Timothy N. Palmer

Palmer transformed numerical weather prediction away from strict determinism based on a single forecast to a probabilistic approach based on ensembles generated from perturbed initial conditions. This greatly increases the utility of forecasts, allowing enterprises as diverse as power utilities, aviation, defense organizations, and emergency planners to operate more efficiently with great savings to the economy and reduction of weather-related casualties. Palmer is also a leading developer of nonlinear climate theory, which deals with interactions among processes at different time and length scales. Palmer has also brought dynamical systems theory to bear on problems in quantum theory and general relativity.