Weather by the Numbers: The Genesis of Modern Meteorology

Transformations: Studies in the History of Science and Technology

by Kristine C. Harper

For much of the first half of the twentieth century, meteorology was more art thanscience, dependent on an individual forecaster's lifetime of local experience. In Weatherby the Numbers , Kristine Harper tells the story of the transformation of meteorology froma "guessing science" into a sophisticated scientific discipline based on physics andmathematics. What made this possible was the development of the electronic digital computer; earlierattempts at numerical weather prediction had foundered on the human inability to solve nonlinearequations quickly enough for timely forecasting. After World War II, the combination of an expandedobservation network developed for military purposes, newly trained meteorologists, savvy about mathand physics, and the nascent digital computer created a new way of approaching atmospheric theoryand weather forecasting. This transformation of a discipline, Harper writes, was the most importantintellectual achievement of twentieth-century meteorology, and paved the way for the growth ofcomputer-assisted modeling in all the sciences.

Genres: Science, History, Nonfiction, History Of Science

308 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2008

Reviews

[Ken Beissner · Rating 5 out of 5]

never realized how modern the history of modern meteorology was. Makes me realize how recent the science of climate modeling is.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very accessible history of a pivotal point in the history of 20th century meteorology - the first computer assisted numerical forecast - that argues for the importance of both theory and practice.