Ralph Abercromby (11 February 1842 – 21 June 1897) was a Scottish

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

. Abercromby was born in Leamington,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

, the youngest son of the third Lord Abercromby. His mother, Louisa Penuel Forbes, was a daughter of Lord Medwyn. His obituary in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'' summarises his ancestry, "Several of his immediate relatives had been eminently distinguished. His great-grandfather, Sir

Ralph Abercromby Lieutenant General Sir Ralph Abercromby (7 October 173428 March 1801) was a British soldier and politician. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-general in the British Army, was appointed Governor of Trinidad, served as Commander-in-Chief, Ir ...

, who died in 1801, in the moment of victory, at the Battle of Alexandria, had served his country with brilliant distinction, in the West Indies (Trinidad) and at the Helder." He himself served in the British Army from 1860 to 1869 and was stationed in Quebec. Ralph Abercromby Raggy Inky Cloud

Ralph Abercromby is noted for his contributions to

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...

, his travels producing reports in ''Seas and skies in many latitudes'' such as weather and telegraphy at the US signals office. He wrote on the nomenclature of cloud formation, and figured prominently in the history of the

classification system Classification is a process related to categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Classification is the grouping of related facts into classes. It may also refer to: Business, organizat ...

developed by

Luke Howard Luke Howard, (28 November 1772 – 21 March 1864) was a British manufacturing chemist and an amateur meteorologist with broad interests in science. His lasting contribution to science is a nomenclature system for clouds, which he proposed ...

; along with

Hugo Hildebrand Hildebrandsson Hugo Hildebrand Hildebrandsson (19 August 1838 – 29 July 1925) was a Swedish meteorologist and professor at Uppsala university between 1878 and 1907. Biography Hildebrandsson was born in Stockholm, and educated at the Stockholm gymnasium and ...

(1838-1920) he developed the system laid out by Howard. He attained the rank of lieutenant in the

60th Rifles The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United S ...

. Abercromby died unmarried in 1897 in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

Works

*1887 ''Weather: A Popular Exposition of the Nature of Weather Changes From Day To Day (1888)'', Kessinger Publishing, * ''Cloud Land in Folklore And Science'' (Folklore History Series), Pierides Press, Cloud-Land in Folk-Lore and in Science ''The Folk-Lore Journal''. Volume 6, 1888 * ''Principles of Forecasting By Means of Weather Charts'', Pierides Press, * ''Seas And Skies in Many Latitudes: Or, Wanderings in Search of Weather'', Nabu Press, His essay on the climate of Australia was reissued as "Ralph Abercromby, H. A. B. 1865 Hunt, Henry Chamberlaine Russell, ''Three Essays on Australian Weather'', Nabu Press, "

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abercromby, Ralph 1842 births 1897 deaths 19th-century Scottish people Scottish meteorologists Scottish soldiers King's Royal Rifle Corps officers Younger sons of barons

Ralph Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...