New essay added: Words on the Dial: How the Barometer Learned to Speak.
A new study, «Words on the Dial: How the Barometer Learned to Speak» is now in the Essays section.
The traces the weather words on barometer scales, from George Sinclair's broadsheet of 1680 and the plates of Daniel Quare to Robert FitzRoy's attempt to replace them altogether. It shows why the best early ideas for reading the instrument were lost, how a crowded brass plate turned into , and why a scale that was wrong from the start helped so many old barometers survive. The essay is illustrated with instruments and printed sources and includes a full list of references.