Shaw was born at 84 Vyse Street in
Birmingham the son of Charles Thomas Shaw, a goldsmith and jeweller, and his wife, Kezia Lauden. He was educated at
King Edward's School, Birmingham.[4]
Returning to Britain he began as a Demonstrator in Physics at the
Cavendish Laboratory linked to Cambridge University in 1879. In 1887 he began lecturing in Experimental Physics. In 1898 he became Assistant Director of the Cavendish Laboratory.
In 1900 he became Secretary of the Meteorological Council. From 1905 to 1907 he was Director of the Meteorological Office. In 1907 he became the first Professor of Meteorology at
Imperial College, London.[7]
In 1911 he served as President of the International Meteorological Committee, forerunner of the
World Meteorological Organization.[8] In 1915, he developed the
tephigram. He was knighted by King
George V later that year.
Shaw also studied
air pollution, and was the first to study and discuss
smog and look at its health problems. In 1925, he co-authored the book The Smoke Problem of Great Cities with
John Switzer Owens.[10]
Shaw retired in 1924 aged 70 and died in
London aged 91.
Family
In 1885 he married Sarah Jane Dugdale Harland (d.1923). They had no children.[11]
^Addison, Henry Robert; Oakes, Charles Henry; Lawson, William John; Sladen, Douglas Brooke Wheelton (1907).
"SHAW, William Napier". Who's Who. Vol. 59. pp. 1591–1592.
^Shaw, Napier. "The convective energy of saturated air in a natural environment". In: Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto, August 11–16. 1924. Vol. 2. pp. 305–313.