Bjerknes, Jacob

Bjerknes, Jacob (Aall Bonnevie) (1897–1975) meteorologist; born in Stockholm, Sweden. Son of the famous Norwegian meteorologist Vilhelm Bjerknes, Jacob was instrumental in the development of weather prediction in the United States. With his father, he established weather observation stations in Norway during World War I and developed the famous Bergen Institute in Norway. He was visiting the University of California: Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1940 when Hitler invaded Norway, preventing his return home. He joined the faculty of UCLA and became a naturalized citizen in 1946. Bjerknes was instrumental in introducing the concept of weather fronts to United States' forecasters. With phenomenal insight, Bjerknes was able to describe cyclones and the development and dissipation of warm and cold fronts, thus laying the foundation necessary for accurate weather prediction. In the 1950s, his research turned to the ocean. He described the "Niño" effect from the Pacific Ocean and persuaded scientists of the importance of studying the ocean and atmosphere as a single, highly interactive system.