Excerpt:
This Web site offers a brief history of atmospheric general circulation models from the 1940s to the early 1990s. It is also a forum for expanding our knowledge and understanding of that history, by collecting documentation and welcoming commentary. The site focuses on the following aspects of general circulation modeling:
Key scientific changes
Institutions (modeling groups)
Historical relationships among models and modeling groups
Political context: emergence of global atmospheric issues (greenhouse effect)
Annotation:
The American Institute of Physics (AIP) has produced and maintained this site, examining the history of how physicists, meteorologists and other scientists have worked to create models of the Earth's atmosphere in an effort to understand large-scale circulation patterns and predict future weather events. The site's five historical essays trace modeling from the early 1920s through to the present day, and include references to printed material on the subject. There is an innovative "family tree" showing the development and interrelationships between various modeling theories and methods. Physicists and others who participated in the research and use of these models and their associated technologies are asked to email the AIP with their memories of the evolution of this field. It is also possible to send in other archival material, such as photographs and data, relating to the history of atmospheric general circulation models. A Sloan Foundation project.