The Observatory Experiment
Meteorology in Britain and Its Empire

Innovative history of the science of meteorology using understudied archival material and treating meteorology as an observatory science.

Simon Naylor (Author)

9781009207232, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 October 2024

285 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 2 cm, 0.58 kg

'… a meticulously researched investigation into the construction and operation of meteorological observatories in the nineteenth century.' Xinyue Li, H-Sci-Med-Tech

In this innovative history of the science of meteorology, Simon Naylor focuses our attention on the spaces in which it was pursued: meteorological observatories. During the nineteenth century, meteorologists established or converted sites where observers and their instruments could be housed, where they collected and analysed data and developed meteorological theories. He examines a number of these sites around the British Empire, along with the governmental, military and commercial networks connecting them. Taking many shapes to capture the weather in different environments, these observatories brought various social groups into contact with the practice of science, including sailors on naval surveying vessels, climbers ascending Scottish peaks, and families checking their rain gauges at home. Through a study of these spaces, Naylor argues for the treatment of meteorology as an experimental observatory science, on which the development of knowledge about local, regional, national and global weather and climate relied.

Introduction: Observatory experiments
1. Meteorology all at sea
2. Meteorology at the colonial observatories
3. Mountain meteorology on Ben Nevis
4. Geographies of the rain
Conclusion: Historical geographies of future weather.

Subject Areas: History of engineering & technology [TBX]