Arthur Thomas Doodson

Profoundly deaf, he could not become a teacher and started as meter tester before he obtained his M.Sc.degree at the University of Liverpool, advised by Joseph Proudman.

He briefly worked under Karl Pearson first in statistics, then in ballistics calculating shell trajectories until the end of WWI.

Joining the newly founded Tidal Institute in Liverpool in 1919 he produced tide tables, and was involved in designing tide-predicting machines.

During WWII he calculated the best combination of full moon and ideal tidal conditions for D-Day on 6 June 1944.

He found it difficult to get a job because of his disability, and started with electrical engineering Ferranti in Manchester as a meter tester.

To calculate the effect of wind on the trajectory of a shot, he modified a method by Ralph Fowler, Herbert William Richmond and Douglas Rayner Hartree, which was later included in the Textbook of AA (anti-aircraft) Gunnery.

He became the head of the computing staff and stayed until 1919,[3] when he obtained his D.Sc..[2] In 1919, he moved back to Liverpool to work on tidal analysis at the newly founded Tidal Institute, which Proudman had persuaded Charles Booth of Liverpool, and Sir Alfred Booth to sponsor.

With a grant, they could hire an assistant computer, a member of Doodson’s staff in London, and buy a desk calculator.

He developed the analysis of tidal motions mainly in the oceans, but also in lakes, and was the first to devise methods for shallow water as in estuaries.

[1] The thorough analysis at which he excelled became the international standard for the study of tides and the production of tables through the method of determination of Harmonic Elements by Least-Squares Fitting to data observed at each place of interest.

They also did "nighttime fire watch on the roof in tin helmets and trench coats and carrying buckets of water in case an incendiary bomb hit the observatory".

[1] In 1957, he attended a conference by the International Hydrographic Bureau and became involved in the financing and production of bathymetric charts.

Made important contributions to Ballistics during the war, embodying great improvements in calculation, which have since been incorporated in the official Textbook of Anti aircraft gunnery.