Citation | Distinguished for his work on the dynamics of stratified and rotating fluids, and on double-diffusive convection. Though primarily a theoretician, he has devised elegant laboratory experiments to test his ideas, and has also applied them to the interpretation of field observations. His work on the flow of a stratified fluid over topography has led to a better understanding of the generation of lee waves, and of the interaction between ocean currents and topography. His studies of double-diffusive convection showed how empirical relationships obtained from laboratory experiments could be used to examine the stability of a number of convecting layers, and also provided one of the first physical examples of the complicated time-dependent behaviour of convective systems which has since been widely studied. Recently he and Sparks have demonstrated the importance of double diffusion in magma chambers. This work has already been very influential in igneous petrology. |