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History of Meteorology 
 

volume 6, 2014 
 
 

Ruth A. Morgan 
 

Guest Editor 
 
 
 

James Rodger Fleming 
 

Editor-in-Chief 
 
 
 
 
 
 

History of Meteorology is the peer-reviewed journal of the ICHM 
 

© ICHM 2014 
 

ISSN 1555-5763 
 

 
 

Proceedings of the International Commission on History of Meteorology 



 History of Meteorology 6 (2014)  ii 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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 History of Meteorology 6 (2014)  iii 
 

 
 
 
 
 
Contents            pages 
 
 
Introduction, Call for Papers, and Style Guide      iv-vi 
 
Perspectives on the century past, 1914-2014 
 
Jakob Bjerknes (USA), 

Half a century of change in the “meteorological scene”    1-6 

Anders Persson (Sweden) 
Fifty Years Later         7-13 

 
Special collection of papers from the 2014 International Congress 
of History of Science, Technology, and Medicine 
edited by Ruth A. Morgan    
 
Ruth A. Morgan (Australia) 

Argument, Authority and Anxiety in the Atmospheric Sciences   14-16 
 
Chris O’Brien (Australia) 

Deliberate Confusions         17-34 
 

James Kneale (UK) and Samuel Randalls (UK) 
Invisible Atmospheric Knowledges in British Insurance Companies, 1830-1914 35-52 
 

Gabriel Henderson (Denmark) 
The Dilemma of Reticence: Helmut Landsberg, Stephen Schneider,  
and public communication of climate risk, 1971-1976    53-78 
 

David G. Hirst (UK) 
Balancing Scientific Credibility and Political Legitimacy: 
The IPCC’s first assessment cycle, 1988-1990     79-94 

 
Martin Mahony (UK) 
  The IPCC and the Geographies of Credibility     95-112 

 
 



 History of Meteorology 6 (2014)  iv 
 

 
Introduction 
 
History of Meteorology 6 (2014) celebrates a century of change in the “meteorological scene” by 
reprinting the semi-autobiographical reflections of Jakob Bjerknes, who looked back a half-
century from 1964 to his childhood. This is accompanied by Anders Persson’s review of the past 
half-century. Together they provide a 100-year retrospect on such topics as polar exploration, 
satellite meteorology, numerical weather prediction, and the limits of predictability. 

 
The volume continues with a special collection of papers edited by Ruth A. Morgan first 
presented at the 2013 International Congress of History of Science, Technology, and Medicine 
held in Manchester, UK on the theme of “Gaining It / Losing It / Regaining It (?): Knowledge 
production in climate science – status anxiety and authority across disciplines.” 
 
As to the near future, following a successful workshop in Bergen, Norway, History of 
Meteorology 7 is slated to appear in 2015 on the topic of “Climate in Meteorology, Meteorology 
in Climate Studies,” under the guest editorship of Gunnar Ellingsen and Magnus Vollset.  In July 
2015 ICHM members are participating in several sessions at the International Congress of 
Historical Geographers in London. 
 
The ICHM is the same age as the 21st century.  It is in good hands under the leadership of 
president Georgina Endfield (UK), vice-president Christina Helena da Motta Barboza (Brazil), 
treasurer Anna Carlsson-Hysslop UK), secretary Alex Hall (UK), and webmaster Giny Cheong 
(USA).  Please browse the homepage http://www.meteohistory.org for announcements, past 
issues of this journal, and other links, and consider joining us in pursuit of “scholarship and 
friendship” in the history of meteorology and related fields.   

 
James Rodger Fleming 
China, Maine 

 



 History of Meteorology 6 (2014)  v 
 

History of Meteorology 
 
CALL FOR PAPERS 
 
Articles on the history of meteorology and related sciences are now being accepted on a rolling 
basis for consideration in History of Meteorology; so too are proposals to edit special issues. 
Manuscripts should be based on original research and present a novel thesis; they must be 
engaging, clearly written, and fully documented, following the style guide below. Authors are 
reminded that international and interdisciplinary perspectives are encouraged. All papers will be 
subject to peer review.  
 
Because this is an electronic journal, it is possible to publish color illustrations and experiment 
with alternative media such as audio and video files and databases. 
 
History of Meteorology has a stable URL at http://meteohistory.org and has been assigned ISSN 
1555-5763 by the U.S. Library of Congress.  It is currently being indexed by two leading 
services: Isis Current Bibliography of the History of Science and Meteorological and 
Geoastrophysical Abstracts. 
 
Queries or manuscripts should be directed to the editor-in-chief, Jim Fleming, e-mail jfleming at 
colby.edu 
 
 



 History of Meteorology 6 (2014)  vi 
 

STYLE GUIDE 
 
Manuscripts for History of Meteorology are to be submitted electronically to the editor in MS 
Word format (please ask in advance about other formats).  Before publication, authors must 
certify that their work is original and that all necessary permissions have been acquired. 
 
Format 
 
Paper size:   U.S. Letter 
Margins:   1.0 inch on all sides 
Headers and footers: 0.5 inch (left blank except for preliminary pagination) 
Line spacing:   double 
Font:   text: 12 point Times New Roman; captions: 11 point Times New Roman 
Section headers: Use bold section headers 
Paper length:  Less than 10,000 words, including citations. 
   Ask if your manuscript is longer than this. 
 
Figures and Tables 
 
Figures must be provided as separate image files (jpeg or tiff) with a resolution of at least 300 
dpi.  Both figures and tables must be mentioned in the text (e.g. Fig. 1) before their appearance in 
the paper. Figure captions appear below the figure in 11-point type with a hanging indent: 
 

Fig. 1. Caption descriptive of the image but does not repeat what was said in the text of the paper. 
Image courtesy of (or by permission of) XXX. 

 
Tables must be carefully formatted in advance by the author.  Titles appear above the table in 11-
point type: 
 

Table 1. Title of table (use hanging indent if it is a long title). 
 
Citations 
 
Citations may be either Endnotes, numbered sequentially, or References (Author date) listed 
alphabetically at the end of the paper. Any major style, consistently applied, is acceptable. 
 
Each citation must provide name of author/editor, full title of the work, place, publisher, date, 
and page references.  
 
Titles of books and journals are italicized, not underlined.  Archival and manuscript material 
must contain a full description in the first citation. 
 
Use of abbreviations (e.g. Amer. J. Sci.) is encouraged, as is the short reference format for 
subsequent citations of a text. 
 
Endnotes are not meant to be discursive. 


