Wasaburo Oishi

Wasaburo Oishi (大石 和三郎, Ōishi Wasaburō^?, March 15, 1874 - 1950) was a Japanese meteorologist. Born in Tosu, Saga, he is best known for his discovery of the high-altitude air currents now known as the jet stream. He was also an important Esperantist, serving as the second Board President of the Japan Esperanto-Institute from 1930 to 1945.^[1]

Jet stream

He wrote the first official report from Japan's Aerological Observatory (written in 1926 and in the auxiliary language of Esperanto). In this report, data was stratified by season and used to produce the mean seasonal wind profiles. The profile for winter gave the first known evidence of the persistent strong westerlies over Japan that would later become known as the jet stream.^[2]

World War II

Wasaburo's studies on the jet stream enabled Japan to attack North America during World War II with at least 9,000 incendiary bombs carried by stratospheric balloons and then dropped by a timer mechanism on U.S. forests. ^[3] Very few bombs in this bombing campaign, called Project Fugo, actually reached their targets.

References

1. ^ Japana Esperanto-Instituto. "la historio de Japana Esperanto-Instituto (history of Japan Esperanto-Institute)". http://www.jei.or.jp/hp/eo/eo_historio.htm. Retrieved 05 January 2011. 
2. ^ Lewis, John M. (2003), "Oishi's Observation: Viewed in the Context of Jet Stream Discovery.", Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 84: 357–369 
3. ^ Mathias Joost. "Western Air Command and the Japanese Balloon Campaign". http://www.journal.dnd.ca/vo6/no2/history-histoire-01-eng.asp. Retrieved 22 August 2010. 

Persondata
Name	Oishi, Wasaburo
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Date of birth	15 March 1874
Place of birth
Date of death	1950
Place of death