Editing Hubert Lamb

{{Short description|British climatologist (1913–1997)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Hurbertlamb.jpg|thumb|right|140px|Hubert Lamb]]
'''Hubert Horace Lamb''' (22 September 1913 in [[Bedford]] &ndash; 28 June 1997 in [[Holt, Norfolk|Holt]], Norfolk) was an English [[climatologist]] who founded the [[Climatic Research Unit]] in 1972 in the School of Environmental Sciences at the [[University of East Anglia]].<ref name="History CRU">{{cite web|url=http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/about/history/ |title=History of the Climatic Research Unit |access-date=2010-09-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627194858/http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/about/history/ |archive-date=2008-06-27 }}</ref>

==Career==
Most of Lamb's scientific life was spent at the [[Met Office|Meteorological Office]], UK, where he started as a Technical Officer progressing by special merit promotion. As a [[Quaker]] and [[conscientious objector]], Lamb refused to work on the meteorology of gas spraying during [[World War II]], and was transferred to the [[Irish Meteorological Service]], then still closely associated with the UK Met Office.<ref name=davies>{{cite ODNB |author=Trevor Davies|title= Lamb, Hubert Horace (1913–1997), climatologist|year=2004 |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/66263|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/66263| accessdate=2008-10-17}}</ref>  On returning to the UK service after the war his responsibilities were in the fields of long range [[weather forecasting]], world climatology and [[climate change]]. In this capacity he was assigned to [[West Germany]] and [[Malta]]. Earlier he was also posted as meteorological adviser on a Norwegian whaling factory ship to [[Antarctica]]. He became a member of the [[World Meteorological Organization]]'s Working Group on Climate Fluctuations.

Lamb was one of the first to propose that climate could change within human experience, going against the orthodox view of the time that climate could be treated as constant for practical purposes.<ref name="History CRU" /> He developed early theories about the [[Medieval Warm Period]] and [[Little Ice Age]]. He became known for his prediction of gradual [[global cooling]] and a coming [[glacial period]] (colloquially an "ice age"), and he subsequently highlighted a more immediate future prospect of [[global warming]].<ref name=HistUAE285>{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=50HjSi5o8J0C&pg=PA285 |title=The history of the University of East Anglia, Norwich |author=Michael Sanderson |page=285 |year=2002 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-85285-336-5}}</ref>

===Medieval warm epoch===
In 1965 he published his study on "The early medieval warm epoch and its sequel", based on "data from the realms of botany, historical document research and meteorology". His view was that "Evidence has been accumulating in many fields of investigation pointing to a notably warm climate in many parts of the world, that lasted a few centuries around A.D. 1000–1200, and was followed by a decline of temperature levels till between 1500 and 1700 the coldest phase since the last ice age occurred."<ref name=Lamb65>{{Cite journal| last1 = Lamb | first1 = H.| title = The early medieval warm epoch and its sequel| journal = Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology| volume = 1| pages = 13–37| year = 1965| doi = 10.1016/0031-0182(65)90004-0| bibcode = 1965PPP.....1...13L}}</ref> The paper included a series of diagrams of temperatures in central England over the period, simplified in a 1982 version adjusted to account for "probable under-reporting of mild winters in Medieval times" and "certain botanical considerations" including historical records of vineyards in southern and eastern England. This version was featured in the [[IPCC First Assessment Report]] of 1990, [[Description of the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age in IPCC reports|figure 7.1c on p.&nbsp;202]], as a "Schematic diagram of global temperature variations for the last thousand years."<ref name="Jones 09">{{Cite journal| last1 = Jones| first1 = P. D.| last2 = Briffa| first2 = K. R.| last3 = Osborn| first3 = T. J.| last4 = Lough| first4 = J. M.| last5 = Van Ommen| first5 = T. D.| last6 = Vinther| first6 = B. M.| last7 = Luterbacher| first7 = J.| last8 = Wahl| first8 = E. R.| last9 = Zwiers| first9 = F. W.| last10 = Mann| first10 = M. E.| last11 = Schmidt| first11 = G. A.| last12 = Ammann| first12 = C. M.| last13 = Buckley| first13 = B. M.| last14 = Cobb| first14 = K. M.| last15 = Esper| first15 = J.| last16 = Goosse| first16 = H.| last17 = Graham| first17 = N.| last18 = Jansen| first18 = E.| last19 = Kiefer| first19 = T.| last20 = Kull| first20 = C.| last21 = Kuttel| first21 = M.| last22 = Mosley-Thompson| first22 = E.| last23 = Overpeck| first23 = J. T.| last24 = Riedwyl| first24 = N.| last25 = Schulz| first25 = M.| last26 = Tudhope| first26 = A. W.| last27 = Villalba| first27 = R.| last28 = Wanner| first28 = H.| last29 = Wolff| first29 = E.| last30 = Xoplaki| first30 = E.| title = High-resolution palaeoclimatology of the last millennium: a review of current status and future prospects| journal = The Holocene| volume = 19| pages = 3–49| year = 2009| issue = 1| url = http://shadow.eas.gatech.edu/~kcobb/jones09.pdf| doi = 10.1177/0959683608098952| bibcode = 2009Holoc..19....3J| s2cid = 129606908| access-date = 28 August 2015| archive-date = 14 October 2015| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151014073536/http://shadow.eas.gatech.edu/%7Ekcobb/jones09.pdf| url-status = dead}} p. 36</ref>

