John Russell (Russ) Mather at the Laboratory of Climatology

Abstract

John Russell (Russ) Mather joined the group of young aspiring graduate students that C. W. Thornthwaite attracted to his newly formed climatological research operation at Seabrook Farms, New Jersey, in the late 1940s. From the beginning he worked closely with Thornthwaite to develop the Thornthwaite Water Balance concept into an effective climatological tool. He co-authored Thornthwaite's well-known revised statement "The Water Balance" and numerous other publications. He edited the C. W. Thornthwaite Associates' Publications in Climatology and, after Thornthwaite's death in 1963, became president of C. W. Thornthwaite Associates. Four components comprised this consulting operation: not-for-profit scientific research in climatology, water budget climatology, and microclimatology; design and manufacture of instrumentation for micrometeorological research; consulting for industrial and commercial clients in climatology and the climatic water budget; and design and installation of industrial irrigated wastewater disposal systems. As editor of Publications in Climatology, Russ was responsible for documenting all the Laboratory's research activities. Russ produced the multi-volume tabulation "Average Climatic Water Balance Data of the Continents." The great March 1962 coastal storm on the eastern seaboard of the United States provided occasion for writing two papers in which he characterized damaging East Coast storms. He resigned the presidency of C. W. Thornthwaite Associates in 1972 to devote full attention to the University of Delaware Department of Geography, where he had been chairman since 1966.