 |
Meteorology
may well have been the first science. It surely would not have taken early
man long to realise that the dark streaks in the sky moving his way meant
that he was going to get wet. Hippocrates, the father of medicine,
observed in the 4th century BC that "whoever wishes to pursue the
science of medicine must first investigate the seasons of the year and
what occurs in them". |
| The
Chinese in the 11th Century BC and the Egyptians a little later, observed
and studied the weather, but the science did not really get under way
until the invention of instruments which could measure the elements -
mainly in the 16th and 17th centuries. |
|
The British
Meteorological Office was founded in 1854 as a very small department in
the Board of Trade. By 1861 it was issuing gale warnings to shipping:
harbourmasters, on being telegraphed with a warning, would hoist north or
south cones up a mast. Forecasts to the press began in 1879. They were
greeted by the Standard thus: "It may safely be conjectured that,
unless the authorities of this most completely conducted department had
already verified their forecasts within the not extravagant limits of time
which are now mentioned, they would not assume this new
responsibility." |
|
| On
November 14th 1922, the BBC broadcast the first radio weather forecast to
the public when an announcer read a script prepared by The Met Office with
the first regular weather broadcasts on the BBC starting on March 26th
1923. On November 11th 1936, the world's first television chart was
transmitted at the start of a trial series. BBC Television closed down
during World War II but, in July 1949, weather maps with captions began to
be broadcast again. |
| The
British Meteorological Office was founded in 1854 as a very small
department in the Board of Trade. By 1861 it was issuing gale warnings to
shipping: harbourmasters, on being telegraphed with a warning, would hoist
north or south cones up a mast. Forecasts to the press began in 1879. They
were greeted by the Standard thus: "It may safely be conjectured
that, unless the authorities of this most completely conducted department
had already verified their forecasts within the not extravagant limits of
time which are now mentioned, they would not assume this new
responsibility." On November 14th 1922, the BBC broadcast the first
radio weather forecast to the public when an announcer read a script
prepared by The Met Office with the first regular weather broadcasts on
the BBC starting on March 26th 1923. On November 11th 1936, the world's
first television chart was transmitted at the start of a trial series. BBC
Television closed down during World War II but, in July 1949, weather maps
with captions began to be broadcast again. |
|
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