An Historical Perspective of Meteorology

The term "Meteorology" comes from the Greek philosopher Aristotle who wrote a four-volume treatise on geoscience topics around 340 B.C. called Meteorologica. Among other phenomena, Aristotle theorized about the formation of precipitation, clouds, wind, thunder, lightning, and hurricanes in his essays. Most of his explanations were incorrect, and farmers and sailors certainly had their own unpublished yet reliable interpretations over the years, but it wasn't until the 15th and 16th century when modern scientists began to build instruments to observe and measure atmospheric phenomena.

Sharing weather observations and forecasting the weather for the general public took a few more centuries to become established. The first U.S. government agency to provide weather observations and warnings was created within the Army in 1870. The civilian sector Weather Bureau was established in 1890, later renamed the National Weather Service in 1970.

Satellite Meteorology, the study of the earth's atmosphere and oceans using data obtained from remote sensing devices on satellites, began in the 1960s.

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