Predicting the weather [electronic resource] : Victorians and the science of meteorology / Katharine Anderson.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 295-324) and index.

A science of the weather -- Prediction, prophecy, and scientific culture -- Weather prophets and the Victorian almanac -- Weather in a public office -- Precision and a science of probabilities -- Maps, instruments, and weather wisdom -- Science, state, and empire.

Victorian Britain, with its maritime economy and strong links between government and scientific enterprises, founded an office to collect meteorological statistics in 1854 in an effort to foster a modern science of the weather. But as the office turned to prediction rather than data collection, the fragile science became a public spectacle, with its forecasts open to daily scrutiny in the newspapers. And meteorology came to assume a pivotal role in debates about the responsibility of scientists and the authority of science. Studying meteorology as a means to examine the historical identity of p.

Description based on print version record.