Famous British Meteorologists

Renowned meteorologist and aeronaut James Glaisher was a pioneer of balloon flights and had penned the iconic book Travels in the Air. He had also contributed to the formation of the Meteorological Society and the Aeronautical Society of Britain. The 2019 movie The Aeronauts depicts his exploits as a balloonist.

English weather forecaster Piers Corbyn, who owned the weather-monitoring business WeatherAction, became quite infamous for his conspiracy theories regarding COVID-19. The brother of former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, he is a prominent anti-vaxxer and was once fined for calling NHS workers in London “murderers.”

Starting his career with NASA as a research meteorologist, Piers Sellers later became a NASA astronaut. The British-American astronaut and climate scientist was a Space Shuttle mission expert and had visited the International Space Station thrice. He also appeared in the documentary Before the Flood, partially produced by Leonardo DiCaprio.

British meteorologist Helen Willetts has been a known face on various BBC channels, such as BBC World News, BBC Radio 4, and BBC Radio 2. Considered one of the sexiest presenters on TV by the media, this TRIC Award-winning weather presenter has also played badminton for Wales internationally.

British physicist, meteorologist, mathematician, psychologist and pacifist Lewis Fry Richardson was the first to apply modern mathematical techniques of weather forecasting to predict weather accurately. He also pioneered the use of similar methods in studying reasons of wars and the way to stop them. He proposed the iterative method called modified Richardson iteration for solving a system of linear equations.

Though he was initially educated in law, George Hadley gained fame as a physicist and meteorologist. He is remembered for his extensive research on trade-wind currents and for devising a theory describing trade winds and the north-south circulation pattern, which is now known as the Hadley cell.

Sir William Napier Shaw, better known as Napier Shaw, was a British meteorologist who devised the tephigram and the millibar. Apart from teaching physics at the University of Cambridge, he also headed the Royal Meteorological Society and the International Meteorological Committee. He also penned notable works such as Manual of Meteorology.

Albert Medal-winning British meteorologist George James Symons is remembered for establishing the British Rainfall Organization, a group of rainfall data collection sites. He was 18 when he was included in the British Meteorological Society. He also made efforts to improve the accuracy and uniformity of meteorological measurements.

Born to a meteorologist father, William Henry Dines grew up to study wind forces and soon established himself as a leading meteorologist in his own right. The Symons Gold Medal awardee devised many instruments for the measurement of atmospheric properties, such as the Dines pressure-tube anemometer.

Born in England, meteorologist Roger Daley moved to Canada as a child. After studying in Canada, the US, and Denmark, he worked at senior positions with organization such as NCAR and the Meteorological Service of Canada. He is chiefly known for his work on data assimilation.