![]() Siple scraped barnacles, loaded coal, scrubbed decks, and hunted penguins. ![]() There may not now be a law preventing polar expeditions from drafting Boy Scouts, but perhaps there should be. He was still a teenager when selected from more than 800,000 other Boy Scouts to accompany Byrd’s First Antarctic Expedition of 1928-30. More than perhaps any American in history, outside your average Utqiaġvik resident, Siple knew about extreme cold. Wind blows snow from the slopes of Matanuska Peak on Wednesday, Jan. Yet, Siple was the experienced innovator. In a 2021 journal article, researchers Harvey Lankford and Leslie Fox noted 89 studies and experiments along similar lines published and conducted between 19. Paul Siple (1908-1968) coined the term “wind chill” in an unpublished 1939 dissertation that included the first formula for a wind chill index. In this way, the current understanding of wind chill, with charts and factors, is a surprisingly modern concept, only entering the public space a couple of generations ago. ![]() The concept is simple and present throughout documented history, but the calculations are a bit more complicated. What did the great author know of the cold combined with wind, of the wind chill factor beyond mere low temperatures?ĭuring Admiral Richard Byrd’s 1933 to 1935 second expedition seeking the South Pole, a participant noted, “the real agony of the cold comes from the wind,” as “like a knife drawn across the face.” At some level, everyone understands wind chill, how exposed skin loses heat more rapidly on a windy, cold day than on a still one. In “Travels with Charley: In Search of America,” John Steinbeck wrote, “What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” While true, Steinbeck lacked experience in a place like Alaska, let alone the Antarctic. Have a question about Anchorage or Alaska history or an idea for a future article? Go to the form at the bottom of this story. Part of a continuing weekly series on Alaska history by local historian David Reamer. A wind chill chart from the National Weather Service.
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