David Burridge

The European Meteorological Society has chosen Dr. David Burridge as Laureate of the EMS Silver Medal 2010. Dr Burridge is honoured for his outstanding leadership and scientific contributions in the field of numerical weather prediction. Additionally,
Dr Burridge is an excellent advocate for the meteorological sciences; he has the capability of being able to explain convincingly scientific issues to experts, whilst being adept at conveying complex ideas to the public and the media in an understandable way.

The Silver Medal ceremony, which included the Silver Medal Lecture by Dr Burridge, was held on Wednesday, 15 September 2010, during the EMS Annual Meeting and European Conference on Applied Climatology (ECAC) at ETH in Zürich, Switzerland.

Dr. Burridge said: “I am delighted and honoured to receive this award and I regard it as also recognizing the exceptional pan-European collaboration that has made ECMWF a leading institution in numerical weather prediction. I am thankful that, during my time at ECMWF, I was fortunate to be in a key position to provide support and encouragement to ECMWF colleagues. The award is also a great personal stimulus to continue working on the THORPEX Programme which I hope will improve the prediction of high impact weather around the world.”

Dr. Burridge held the position of Director of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) from 1991 to 2004. His innovative contributions to the field of numerical weather prediction were a major contribution to the establishment and maintenance of the ECMWF as a world-leading forecast centre.

Since retirement from ECMWF in 2004, he has been enthusiastically, and effectively, shaping and steering the implementation of the THORPEX Programme. Here his in-depth knowledge of the scientific questions at the forefront of NWP, his ability to assimilate new ideas and look at problems from a number of different angles and his outstanding people management skills have been instrumental in keeping this complex programme moving forward.

Dr. Burridge was the president of the EMS from 2005 to 2008, and the enthusiasm with which he undertook this role and stimulated new initiatives, underlines that his vocation has been and is still of great benefit to the meteorological community. Dr Burridge was honoured by the government of the UK when he was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1995 for services to meteorology. In 2005 he received an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Reading and in 2006 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the University of Swansea.