John Monteith
Encyclopedia
John Lennox Monteith DSc
Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...

, FRS, born September 3, 1929 in Ayrshire, Scotland, is a leading authority in the related fields of water management for agricultural production, soil physics
Soil physics
Soil physics is the study of soil physical properties and processes. It is applied to management and prediction under natural and managed ecosystems. Soil physics deals with the dynamics of physical soil components and their phases as solids, liquids, and gases. It draws on the principles of...

, micrometeorology, transpiration
Transpiration
Transpiration is a process similar to evaporation. It is a part of the water cycle, and it is the loss of water vapor from parts of plants , especially in leaves but also in stems, flowers and roots. Leaf surfaces are dotted with openings which are collectively called stomata, and in most plants...

, and the influence of the natural environment on field crops, horticultural crops, forestry, and animal production.

His pioneering work, with Howard Penman, in evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiration is a term used to describe the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from the Earth's land surface to atmosphere. Evaporation accounts for the movement of water to the air from sources such as the soil, canopy interception, and waterbodies...

, is applied worldwide as the "Penman-Monteith
Penman-Monteith
Like the Penman equation, the Penman–Monteith equation predicts net evapotranspiration, requiring as input daily mean temperature, wind speed, relative humidity, and solar radiation...

" equation. Their model for predicting evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiration is a term used to describe the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from the Earth's land surface to atmosphere. Evaporation accounts for the movement of water to the air from sources such as the soil, canopy interception, and waterbodies...

 is recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...

 of the United Nations. Monteith's research on the role of the environment in agriculture, the physics of crop microclimate, physiology of crop growth and yield, radiation climatology heat balance in animals, and instrumentation for measuring physical and physiological variables in agriculture has been published in journals throughout the world. He was President of the Royal Meteorological Society
Royal Meteorological Society
The Royal Meteorological Society traces its origins back to 3 April 1850 when the British Meteorological Society was formed as a society the objects of which should be the advancement and extension of meteorological science by determining the laws of climate and of meteorological phenomena in general...

 from 1978 to 1980.

Career

  • 1954 Rothamsted Experimental Station
    Rothamsted Experimental Station
    The Rothamsted Experimental Station, one of the oldest agricultural research institutions in the world, is located at Harpenden in Hertfordshire, England. It is now known as Rothamsted Research...

    , Harpenden, Herts, UK
  • 1967 University of Nottingham
    University of Nottingham
    The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...

    , School of Agriculture, UK
  • 1986 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
    International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
    The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics is a non-profit organization in India.It was founded in 1972 by a consortium of organizations convened by the Ford and the Rockefeller Foundations. Its charter was signed by the FAO and the UNDP...

    , Hyderabad, India

Awards

  • Elected Fellow of the Royal Society
    Royal Society
    The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

    , 1971
  • Awarded Rank Prize for Human and Animal Nutrition and Crop Husbandry, 1989
  • Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Edinburgh
    University of Edinburgh
    The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

    , 1989
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