Background
Petterssen, Sverre was born on February 19, 1898 in Hadsel, Norway. Son of Edward Hildor and Petronella (Petersen) Petterssen.
Petterssen, Sverre was born on February 19, 1898 in Hadsel, Norway. Son of Edward Hildor and Petronella (Petersen) Petterssen.
He studied in Bergen where he met Tor Bergeron during a lecture, and was so impressed by his analysis of a 1922 storm that he joined the Bergen School of Meteorology in 1923.
Born in Norway into a humble family, he paid for his higher education by working at the telegraph office, and a nursery provided by the armed forces that he joined as a recruit. In the late 1920s he worked at the Geophysical Institute in Tromsø, northern Norway. After school, he remained a weather officer in the Norwegian Air Force until 1939.
He went to the United States in 1935, lecturing on Norwegian meteorological theories to the United States Navy and Caltech.
In 1939, he was hired by Massachusetts Institute of Technology as head of the meteorology department, and wrote two important books there: Weather analysis and forecasting (1940) and Introduction to Meteorology (1941). With the invasion of Norway, Petterssen returned to Europe and offered his services in England to the Met Office, on loan from the Norwegian Air Force.
During World World War II, he served as a weather forecaster for bombing raids and special operations. He is most remembered for his work in what has been called the most significant weather forecast in history, the Doctorate-Day Forecast, where he contributed significantly to the postponement of Doctorate-day by one day.
The forecast provided by Sverre Petterssen and the other meteorologists caused Eisenhower to decide at 0430 on 4 June to postpone Doctorate-day to June 6.
Initially it was proposed to postpone the operation to June 19, but fortunately all three teams predicted a break in the weather on June 6. On June 19 the worst storm to date in the century struck the English channel. If Doctorate-Day had been launched on June 5 as originally planned, the Allied casualties would probably have been much higher, and even higher if launched on June 19.
On June 17 all the teams predicted perfect weather conditions for June 19, but Doctorate-day was over.
Member Norwegian, Finland (foreign) academics science, Academy Science, Illinois Academy Science and Letters, Peruvian, Royal (honorary), American (president 1958-1960) meterol. societies, American Geophysical Union, Academy Political Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, National Geography Society.
Married Daisy Bonner, August 16, 1925. Married second, Lilian Bye, September 25, 1941. Married 3d Grace Beverly, March 29, 1946.