Pen portraits of Presidents – Sir Basil John Mason, CB, DSc, FRS

We present a short biography of Sir John Mason, part of Weather 's series of pen portraits of Past Presidents of the Royal Meteorological Society. This biography is longer than a normal pen portrait to reflect Sir John Mason's exceptional and wide‐ranging achievements and to show how he contributed to the debate about climate change. We include a discussion of his early years, particularly his pioneering work in cloud physics. We particularly review the key activities of the Met Office with which he was closely involved in his years as Director General, followed by his activities after retirement and his main awards.