GLAISHER,JAMES FRS (1809-1903) ASTRONOMER, METEOROLOGIST AND PIONEER OF WEATHER FORECASTING - A VENTURESOME VICTORIAN

The life of James Glaisher (Fig. I) was long and eventful. At the age of 20 years he was engaged on an Ordnance Survey in Ireland. This tour of duty was followed by 3 years as First Assistant to Professor Georg e Airy at the University Observatory, Cambridge (I833-I835). He was th en appointed to the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and became the firs t Superintendent of the Magnetical and Meteorological Department. This new post was a challenge for Glaisher but he exercised his characteri stic energy and ensured the survival of the new Department. He remaine d as Superintendent until his resignation in I874 by which time he had effectively organized meteorological observations and climatology sta tistics throughout the UK. Glaisher also achieved fame for a series of 28 balloon ascents for scientific purposes, many of them in company w ith the aeronaut, Henry Coxwell. These particular flights were under t he auspices of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, of which Glaisher was a member until he was go years of age. They wer e free, high altitude flights designed to observe temperature, atmosph eric pressure, the hygrometric stare of the almosphere and other pheno mena. Glaisher was not altogether satisfied with the observations he h ad made at low elevations in the free balloon and, in I869, organized a further series of 27 experiments from a captive balloon. Glaisher wr ote a series of reports dealing with the aeronautical findings made du ring the flights sponsored by the British Association. He was also the co-author of a book describing his ballooning exploits. His co-author s were French aeronauts and the book, known as Travels in the Air, was published in French, English and German editions between I869 and I88 4. Glaisher wrote well and he wrote often. His scientific publications are listed in the Archives of the Royal Society. He also wrote for va rious periodicals and furnished Quarterly Reports on the weather to th e Registrar General with amazing energy and perseverance until March I 902. Glaisher was associated with learned societies for many years. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in I849 and took a leading part in forming the British (later Royal) Meteorological Society. He b ecame a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in I84I and at the ti me of his death was its oldest Fellow. He was also the first President of the (Royal) Microscopical Society (I865-69), President of the Roya l Photographic Society for more than 20 years and a member of the Coun cil of the Royal Aeronautical Society from its foundation in I866 unti l his death.