History of Barometers Timeline

Earth's average atmospheric pressure varies between approximately 940 and 1040 hPa (mbar), a range that barometers are designed to measure.

The average atmospheric pressure at sea level is approximately 1013 hPa (mbar), providing a standard reference for barometric measurements.

Inspired by Torricelli, Otto von Guericke found unusually low air pressure on 5 December 1660 and predicted a storm. The storm occurred the following day.

Image source: Otto von Guericke

During a scientific expedition on Mont Blanc in 1787, De Saussure investigated and experimentally measured the boiling point of water at different heights.

Image source: Horace Bénédict de Saussure

De Saussure calculated elevation by measuring how long an alcohol burner took to boil a quantity of water, estimating Mont Blanc's height at 4775 metres.

De Saussure's estimated height of 4775 metres was later found to be 32 metres less than Mont Blanc's actual height of 4807 metres.

By the mid-19th century, the method of estimating height from boiling-point measurements was used by explorers.

Barometric pressure and pressure tendency, meaning the change in pressure over time, came to be used in weather forecasting during the late 19th century.

Simultaneous barometric readings from networks of weather stations allowed maps of air pressure to be produced. These were the first form of the modern weather map when created in the 19th century.

Image source: Weather map

Following the Trimdon Grange colliery disaster in 1882, the mines inspector drew attention to recorded conditions and stated that atmospheric and temperature conditions had reached a dangerous point.

In 1668, Robert Hooke's marine barometer, made by Henry Hunt, was noticed, prompting efforts to make the instrument seaworthy.

Image source: Robert Hooke

Robert Hooke's notable contribution was a double thermometer marine barometer, also called a manometer. It was presented to the Royal Society in 1668 and constructed by Henry Hunt.

Edmond Halley tested the marine barometer prototype during his South Atlantic voyage from 1698 to 1700 and praised its reliability in forecasting weather changes.

Image source: Edmond Halley

For Captain James Cook's second Pacific expedition, the Board of Longitude and the Royal Society commissioned marine barometers as part of the preparations for the 1772–1775 voyage.

Image source: James Cook

Variants of Nairne's barometer were incorporated into voyages by the East India Company, Russian explorers, and French and Spanish navigators, including Lapérouse in 1785 and Malaspina in 1789.

Sympiesometers were compact and lightweight barometers widely used on ships in the early 19th century.

In 1801, the Royal Society sent Captain Matthew Flinders on a three-year voyage from New Holland to New South Wales equipped with one of Nairne's barometers, reaffirming the instrument's practical marine value.

Image source: Matthew Flinders

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz proposed the concept of an aneroid barometer around 1700, although a successful instrument would not be invented for decades.

From 1770 onward, many Italians came to England because they were accomplished glass blowers or instrument makers. By 1840, Italians dominated the industry in England.

In 1778, Blondeau developed an iron tube barometer using narrow-bore musket barrels.

Around 1810, the wheel barometer, readable from a great distance, became the first practical commercial instrument favored by farmers and the educated classes in the United Kingdom.

In 1844, French scientist Lucien Vidi successfully invented the aneroid barometer, fulfilling the concept proposed by Leibniz around 1700.

Repair and trade of antique barometers produced before late 1957 remained unrestricted despite later restrictions on new mercury measuring instruments.

In 2007, a European Union directive restricted the use of mercury in new measuring instruments intended for the general public, effectively ending production of new mercury barometers in Europe.

Using vacuum pump oil as the working fluid led to the creation of the new World's Tallest Barometer in February 2013.