===Climatic Research Unit===
In 1971 Lamb decided to base his pioneering research at a university, and he became the first director of the [[Climatic Research Unit]] established in 1972 in the School of Environmental Sciences at the [[University of East Anglia]].<ref name="History CRU" /> In 1973 and 1975 he arranged for two international conferences which were hosted in [[Norwich]]. He was known as "the ice man" because of his view that [[global cooling]] would lead to a future [[glacial period]] within 10,000 years with some abrupt cooling phases occurring "within one to two thousand years".<ref name=Lamb1995>{{cite book
 | last = Lamb
 | first = Hubert H.
 | author-link = Hubert Lamb
 | title = Climate, history and the modern world
 | publisher = Routledge
 | edition = Second
 | date = 1995
 | location = London
 | isbn = 0-415-12735-1
 }}</ref>{{rp|368}} However he also acknowledged that [[global warming]] could have serious effects within a century.<ref name=Lamb1995 />{{rp|365}} His warnings of damage to agriculture, ice caps melting, and cities being flooded caught widespread attention and helped to shape public opinion. He gained the unit sponsorship from seven major insurance companies, who wanted to make use of the research of the unit when making their own studies of the implications of climate change for insurance against storm and flood damage. He retired from the unit in 1978, and his contributions to the unit were recognised in 1981 when he was granted an honorary Doctorate of Science.<ref name=HistUAE285 />

===Abrupt climate change and global warming===
Lamb's 1977 book ''Climatic History and the Future'' described studies of [[Paleobotany|fossil pollen]] showing an abrupt change from a glacial era of pinewoods to oak trees,<ref>{{Citation
 |date= February 2013
 |last1= Weart
 |first1= Spencer R.
 |author-link= Spencer R. Weart
 |chapter= The Carbon Dioxide Greenhouse Effect
 |chapter-url= http://www.aip.org/history/climate/rapid.htm#M_20_
 |title= The Discovery of Global Warming
 |url= http://www.aip.org/history/climate/index.htm
 |access-date= 2013-04-05
 |archive-date= 21 May 2012
 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120521121128/http://www.aip.org/history/climate/index.htm
 |url-status= dead
 }}</ref> pointing to "great rapidity of climate change". He discussed research on the complex effects of human caused pollution, and suggested that "On balance, the effects of increased carbon dioxide on climate is almost certainly in the direction of warming but is probably much smaller than the estimates which have commonly been accepted."<ref name="Lamb77 84">{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOwOAAAAQAAJ&q=lamb+%22an+abrupt+warming+due+to+the+effect+of+increasing+carbon+dioxide%22&pg=PR32 |title=Climatic History and the Future  |author=H. H. Lamb |pages=xxxi–xxxii, 80, 666 |year=1977|edition=1984 |publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691023878 }}</ref>

In the preface to his 1984 edition of the book, Lamb noted studies of the "carbon dioxide problem" and called for more investigation of past climate, particularly "evidence that some major climatic changes took place surprisingly quickly." He outlined recent research suggesting that the next glaciation would begin in 3,000 to 7,000 years, and wrote "It is to be noted here that there is no necessary contradiction between forecast expectations of (a) some renewed (or continuation of) slight cooling of world climate for some years to come, e.g. from volcanic or solar activity variations; (b) an abrupt warming due to the effect of increasing carbon dioxide, lasting some centuries until fossil fuels are exhausted and a while thereafter; and this followed in turn by (c) a glaciation lasting (like the previous ones) for many thousands of years.”<ref name="Lamb77 84" />

