Alan West Brewer (1915 – 21 November 2007) was a Britanno-Canadian physicist and climatologist.

Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and raised in Derby, England, he earned a scholarship to study physics at the University College London.

During World War II, he researched contrails for the Royal Air Force, making the discovery that the stratosphere is much drier than had been presumed.

In 1977, Brewer retired from the University of Toronto, returning to England, in Devon, where he farmed until nearly 80 years old.

[1][2][3] In late 1959, he and James Milford developed the Oxford-Kew ozone sonde.