[2] He introduced the tephigram, a diagram for evaluating convective instability in the atmosphere.

Shaw was born at 84 Vyse Street in Birmingham the son of Charles Thomas Shaw, a goldsmith and jeweller, and his wife, Kezia Lauden.

Returning to Britain he began as a Demonstrator in Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory linked to Cambridge University in 1879.

In 1933 he was elected an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

In 1925, he co-authored the book The Smoke Problem of Great Cities with John Switzer Owens.