Luke Howard

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Luke Howard

Luke Howard (November 28, 1772 – March 21, 1864) was a British meteorologist with broad interests in science. His lasting contribution to science is a nomenclature system for clouds, which he proposed in an 1802 presentation to the Askesian Society.

Howard has been called "the father of meteorology" because of his comprehensive recordings of weather in the London area from 1801 to 1841 and his writings, which transformed the science of meteorology. ^[1] In his late twenties, he wrote the Essay on the Modification of Clouds, which was published in 1803.^[2] He named the three principal categories of clouds - cumulus, stratus, and cirrus, as well as a series of intermediate and compound modifications, such as cirrostratus and stratocumulus, in order to accommodate the transitions occurring between the forms. He identified the importance of clouds in meterorology:

Clouds are subject to certain distinct modifications, produced by the general causes which affect all the variations of the atmosphere; they are commonly as good visible indicators of the operation of these causes, as is the countenance of the state of a person's mind or body.^[3]

Howard was not the first to attempt a classification of clouds—Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) had earlier proposed a list of descriptive terms in French—but the success of Howard's system was due to his use of universal Latin, as well as to his emphasis on the mutability of clouds. By applying Linnean principles of natural history classification to phenomena as short-lived as clouds, Howard arrived at an elegant solution to the problem of naming transitional forms in nature.

In addition to his seminal work on clouds, Howard also contributed numerous papers on other meteorological topics, although with less success. He was also a pioneer in urban climate studies, publishing The Climate of London in 1818-20, which contained continuous daily observations of wind direction, atmospheric pressure, maximum temperature, and rainfall;^[4] it also demolished James Hutton's theory of rain, though without suggesting a definitive alternative.^[5]

Howard's cloud classification had a major influence on the arts as well as on science. Howard corresponded with Goethe, who wrote a series of poems in gratitude to him, including the lines:

But Howard gives us with his clear mind

The gain of lessons new to all mankind;

That which no hand can reach, no hand can clasp

He first has gained, first held with mental grasp.^[6]

Howard also inspired Shelley's poem "The Cloud" and informed John Constable's paintings and studies of skies ^[7] and the writings and art of John Ruskin, who used Howard's cloud classification in his criticisms of landscape paintings in Modern Painters.^[8]

Howard was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1821. He was a Quaker, later converting to the Plymouth Brethren, and a pharmacist by profession. He was born and lived in London, although he spent the years 1824 to 1852 in Ackworth, Yorkshire. His daughter Rachel founded a school there, which also contains a Plymouth Brethren burial ground. There is an English Heritage blue plaque to Howard at 7 Bruce Grove, Tottenham, the house in which he died, aged 91.

[edit] References

^ Thornes, John. E., John Constable's Skies, The University of Birmingham Press, 1999, ISBN 1-902459-02-4: 189.
^ Thornes 1999: 189.
^ Thornes 1999: 36.
^ Thornes 1999: 203.
^ Thornes 1999: 190.
^ Thornes 1999: 190.
^ Thornes 1999: 52.
^ Thornes 1999: 187.

[edit] Sources

Hamblyn, Richard, The Invention of Clouds, London, Picador, 2001.
Thornes, John.E., John Constable's Skies, The University of Birmingham Press, 1999, ISBN 1-902459-02-4.