A man named Robert Fitzroy, Vice Admiral Fitzroy, was captain of the HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous voyage to Tiera del Fuego and the Southern Cone.
He also happened to be a meteorologist who made daily weather predictions. He called these daily weather predictions, forecasts. This is the word we hear just about every day if we're paying attention, and I certainly never gave any thought as to where or when this particular word might have come from. It came from Robert Fitzroy. He was interested in weather information in regards to the safety of seafarers, shipping and fishermen. He developed and saw to the distribution of barometers used to measure air pressure, which is so helpful in short-term weather prediction; I'm sure you've heard your local television weatherman talk about barometric pressure in regards to what the weather might do. I'm amazed and impressed that Fitzroy was so spot on in his observations of weather and that his innovations are still in use to this day.
Sadly, he suffered from worry about financial difficulties failing health and depression, and Robert Fitzroy took his own life On April 30th, 1865. He was 59.
"How About That!" Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLti_6FG4anUCpoTrHHNjgHq1mfVB7rHtl&si=qjuquEwlrAJVu2zL
No comments:
Post a Comment