Andrew Thomson, O.B.E. (1893-1974)

Abstract

The many friends and colleagues of Dr. Thomson, former Director of the Canadian Meteorological Service and a Fellow of the Arctic Institute since 1954, will be saddened to hear of his death on 17 October 1974 in Toronto. He was 81. Andrew Thomson was born near Owen Sound, Ontario, on 18 May 1893. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1915 in Honours Physics, and later earned a Master's degree from the same institution. In 1958, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in science by McGill University. Following a lengthy period abroad, during which time he worked with the Carnegie Institute in the United States, and in the South Pacific as director of the geophysical observatory at Apia in Western Samoa, Dr. Thomson returned to Canada in 1931. In January 1932, he was appointed head of the Physics Division of the Meteorological Service of Canada. Despite a reduced budget during the depression years, he was the prime organizer and promoter of Canadian participation in the second International Polar Year. He was also responsible for the organization of a post-graduate course in meteorology at the University of Toronto, which was given in cooperation with the Meteorological Service of Canada. Shortly after the outbreak of the war in 1939, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was conceived and Dr. Thomson became the main organizer and administrator of the extensive meteorological programme that was required. For his contributions to the war effort, Dr. Thomson was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1948. Following the war, Dr. Thomson undertook the reorganization of the Canadian Meteorological Service on to a peace-time basis. He was appointed Controller (later Director) of the Meteorological Service in 1946. In this capacity, he planned and supervised the installation of the Joint (U.S.-Canada) Arctic Weather Stations, and also promoted Canada's active participation in international meteorological affairs. By the time he retired in 1959, Dr. Thomson had presided over a rapid and remarkable period of growth for meteorology in Canada, one during which there were marked advances in climatology, forecasting, research, instrument design, and training methods. Dr. Thomson was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Institute of Physics of Great Britain. He was also Vice-President of the American Meteorological Society and a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, of the Royal Canadian Institute and of the Washington Academy of Science. A pleasant, kindly man, Andrew Thomson was known for his quick mind and keen intelligence. A unique figure in Canadian meteorology for more than forty years, he was in many ways responsible for the stature the Meteorological Service has attained, both in government circles and in the public view.