James Glaisher - The Aeronauts: Travels in the Air

James Glaisher could be described as a pioneer of scientific meteorology. His drive to improve the quality of atmospheric measurements and the establishment of a network of reliable meteorological observers across the British Isles during the mid-1800s led to a climatological data set that was used for scientific researchalthough Glaisher himself was probably better known for risking life and limb during pioneering work to measure the atmosphere at altitude, squeezed into a wicker basket dangling under a hot air balloon and surrounded by an array of instruments.

James Glaisher was a founding member the British (now Royal) Meteorological Society in 1850. He was the societys mainstay in its early years, acting as secretary from its inception until 1872, president between 1867 and 1868 and editor of its many publications. He even named his elder son James Whitbread Lee Glaisher after the first and third presidents of the society, Samuel Whitbread and John Lee.

His enthusiasm and drive at the Royal Meteorological Society led him into roles at other institutions, including the Royal Society, Royal Astronomical Society, Royal Photographic Society, Royal Microscopical Society and the Royal Aeronautical Society.

His interest in scientific instruments started at an early age in his fathers workshop and through having access to them at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. This led to a desire for ensuring accurate observations that remained with Glaisher throughout his life.

By his early twenties he was working for the Ordnance Survey, in charge of meteorological observations in Ireland. This may have led to his interest in the atmosphere at higher levels since most of his work was on the summits of the Bencorr and Keeper mountains.

In 1840, a Magnetical and Meteorological Observatory became fully operational at Greenwich and Glaisher was appointed supervisor. At this time scientific meteorology was in its infancy. Glaisher was determined to make a name for himself in this new field of research and put all his energy into the duties of the new post.

Glaisher established a network of amateur observers, visiting them all personally to verify all their instruments before they were issued and measure any errors in them. This network was the beginning of a widespread system of simultaneous observations across the British Isles and would lead to an international network in the years to come. In 1849 he started a series of quarterly reports on the meteorology of England, published by the Registrar General for more than half a century.

In 1862 the British Association for the Advancement of Science (now the British Science Association) decided to fund a series of flights to study the upper atmosphere. The balloons would fly as high as possible, to heights of 37,000 feet or seven miles above the ground. Glaisher volunteered to perform these potentially dangerous flights. In all he made twenty-eight ascents between 1862 and 1866, thirteen of which were funded by the Association. His usual pilot was the experienced balloonist Henry Coxwell.

Glaisher wanted to measure the atmosphere at high altitudes in order to gain insights into the temperature and humidity at different elevations. The scientific results were published in five reports submitted to annual meetings of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and Glaisher also regularly reported accounts of his ascents to the public through newspaper articles.

You may be familiar with James Glaishers story from the film The Aeronautsalthough the film replaces Henry Coxwell with a fictitious female character, Amelia Wren. This edition of The Aeronauts, taken from the book Travels in the Air originally published in 1871, tells of Glaishers story and research in his own words. It demonstrates his determination, scientific prowess and fascination with technology and scientific instruments, which helped lay the groundwork for todays understanding of meteorology. His writing also beautifully captures his aerial journeys, describing the world from a birds-eye view that so few people in the nineteenth century got to experience for themselves. As he writes:

We seem to be citizens of the sky, separated from the earth by a barrier which seems impassable [] In the upper world [] the silence and quiet are so intense that peace and calm seem to reign alone.

Professor Liz Bentley, Chief Executive at the Royal Meteorological Society

T EMPERATURE CONVERSION CHART

All temperatures depicted in the main body of text throughout the book are in Fahrenheit.