Luke Howard
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Luke Howard (November 28, 1772 – March 21, 1864) was a British meteorologist with broad interests in science. His lasting contribution to science is a nomenclature system for clouds, which he proposed in an 1802 presentation to the Askesian Society.
Howard has been called "the godfather of clouds". He named the three principal categories of clouds - cumulus, stratus, and cirrus, as well as a series of intermediate and compound modifications, such as cirrostratus and stratocumulus, in order to accommodate the transitions occurring between the forms. Howard was not the first to attempt a classification of clouds: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) had earlier proposed a list of descriptive terms in French, but the success of Howard's system was due to his use of universal Latin, as well as to his emphasis on the mutability of clouds. By applying Linnean principles of natural history classification to phenomena as short-lived as clouds, Howard arrived at an elegant solution to the problem of naming transitional forms in nature. In addition to his seminal work on clouds he also contributed numerous papers on other meteorological topics, although with less success. Howard was also a pioneer in urban climate studies, publishing The Climate of London in 1818-20.
Howard was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1821. He was a Quaker, later converting to the Plymouth Brethren and a pharmacist by profession. He was born and lived in London, although he spent the years 1824-52 in Ackworth, Yorkshire. His daughter Rachel founded a school there, which also contains a Plymouth Brethren burial ground. There is an English Heritage blue plaque to Howard at 7 Bruce Grove, Tottenham, the house in which he died, aged 91.
Sources
Richard Hamblyn, The Invention of Clouds (London: Picador, 2001)External links
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