Lewis Fry Richardson and his Forecast Factory
- last year
Lewis Fry Richardson was an English physicist and mathematician, whose work in the field of numerical weather prediction laid the foundations for modern forecasting techniques.
In 1922 Richardson published Weather Prediction by Numerical Process, in which he imagined a factory of sorts, with 64,000 mathematicians - or 'computers' as he referred to them - calculating by hand the equations needed to forecast global weather.
An approach that almost perfectly mirrors the way supercomputers are used today in weather forecasting.
Whilst Richardson’s vision of the forecast factory was never realised, he will be remembered as a pioneer in the field of numerical weather prediction whose work set the foundation for modern forecasting.
Today LFRic, a programme of work to develop the next evolution of the Met Office Unified Model, recognises the significance Lewis Fry Richardson’s work through its name.
More information on Lewis Fry Richardson and the forecast factory is available on the Met Office website: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/barometer/features/celebrating-100-years-of-scientific-forecasting
In 1922 Richardson published Weather Prediction by Numerical Process, in which he imagined a factory of sorts, with 64,000 mathematicians - or 'computers' as he referred to them - calculating by hand the equations needed to forecast global weather.
An approach that almost perfectly mirrors the way supercomputers are used today in weather forecasting.
Whilst Richardson’s vision of the forecast factory was never realised, he will be remembered as a pioneer in the field of numerical weather prediction whose work set the foundation for modern forecasting.
Today LFRic, a programme of work to develop the next evolution of the Met Office Unified Model, recognises the significance Lewis Fry Richardson’s work through its name.
More information on Lewis Fry Richardson and the forecast factory is available on the Met Office website: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/barometer/features/celebrating-100-years-of-scientific-forecasting