The John F. Nye Lecture honors the work of cryospheric science pioneer, John F. Nye. This named lecture is presented annually during the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco. The Nye Lecturer is selected based on highlighting and recognizing an outstanding cryospheric scientist and her/his recent accomplishments as well as the individual’s ability to present exciting science to the non-cryosphere community of AGU scientists.
Who is Dr. John Nye?
John Nye was an internationally renowned physicist who made fundamental contributions to the understanding of crystals, ice and light. He explored defects in crystal structures, in particular continuous distributions of dislocations. He explained the mechanics of the flow of glaciers: their advance and retreat, and how this depends on the underlying topography; and how water flows beneath and within them. He was a pioneer in the study of optical singularities on three levels: stable caustics in geometrical optics; phase singularities (wavefront dislocations) in scalar waves; and lines of circular and linear polarization in electromagnetic fields.
A continuation of Dr. John Nye's obituary and biography from the Royal Society can be found at the following link: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsbm.2020.0002
(Written by Sir Michael Berry)