Monday, November 28, 2011

November 28 Birthday: Luke Howard


Luke Howard, scientist
November 28, 1772-March 21, 1864

The Man Who Named the Clouds by Julie Hannah and Joan Holub, illustrated by Paige Billin-Frye (Albert Whitman, 2006)

From childhood, Howard was an intrepid cloud watcher. He kept weather journals and painted the clouds. As an adult, frustrated because a classification system for clouds did not exist, Howard created one. And it is still in use today.

Float on over to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to see photos of common cloud types and to read about the classification system.