Houston: Dr. John C. Freeman, Director of Research of Weather Research Center is being honored at the Symposium on the 50^th Anniversary of Operational Numerical Weather Prediction being held at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland this week. This Symposium is celebrating the creation of the Joint Numerical Weather Predication Unit. This unit was created in mid-1954 to provide numerical weather prediction operationally.

Dr. Freeman was part of the team that used the MANIAC [Mathematical Analyzer, Numerical Integrator and Computer] computer to make the first successful computer forecasts in the 1950. Dr. John Von Neumann in the late 1940’s was designing a computer and the meteorologists of the time proposed that the new computer be used for forecasting. The meteorologists gave Von Neumann and his team the formulas to define the weather and the first successfully predicatino was made in 1950. Work continues today on defining the weather by equastions with models which now try and predict the weather out 14 days.

At 83, Dr. Freeman is the only member still alive from the original team. The original team included H. Wexler, J. von Neumann, H. Frankel, J. Namais, J.C. Freeman, R. Fjortoft, F.W. Reichelderfer and J.G. Charney.

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