In Memoriam

Synoptic meteorology—including weather forecasting—will probably for many years to come remain the most important branch of applied meteorology. It was due to a need for weather forecasts that the scientific discipline of meteorology was established in the years following 1860. The creation of a network of observing stations and of meteorological organizations was thus associated with a demand from society for reliable weather forecasts. At the start, however, no scientific basis for such forecasts existed, and without observations no scientific basis could ever be established.