IN MEMORIAM

Morton Gaither Wurtele

Professor of Atmospheric Science, Emeritus

Los Angeles

1919—2004

 

Morton Wurtele, professor emeritus of atmospheric science at UCLA, died of leukemia on February 14, 2004 in Berkeley, California, at the age of 84. Friends and colleagues knew him as a well-respected research scientist, a dedicated teacher, a well-loved advisor, an esteemed colleague, and as close as one gets to a perfect gentleman.

 

Morton was born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky on July 25, 1919 and received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics at Harvard in 1940. During World War II, he studied meteorology through the cadet program at UCLA and became a forecaster in New York. After the war, Morton returned to UCLA and earned his doctorate in meteorology in 1953, studying under Jorgen Holmboe. This began a brilliant academic career, starting as an assistant professor at MIT. Returning to UCLA in 1958 as an associate professor, Morton was promoted to full professor in 1964 and took on the leadership role as department chairman from 1971 to 1976. He continued teaching until his retirement in 1990. Morton also served as a visiting professor at both the University of Buenos Aires and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. During his career at UCLA, he played a leading role in the development of a core curriculum in atmospheric dynamics, in which classical hydrodynamics were applied to the atmosphere and other geophysical applications.

 

Although Morton pursued such diverse research areas as laboratory hydrodynamics, numerical methods in atmospheric modeling, remote sensing of the ocean’s surface and boundary layer, and clear-air turbulence, his main research interest was the generation, propagation, and breakdown of topographically-generated gravity waves and inertial-gravity waves, popularly known as “mountain waves.” He began this interest as a principal participant in the “Sierra Wave Project” in the early 1950s, the first serious measurement campaign of mountain waves and rotors. To better understand the dynamics of mountain waves under more realistic conditions, he developed analytic solutions to transient gravity waves, waves trapped by environmental shear, and three-dimensional mountain waves—solutions which are still referenced today. Morton was active in these studies even after retirement, continuing to present conference papers and publishing another six journal articles. His last paper appeared in the Journal of Atmospheric Sciences in March, 2004.

 

Professor Wurtele had a political bent, and in 1970 was assigned by the United Nations to develop a joint meteorological service for Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. This role involved delicate and interesting negotiations with the politicians and scientists of these countries. Morton was successful in finally developing and delivering the required plans to the World Meteorological Organization. (Unfortunately, within a short time Idi Amin took over Uganda, so these plans were not realized.)

 

Morton was multi-faceted and epitomized the best qualities of a university professor. He had scholarly interests in many areas outside of meteorology. For example, he published a paper in Folklore in 1971 on the social impacts of meteorology and served on doctoral committees in such diverse fields as architecture, engineering, pure mathematics, and Germanic languages. His many talents beyond science included music (he led a recorder group) and gourmet cooking.

 

Morton is survived by his wife, Dr. Zivia Syrkin Wurtele, his son Jonathan, professor of physics at UC Berkeley, and daughter Eve, professor of genetics and cell biology at Iowa State University, as well as five grandchildren. Clearly, his academic interests and love of learning were shared by his family. Morton and Eve have the distinction of being one of the few father-daughter scientist teams who have both contributed to articles featured on the cover of Science: Morton’s on scatterometer measurements in 1979 and Eve’s on the medicinal and industrial uses of natural plant chemicals in 1985.

 

Morton Wurtele showed genuine concern for colleague and student alike. He had a great sense of humor and welcomed everyone with warmth and enthusiasm. He is deeply missed.

 

 

Akio Arakawa

Robert Sharman Shaefer

Richard Thorne

Sekharipuram Venkateswaran