William Jackson Humphreys

William Jackson Humphreys ( born February 3, 1862 in Gap Mills, Virginia; † November 10, 1949 in Washington, DC ) was an American atmospheric physicist.

Humphreys studied physics and meteorology at the Washington University, Lee University in Virginia and Johns Hopkins University, from which he in 1897 his Ph.D. obtained. There he studied under Henry A. Rowland et al. He worked primarily in the fields of spectroscopy, atmospheric physics and meteorology. In the field of physics he also succeeded in demonstrating the shift of spectral lines under pressure - his most important achievement in meteorology was a very good description of the Stratosphere ( 1909). He wrote numerous textbooks, had some lecturers held. From 1905 to 1935 he worked at the Meteorological Service of the United States. Humphreys was a 1920 explanation for the year without a summer in 1816. This was due to a volcanic winter that result from ereignenden in April 1915 eruption of Tambora volcano, Indonesia.