‘Storm Kathleen’ was named after Irish Quaker scientist and pacifist Kathleen Lonsdale, a crystallographer who demonstrated the crystal structure of benzene. Photo: Kathleen Lonsdale, UCL laboratory, 1948
Second 2024 storm named after Quaker
'Like her fellow Quaker scientist, astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Lonsdale saw close parallels between her life as a Quaker and her work as a scientist.'
The extreme weather that hit parts of the UK earlier this month was named after a Quaker female scientist.
‘Storm Kathleen’ was named after Irish Quaker scientist and pacifist Kathleen Lonsdale (1903-1971), a crystallographer who demonstrated the crystal structure of benzene. The first female professor at University College London, Kathleen Lonsdale was also imprisoned during the second world war because she refused to register for civil defence duties and pay a fine. As one of the first women to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, she also features on the Quaker Tapestry. In 1956, she was given a DBE.
Like her fellow Quaker scientist, astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Lonsdale saw close parallels between her life as a Quaker and her work as a scientist. She wrote: ‘[Quakerism], in dispensing with creeds, holds out a hand to the scientist.’
Earlier this year, Quaker Jocelyn Bell Burnell also had a storm named after her when the UK was hit by fierce winds and heavy rain. The name marked only the second time the letter ‘J’ had been reached since the UK started naming storms in 2015.
According to the Met Office, storms are named when they risk ‘disruption or damage which could result in an amber or red warning’. The names are chosen from a list based on public nominations and tributes to real people, selected by each weather agency. Research shows that people are more aware of extreme weather warnings if they are named.
The Irish weather service Met Éireann opted for ‘Storm Kathleen’ as Ireland was expected to feel it most significantly. It was the eleventh named storm of the 2023-2024 season, making it the joint most stormy period since storms were first named in 2015.
Comments
Many years ago, at YM, a subject, I can’t remember what, was being discussed, and there were many suggestions put forward. Eventually a Friend rose and said tartly, ‘in science we alter one variable at a time’. It altered the whole tone of the discussion. Does anyone remember this? Was it Kathleen Lonsdale?
By RogerP on 18th April 2024 - 15:56
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