==Awards==
* 1974 - [[Murchison Award]] of the [[Royal Geographical Society]], UK<ref name=davies />
* 1984 - Vega Medal of the [[Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography|Swedish Geographical Society]]
* 1986 - [[Symons Gold Medal]] of the [[Royal Meteorological Society]]  <ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.rmets.org/sites/default/files/awards-historical.pdf|title= Awards-Historical List|publisher= Royal Meteorological Society|access-date = 23 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124065234/http://www.rmets.org/sites/default/files/awards-historical.pdf |archive-date=24 November 2015}}</ref>
* 1997 - [[European Geophysical Society]] Honorary Membership <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.egu.eu/egs/award6a.htm |title=EGS Honorary Membership |access-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422142036/http://www.egu.eu/egs/award6a.htm |archive-date=22 April 2012}}</ref>

==Commemoration==
In August 2006, the [[Climatic Research Unit]] Building in the School of Environmental Sciences at the [[University of East Anglia]] was renamed the Hubert Lamb Building.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=https://www.uea.ac.uk/mac/comm/media/press/2006/aug/Founder+tribute+for+Hub+of+climatology 
 |title=UEA Press Release on renaming of the CRU building after Lamb 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140630130033/https://www.uea.ac.uk/mac/comm/media/press/2006/aug/Founder%2Btribute%2Bfor%2BHub%2Bof%2Bclimatology 
 |archive-date=2014-06-30 
 |url-status=dead 
}}</ref>
In the same year, Lamb was hailed as 'instrumental in establishing the study of climate change as a serious research subject' in a report listing the 'top 100 world-changing discoveries, innovations and research projects to come out of the UK universities in the last 50 years'.<ref>''Eureka UK - 100 discoveries and developments in UK universities that have changed the world'', Universities UK, {{ISBN|1-84036-129-8}}</ref>

In September 2013, the centenary of Lamb's birth was commemorated by a symposium at the University of East Anglia, co-organised with the [[Royal Meteorological Society]].<ref>{{cite journal
 | last = Cornes
 | first = Richard
 | title = Editorial: Hubert Lamb Centenary Special Issue
 | journal = Weather
 | year = 2014
 | volume =69
 | issue =5
 | pages =115
 | publisher = Wiley
 | doi = 10.1002/wea.2321
 | bibcode = 2014Wthr...69..115C
 | doi-access = free
 }}</ref>

==Family==
Lamb was son of Ernest Horace Lamb (1878–1946), [[Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)|DSC]], [[Doctor of Science|DSc]], professor of engineering at [[Queen Mary University of London|Queen Mary College, London]],<ref>Journal of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, collected volumes 153 and 154, Institution of Mechanical Engineers of Great Britain, 1946, p. 154</ref><ref>The Foundry Trade Journal, collected volumes 79 and 80 (24 October 1946 edition), Foundry Trade Journal Ltd, 1946, p. 27</ref> and Lilian, daughter of the Rev. G. H. Brierley.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-66263|title=Lamb, Hubert Horace (1913–1997), climatologist|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/66263|last1=Davies|first1=Trevor}}</ref> He was a grandson of the mathematician [[Horace Lamb]], whose influence he credited for his own early career at the Meteorological Office,<ref name=davies /> and a nephew of the classicist [[Walter Lamb (classicist)|Walter Lamb]], the painter [[Henry Lamb]] and the archaeologist [[Dorothy Lamb]]. His son [[Norman Lamb]] was the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] MP for [[North Norfolk (UK Parliament constituency)|North Norfolk]] from 2001 until 2019.

== Books ==
* ''Climate, History and the Modern World'' ({{ISBN|0-415-12735-1}})
* ''Climate Present Past and Future'' ({{ISBN|0-06-473881-7}})

== See also ==
*[[Historical climatology]]
*[[Little Ice Age]]
*[[Alfred Thomas Grove]]
*[[Jean Grove]]
*[[Gordon Manley]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.uea.ac.uk/web/library/library-archives-and-collections H.H. Lamb Archive, University of East Anglia]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamb, Hubert}}
[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:1997 deaths]]
[[Category:British climatologists]]
[[Category:British meteorologists]]
[[Category:British paleogeographers]]
[[Category:British conscientious objectors]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of East Anglia]]
[[Category:People associated with the University of East Anglia]]
[[Category:Paleoclimatologists]]
[[Category:People from Bedford]]