Alexander Buchan
Alexander Buchan (born April 11, 1829 in Kinnesswood , † May 13, 1907 in Edinburgh ) was a British climatologist and meteorologist.
He is considered the father of meteorology . Until 1860, the principle of isobars was hardly understood. Until then, it was customary to indicate the observation of the air pressure as the difference from the mean value. Buchan recognized that it would be far more useful to calculate the air pressure at sea level for all stations and then “connect the points”, i.e. to draw isobars, and thus created the basis for today's weather maps, on which the location of the high and low pressure areas recognize are. In his honor, the Buchan Bay named in Antarctica.
In 1868 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .
plant
In the fall and early winter of 1863, Buchan constructed a series of 18 maps with which he could follow the development and movement of weather systems in Europe. Buchan was the first to try to predict future weather developments. These were published in his Handy Book of Meteorology in 1868. A little later he published his main work: The Mean Pressure of the Atmosphere and the Prevailing Winds over the Globe for the Months and for the Year .
Web links
- Alexander Buchan. In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Accessed August 8, 2019 .
- Literature by and about Alexander Buchan in the bibliographic database WorldCat
Individual evidence
- ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed October 13, 2019 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Buchan, Alexander |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British climatologist and meteorologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 11, 1829 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kinnesswood |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 13, 1907 |
| Place of death | Edinburgh |