The Greeks were the first meteorologists ( 7th century B.C.). Thales of Miletus associated weather with movement of the stars and planets. He considered water to be the basic element of all matter. Anaximander thought that wind was moving air. This idea was later rejected by Aristotle. (Farrand, 1991)
Aristotle wrote “Meteorological” about 340 B.C. His ideas included the four elements (earth, wind, fire and water). He said that they were arranged in separate layers, but they could mingle. Aristotle also believed that heat could cause water to evaporate. He deduced many things about weather, both wrong and right, but was the first to explain it. Thus, Aristotle is considered the founder of meteorology. For 2000 years, no one added anything significant to his findings. ( Farrand, 1991)
One of the first weather instruments was designed by a German-Nicholas deCusa. In the 15th century, he hung out some wool and noticed that it was heavier when moisture condensed on it. (Farrand, 1991 )
Around 1593, Galileo was the first to realize that gases and liquids expand when heated, and he invented the first thermometer. Also, in 1643, Evangelista Toricelia invented the barometer. Very close to this time, wind and calibrated rain gauges were invented. (Farrand, 1991)
In 1686, Edmund Halley (the English astronomer who discovered Halley’s Comet) proposed that air is heated by the sunrises and winds are caused by air flowing in to replace air that has risen. In the 1740’s, Ben Franklin proposed that storms move from place to place. In 1768, John Heinrich Lambert developed the hygrometer. (Farrand, 1991)
In 1830, William Redfield, a Connecticut peddler discovered the circular path of a hurricane. He noticed that after a hurricane, trees in eastern Connecticut fell in one direction, while those in the western part of the state fell in the other direction. (St. Onge, 1990, Farrand, 1991)
In 1918, Vilhelm Bjerknes and his son Jacob discovered that many weather phenomena result from the meeting and interaction of warm and cold air masses. Also, Carl Gustaf Rossby (U.S. Weather Service) discovered the jet stream and that it governs the easterly movement of most weather. (Farrand, 1991)
Weather makes headlines all the time. “The weather is always doing something said Mark Twain-always coming up with new designs and trying them on people to see how they will go. (Ludlum, 1986)
At the beginning of the 17th century, the colonists had little information about our weather. Many myths controlled the location of settlements. one misconception was that temperatures along the same parallel of latitude were equal the world over. A common complaint by the colonists was that there were six months of winter over here. Due to weather conditions, 32 out of 105 of the original settlers at Jamestown died. A rule of thumb was that if a colonist could survive a full year in the New World, he/she was seasoned and should live for many more years. (Ludlum, 1986)
Eventually, the colonists started keeping track of the weather. Until 1717, no weather instruments were kept in the United States. Benjamin Franklin urged establishment of a network of observers. In 1675, the Farmer’s Almanac added weather information. (Ludium 1986)
In 1846, the Smithsonian started collecting and studying weather reports from all over the country. Later on, a breakthrough with weather balloons occurred when the vacuum tube was developed so there could be communication between the balloon and ground. (Ludlum, 1986)
In the 1940’s and beyond, radar, weather stations, satellites, and computers were developed, which has helped to increase forecasting accuracy. Also, the above mentioned items are constantly being upgraded to collect and analyze more detailed information. (Ludlum, 1986)
