles on the planet."--BOOK JACKET.
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 9780806132587
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
"Recreating the incredible drama so often accompanying interactions between people and tornadoes. The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm provides detailed meteorological and statistical information on these marvels of nature, which are among the most fascinating scientific puzzles on the planet."--BOOK JACKET.
The Thermal Theory of Cyclones
Author: Gisela Kutzbach
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1940033802
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 265
Book Description
Gisela Kutzbach has provided an unparalleled account of the mainstream of meteorological thought during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This book takes us from the era of attempts to describe disturbances as mechanistic interactions of air currents, through Espy's introduction in the 1830's of the proposition that cyclones are convective systems driven by heat of condensation in central rainy areas, up to the distinctively different polar front theory of 1920, often considered as the birth of modern meteorology. Follies and controversies as well as successes are recounted, and in the tale the cast of characters, many of them acute observers or experimenters as well as theoreticians, and some crusty and dogmatic, are brought to life. The period was one in which basic concepts of thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, and energy conversions emerged with parallel accommodations to the special needs of meteorology. Influences of the development of synoptic meteorology and early aerology are thoroughly treated, essential mathematical expositions are presented in their original forms with explications, and theories and analyses are illuminated by numerous well-chosen figures and quotations. Concise but complete, and written in a style easy to comprehend, the treatise is a lively account of a lively time in the development of science. Kutzbach has succeeded well in her objectives, to provide "an insight in the particular problems and methods of problem solving in nineteenth century meteorology" and to illustrate "that science is a human activity and that its development is an open-ended process involving the constant testing of hypotheses."
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1940033802
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 265
Book Description
Gisela Kutzbach has provided an unparalleled account of the mainstream of meteorological thought during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This book takes us from the era of attempts to describe disturbances as mechanistic interactions of air currents, through Espy's introduction in the 1830's of the proposition that cyclones are convective systems driven by heat of condensation in central rainy areas, up to the distinctively different polar front theory of 1920, often considered as the birth of modern meteorology. Follies and controversies as well as successes are recounted, and in the tale the cast of characters, many of them acute observers or experimenters as well as theoreticians, and some crusty and dogmatic, are brought to life. The period was one in which basic concepts of thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, and energy conversions emerged with parallel accommodations to the special needs of meteorology. Influences of the development of synoptic meteorology and early aerology are thoroughly treated, essential mathematical expositions are presented in their original forms with explications, and theories and analyses are illuminated by numerous well-chosen figures and quotations. Concise but complete, and written in a style easy to comprehend, the treatise is a lively account of a lively time in the development of science. Kutzbach has succeeded well in her objectives, to provide "an insight in the particular problems and methods of problem solving in nineteenth century meteorology" and to illustrate "that science is a human activity and that its development is an open-ended process involving the constant testing of hypotheses."
Tornado Alley
Author: Howard B. Bluestein
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780195307115
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
Tornadoes are the most violent, magnificent, and utterly unpredictable storms on earth, reaching estimated wind speeds of 300 mph and leaving swaths of destruction in their wake. In Tornado Alley, Howard Bluestein draws on two decades of experience chasing and photographing tornadoes across the Plains to present a fascinating historical account of the study of tornadoes and the great thunderstorms that spawn them. A century ago, tornado warnings were so unreliable that they usually went unreported. Today, despite cutting-edge Doppler radar technology and computer simulation, these storms remain remarkably difficult to study. Leading scientists still conduct much of their research from the inside of a speeding truck, and often contend with jammed cameras, flash floods, and windshields smashed by hailstones and flying debris. Using over a hundred diagrams, models, and his own spectacular color photographs, Bluestein documents the exhilaration of hair-raising encounters with as many as nine tornadoes in one day, as well as the crushing disappointment of failed expeditions and ruined equipment. Most of all, he recreates the sense of beauty, mystery, and power felt by the scientists who risk their lives to study violent storms. For scientists, amateur weather enthusiasts, or anyone who's ever been intrigued or terrified by a darkening sky, Tornado Alley provides not only a history of tornado research but a vivid look into the origin and effects of nature's most dramatic phenomena.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780195307115
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
Tornadoes are the most violent, magnificent, and utterly unpredictable storms on earth, reaching estimated wind speeds of 300 mph and leaving swaths of destruction in their wake. In Tornado Alley, Howard Bluestein draws on two decades of experience chasing and photographing tornadoes across the Plains to present a fascinating historical account of the study of tornadoes and the great thunderstorms that spawn them. A century ago, tornado warnings were so unreliable that they usually went unreported. Today, despite cutting-edge Doppler radar technology and computer simulation, these storms remain remarkably difficult to study. Leading scientists still conduct much of their research from the inside of a speeding truck, and often contend with jammed cameras, flash floods, and windshields smashed by hailstones and flying debris. Using over a hundred diagrams, models, and his own spectacular color photographs, Bluestein documents the exhilaration of hair-raising encounters with as many as nine tornadoes in one day, as well as the crushing disappointment of failed expeditions and ruined equipment. Most of all, he recreates the sense of beauty, mystery, and power felt by the scientists who risk their lives to study violent storms. For scientists, amateur weather enthusiasts, or anyone who's ever been intrigued or terrified by a darkening sky, Tornado Alley provides not only a history of tornado research but a vivid look into the origin and effects of nature's most dramatic phenomena.
Historical Essays on Meteorology, 1919–1995
Author: James Fleming
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1940033845
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 613
Book Description
On the occasion of its 75th anniversary, the American Meteorological Society engaged a number of eminent pioneers and leading practitioners to write about the fields they helped develop. They were joined by several professional historians of science and technology. The resulting essays constitute a substantial sampling of what has been learned since 1919 in the atmospheric sciences and services—in research, in education, and in the private sector. This volume will be of interest to weather professionals and enthusiasts, historians of science, and to students of science and history. It will help us calibrate where we are, where we have been, and where we might be going as a discipline. Hopefully it will inspire others to value the past and to dig into it more deeply. Such attention to history is a necessary step in the maturation of a scientific discipline.
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1940033845
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 613
Book Description
On the occasion of its 75th anniversary, the American Meteorological Society engaged a number of eminent pioneers and leading practitioners to write about the fields they helped develop. They were joined by several professional historians of science and technology. The resulting essays constitute a substantial sampling of what has been learned since 1919 in the atmospheric sciences and services—in research, in education, and in the private sector. This volume will be of interest to weather professionals and enthusiasts, historians of science, and to students of science and history. It will help us calibrate where we are, where we have been, and where we might be going as a discipline. Hopefully it will inspire others to value the past and to dig into it more deeply. Such attention to history is a necessary step in the maturation of a scientific discipline.