Article from medium.com/@WeatherWorks...
Weather has occurred on planet Earth since its formation, but when did we first decide to try and scientifically figure out how the weather works (see what we did there)? Well, the first ideas pertaining to meteorology can be dated way back to 3000 BC in India. Here, some discussions related to cloud formation and rain can be found, however, one of the biggest breakthroughs was back in 350 BC when a pretty smart guy named Aristotle (you may have heard of him) wrote Meteorology. In the work, Aristotle described the hydrologic cycle darn well:
“Now the sun, moving as it does, sets up processes of change and becoming and decay, and by its agency the finest and sweetest water is every day carried up and is dissolved into vapour and rises to the upper region, where it is condensed again by the cold and so returns to the earth.” — The University of Adelaide Library, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005: eBooks@Adelaide. Translated by E. W. Webster
That’s pretty amazing. Then in 250 BC, Archimedes developed the concept of buoyancy, which is important when understanding convective clouds (cumulus) and thunderstorms. The Middle Ages saw some progress in the field, with an anemometer (instrument to measure wind) invented in 1450 along with a hair hygrometer designed by Leonardo da Vinci to measure humidity. Another big name, Galileo, developed a thermoscope in 1607 for temperature and Torricelli created the barometer for pressure in 1643. Unfortunately, the thermoscope wasn’t useful until Fahrenheit and Celsius developed reliable scales to measure temperature in 1724 & 1742 respectively.
Tons of other discoveries, inventions, and laws were made during the 1800’s into the mid 1900’s, but let’s move on to the first computer model! That was created in 1950 by Princeton University with the first forecast using a numerical model following in 1954 by the Royal Swedish Air Force. The first weather satellite? How about 1959, but the ability for radar to pick up rain/snow was actually discovered before it in 1941 during World War II. Constant improvements have been made since the 1950’s to satellites, radar, observations, and modeling to reach today’s level of atmospheric understanding.
We’ve come a long way since 3000 BC…
