The early 19th century was the heyday of the amateur scientist. The
scientific revolution, which began in the mid-17th century, spawned
a huge public interest in science as a way of explaining the way
the world worked. Young men, largely self-taught, pursued their own
lines of scientific inquiry and presented them at large public
meetings. It was a time when many natural phenomena remained
unexplored and unexamined: the opportunities for making new
discoveries were endless. Luke Howard was one such young man. Born
in 1772, the son of a self-employed manufacturer and Quaker, he
developed an early interest in meteorology, specifically cloud
formations. Although it seems odd now, no-one at that time had
developed either a completely successful explanation of how clouds
were formed or a plausible system for classifying the different
kinds of clouds. Hamblyn's biography tells the story of how Howard,
who became a full-time pharmacist, developed his early interest in
clouds to the point where he was able to deliver a public lecture
in 1802 giving the first coherent account of how clouds worked or,
as Hamblyn puts it, the 'penetrating... insight that clouds have
many individual shapes but few basic forms'. The three basic types
that Howard identified cirrus, cumulus and stratus are still used
today. Howard's achievement was instantly and widely recognized:
his admirers included both Constable and Goethe, who wrote a poem
about him. Hamblyn does an excellent job of showing why Howard's
work excited so much interest and admiration. He gives a clear
explanation of Howard's theories and provides a detailed contextual
picture, both of the history of meteorology and the 19th century's
fascination with classification and measurement. The biographical
detail is thin, but that doesn't matter: the story is of the
scientist, rather than the man, and Hamblyn conveys beautifully the
excitement and importance of Howard's scientific discovery. (Kirkus
UK)
This volume tells the story of shy Quaker Luke Howard, and his pioneering work in 1802 to define what had hitherto seemed random and mysterious structures - clouds. It also focuses on other issues of the day, such as religion, aesthetics and literature.
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