Abstract
ON December 3 the centenary occurs of the birth of the eminent American meteorologist and astronomer Cleveland Abbe, whose work at Cincinnati Observatory led to Congress passing the Act of 1870 authorizing the creation of a United States Government Weather Service and placing it under the Signal Branch of the War Department. Abbe took a prominent part in the organization of the new bureau and for forty-five years, from 1871 until 1916, was professor of meteorology and senior scientific assistant to the Chief Signal Officer. Abbe was born in New York on December 3, 1838, and graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1857. As a student he had studied Ferrel's work and this led him to a close examination of the meteorological papers then published. On the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted, but served only for a short time on account of his nearsightedness. He then turned to astronomy, and worked at the observatories at Cambridge, Mass., Pulkovo and Washington. In 1868 he was appointed to the directorship of the Cincinnati Observatory in Ohio, holding this position until 1873. The list of his writings on both astronomy and meteorology is a very long one and includes "Studies in Storm and Weather Forecasting", "Mechanics of the Earth's Atmosphere"and "Physical Basis of Long Range Forecasting". His influence on the progress of meteorology in America was outstanding, and his work received recognition both at home and abroad. He was made a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1876, and in 1912 the Royal Meteorological Society awarded him the Symons Medal. He died at Chevy Chase, Md., on October 28, 1916.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cleveland Abbe (1838–1916). Nature 142, 946 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/142946a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/142946a0