Before we finally close the chapter on Luke Howard, a little more information has reached us of another meteorologist John Dalton whose parents were Quakers. Dalton was born in 1766 and was known for his atomic theory and his particular interest in auroras. Donald S. Gill of Reading PM sent us Dalton’s details and also something of Thomas Young, another Quaker son, but his career in meteorology seems to have foundered. We are quite interested in a 20th century meteorologist called Lewis Fry Richardson. 'He was a Quaker who worked out the equations of motion of the atmosphere whilst serving with the FAU in the first world war' writes Donald. 'These form the basis of all modern forecasting using computers.'
We think our real fascination with Quaker scientists lies not so much in the finer detail of their observation as their unique philosophical questioning and perspectives.