History of Meteorology Timeline

In the thirteenth century, Roger Bacon advocated experimentation and mathematical analysis, encouraging approaches that challenged purely commentary-based study of atmospheric phenomena.

Image source: Roger Bacon

In the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, Kamāl al-Dīn al-Fārisī and Theodoric of Freiberg independently became the first to provide correct explanations for the primary rainbow phenomenon.

Image source: Rainbow

In the fourteenth century, Nicole Oresme argued that weather forecasting was possible, although the rules needed to make reliable predictions were not yet known.

Image source: Nicole Oresme

In 1441, Prince Munjong of Korea, son of King Sejong, invented the first standardized rain gauge, establishing a consistent method for measuring precipitation.

In 1450, Leone Battista Alberti developed a swinging-plate anemometer. He is widely regarded as the inventor of the first anemometer, an instrument for measuring wind speed.

Image source: Anemometer

By the middle of the sixteenth century, meteorology had developed along theoretical and astrological lines. Astrological influence on meteorology persisted until the eighteenth century.

Gerolamo Cardano's De Subtilitate, published in 1550, was an early work to challenge fundamental aspects of Aristotelian theory.

Image source: Gerolamo Cardano

From the late sixteenth century through the first half of the seventeenth century, instruments including thermometers, barometers, hydrometers, wind gauges, and rain gauges were invented or developed.

The word meteorology first appeared in English in 1563 in William Fulke's book Goodly Gallerye Causes of Meteors.

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In 1607, Galileo Galilei constructed a thermoscope, an early device that indicated temperature changes and helped establish the basis for later thermometers.

In 1611, Johannes Kepler wrote Strena Seu de Nive Sexangula, the first scientific treatise devoted to the hexagonal form of snow crystals.

In 1643, Evangelista Torricelli invented the mercury barometer, providing a practical and accurate way to measure atmospheric pressure.

Image source: Evangelista Torricelli

In 1662, Sir Christopher Wren invented a mechanical, self-emptying, tipping-bucket rain gauge, improving the automation of precipitation measurement.

In 1686, Edmond Halley presented a systematic study of trade winds and monsoons and identified solar heating as the cause of atmospheric motions.

Image source: Edmond Halley

In 1714, Gabriel Fahrenheit created a reliable temperature scale using a mercury-type thermometer, enabling more consistent temperature observations.

Image source: Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit

In 1716, Edmond Halley suggested that aurorae were caused by magnetic effluvia moving along Earth's magnetic field lines.

In 1735, George Hadley wrote an influential explanation of global atmospheric circulation based on the trade winds, laying foundations for the later understanding of Hadley cells.

In 1742, Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius proposed the centigrade temperature scale, the predecessor of the modern Celsius scale.

Image source: Celsius

After a hurricane prevented Benjamin Franklin from observing a lunar eclipse in 1743, he concluded that cyclones move contrary to the winds at their periphery.

Image source: Benjamin Franklin

In 1783, Horace-Bénédict de Saussure demonstrated the first hair hygrometer, an instrument that used the expansion and contraction of hair to measure atmospheric humidity.

Image source: Hygrometer

In On the Modification of Clouds, written in 1802–1803, Luke Howard assigned Latin names to cloud types, creating the basic classification system still used in meteorology.

In 1806, Francis Beaufort introduced a system for classifying wind speeds. The Beaufort scale became a standard means of describing wind force, especially at sea.

Image source: Beaufort scale

In 1654, Ferdinando II de Medici established the first weather observing network. Stations operated in locations including Florence, Bologna, Paris, Warsaw, and Innsbruck.

The Societas Meteorologica Palatina was founded in 1780 as the first meteorological society, supporting systematic observation and communication of weather data.

In 1832, Baron Schilling created an electromagnetic telegraph, an innovation that eventually enabled rapid transmission of weather observations over long distances.

Image source: Telegraphy

The electrical telegraph's arrival in 1837 provided the first practical method for rapidly gathering surface weather observations across a wide area.

In 1849, the Smithsonian Institution began establishing a weather observation network across the United States under Joseph Henry, creating a foundation for organized national forecasting.

Image source: Smithsonian Institution

In 1854, the United Kingdom appointed Robert FitzRoy as Meteorological Statist to gather weather observations at sea. His office became the United Kingdom Meteorological Office, the world's second-oldest national meteorological service.

Image source: Met Office

The first daily weather forecasts produced by FitzRoy's office were published in The Times newspaper in 1860, bringing official forecasts to a broad public audience.

Image source: Robert FitzRoy

Near the end of the nineteenth century, the first cloud atlases were published, including the International Cloud Atlas, which has remained in print and standardized cloud identification.

Image source: International Cloud Atlas

In 1890, the United States Weather Bureau was established under the Department of Agriculture, formalizing national weather observation and forecasting in the United States.

Image source: National Weather Service

In 1906, Australia established its Bureau of Meteorology through a Meteorology Act, unifying existing state meteorological services.

In 1950, the World Meteorological Organization was formed to facilitate the free and unrestricted exchange of meteorological and hydrological data, information, and research among its members.

Image source: World Meteorological Organization

In 1835, Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis published a paper on the energy yield of machines with rotating parts. The work provided the foundation for the Coriolis force used in atmospheric dynamics.

Image source: Coriolis force

In 1856, William Ferrel proposed a circulation cell in the mid-latitudes and explained how the Coriolis force deflects its air, producing prevailing westerly winds.

During the twentieth century, radar and satellite technology greatly improved meteorologists' ability to observe, track, and analyze weather systems.

Image source: Weather radar

During the twentieth century, advances in atmospheric physics, computer models, radar, and satellites established numerical weather prediction as a central tool of modern meteorology.

Image source: Numerical weather prediction

In 1904, Vilhelm Bjerknes argued in Weather Forecasting as a Problem in Mechanics and Physics that weather should be predictable through calculations based on natural laws.

Image source: Vilhelm Bjerknes

By 1912, the deflecting force affecting moving air masses on a rotating Earth was known as the Coriolis effect.

In 1922, Lewis Fry Richardson published Weather Prediction by Numerical Process. He described how atmospheric fluid-dynamics equations could be simplified and solved numerically to produce forecasts.

Image source: Lewis Fry Richardson

In 1959, the United Kingdom Meteorological Office received its first computer, a Ferranti Mercury, supporting the growing use of electronic computation in weather prediction.

The successful launch of TIROS-1 in April 1960 marked the beginning of the satellite-weather era, making weather information available globally and greatly improving observation of weather systems.

Image source: TIROS-1

In the twenty-first century, meteorology has become highly accurate and increasingly dependent on big data, supercomputing, numerical methods, and computer simulations.