Fujita was born in the village of Sone, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, an area that is now part of the city of Kitakyushu. He studied and taught at Kyushu Institute of Technology. In 1953 he was invited to the University of Chicago by Horace R. Byers, who had become interested in Fujita's research, particularly his independent discovery of the cold air downdraft. Fujita remained at the University of Chicago until his retirement in 1990.[3][dead link]
Fujita is recognized as the discoverer of downbursts and microbursts and also developed the Fujita scale,[4] which differentiates tornado intensity and links tornado damage with wind speed.
Fujita's best-known contributions were in tornado research; he was often called "Mr. Tornado" by his associates and by the media.[5] In addition to developing the Fujita scale, Fujita was a pioneer in the development of tornado overflight and damage survey techniques, which he used to study and map[6] the paths of the tornado that hit Lubbock, Texas on May 11, 1970. He established the value of photometric analysis of tornado pictures and films to establish wind speeds at various heights at the surface of tornado vortices.[7] Fujita was also the first to widely study the meteorological phenomenon of the downburst, which can pose serious danger to aircraft. As a result of his work, in particular on Project NIMROD, pilot training worldwide routinely uses techniques he pioneered to provide instruction to students.[8]
Fujita was also largely involved in developing the concept of multiple vortex tornadoes, which feature multiple small funnels (suction vortices) rotating within a larger parent cloud. His work established that, far from being rare events as was previously believed, most powerful tornadoes were composed of multiple vortices. He also advanced the concept of mini-swirls in intensifying tropical cyclones.[9][10]
Ted Fujita died in his Chicago home on November 19, 1998.[11] The American Meteorological Society (AMS) held the "Symposium on The Mystery of Severe Storms: A Tribute to the Work of T. Theodore Fujita" during its 80th Annual Meeting in January 2000.[12]Storm Track magazine released a special November 1998 issue, "A Tribute To Dr. Ted Fujita"[2] and Weatherwise published "Mr. Tornado: The life and career of Ted Fujita" as an article in its May/June 1999 issue.[13] He was the subject of Mr. Tornado,[14] a documentary film that originally aired on PBSAmerican Experience on May 19, 2020.[15]
World War II
Fujita was residing in Kokura during World War II. Kokura was the primary target for the "Fat Man" plutonium bomb, but on the morning of August 9, 1945, the city was obscured by clouds and smoke from the neighboring city of Yahata, which had been firebombed the day before. As a result, the bomb was dropped on the secondary target, Nagasaki.[16] Studying the damage caused by the nuclear explosions contributed to Fujita's understanding of downbursts and microbursts as "starbursts" of wind hitting the Earth's surface and spreading out.[17]
^— (February 1971). "Proposed Characterization of Tornadoes and Hurricanes by Area and Intensity". Department of Geophysical Sciences. Satellite and Mesometeorology Research Project. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago. 91. hdl:10605/261875.
^"NWS Lubbock, TX Local Weather Events: The 1970 Lubbock Tornado". weather.gov/lub. Lubbock, Texas. National Weather Service. Archived from the original on May 11, 2021. Retrieved May 17, 2021. The tornado killed 26 people and injured more than 1500 along its 8.5 mile track, while covering about 15 square miles of Lubbock. Dr. Theodore "Ted" Fujita later determined that all but one of the deaths (96%) occurred along the path of suction spots (also known as suction swaths and suction marks). These suction spots, which create localized areas of increased damage, are created when smaller-scale vortices develop and rotate around the larger parent tornado forming a multiple-vortex tornado.
^Dorschner, John (22 August 1993). "One year later, Andrew's scars remain". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. ISSN1068-624X. Retrieved 15 June 2021 – via Newspaper.com. Fujita found winds within winds within winds. Mini-swirls and microburts and swatchs danced madly within the powerful eye wall, smashing some neighborhoods, then skating away, leaving other subdivisions with comparatively little damage.
^"Wind expert says Andrew generated small superwinds". United Press International. Tampa, Florida. 20 May 1993. Retrieved 15 June 2021. Ted Fujita, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, spoke Wednesday at the Seventh Annual Governor's Hurricane Conference in Tampa. Fujita said the newly discovered superwinds probably accounted for only a small portion of the 35,000 homes that were destroyed by the hurricane in south Dade County Aug. 24. The storm caused $16.5 billion in insured losses in the county.
Shanahan, J. A., and Fujita, T. T., 1971c. The Lubbock tornadoes and Fujita suction vortices. Presented at October 18–22, 1971, ASCE Annual and National Environmental Engineering meeting, St. Louis. [October 1971]
— (22 June 1976). Photogrammetric Analysis of Tornadoes - F. History of Suction Vortices. Institute for Disaster Research. Proceedings of the Symposium on Tornadoes: Assessment of Knowledge and Implications for Man. Lubbock, Texas: Texas Tech University. pp. 78–88. hdl:10605/262139.
Fujita, T. T., and Forbes, G. S., 1976f. Photogrammetric analysis of tornadoes, D. Three scales of motion involving tornadoes, in Peterson, R. E., ed., Proceedings of the Symposium on Tornadoes, Assessment of Knowledge and Implications for Man: Institute for Disaster Research, Texas Technological University, Lubbock, p. 53–57. [June 1976] (also issued as SMRP 140c)
— (1 October 1992). "Memoirs of Effort to Unlock the Mystery of Severe Storms during the 50 Years, 1942–1992". Wind Research Laboratory – Department of Geophysical Sciences. WRL Research Paper Number 239 (in English and Japanese). University of Chicago (239). hdl:10605/262046.
