The early meteorological network of the Societas Meteorologica Palatina (1781–1792): foundation, organization, and reception
<p>The Societas Meteorologica Palatina arranged the first international meteorological network in a modern sense, being in operation between 1781 and 1792 during the last period of enlightenment. A total of 39 stations contributed observations. The original aim was to investigate influences of...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2023-08-01
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| Series: | History of Geo- and Space Sciences |
| Online Access: | https://hgss.copernicus.org/articles/14/93/2023/hgss-14-93-2023.pdf |
| Summary: | <p>The Societas Meteorologica Palatina arranged the first international meteorological network in a modern sense, being in operation between 1781 and 1792 during the last period of enlightenment. A total of 39
stations contributed observations. The original aim was to investigate
influences of the moon and planets on the atmosphere. Instruments were
provided free of charge; a physically very advanced instruction guaranteed reliable
observational results, and the data collected at 3 different hours per day were
printed at high cost in the <i>Ephemerides Societatis Meteorologicae Palatinae</i> (denoted <i>Ephemerides</i> hereafter) of Mannheim. This
wealth of data has become a famous treasure trove for scientists and has
been used later very often for climatic studies, for climatic comparisons of
different locations in textbooks, for overcoming wrong but generally
accepted or even outdated (e.g. scholastic) views; for finding new explanations
for meteorological phenomena, and for studying extremes of meteorological
parameters. Even in modern times, the data were evaluated and used to
reconstruct historical weather maps. Although, meanwhile, some problems of the historical instruments have been recognized, most of the conclusions are
still basically correct. The data were also used for verifying geomagnetic
models or proxy data from tree-ring analysis. This network stimulated many
scholars for special meteorological studies, and it was attractive for new
stations to join the network. The early death of the meteorological
secretary Johann Jakob Hemmer and the Napoleonic Wars brought about the end of the project. Nevertheless, many of the stations continued the observations using the available instruments.</p> |
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| ISSN: | 2190-5010 2190-5029 |