A translation of the paper "Presentation of some observations that could be made to shed light on Meteorology" by Johann Heinrich Lambert (1771)

TL;DR

This paper discusses Johann Heinrich Lambert's 1771 proposal for a global meteorological observation network to systematically collect and analyze weather data, aiming to advance meteorology as a scientific discipline.

Contribution

It highlights Lambert's early vision of a coordinated global weather observation system, predating modern meteorological networks by over two centuries.

Findings

Lambert proposed dividing Earth into zones for weather observations.

He envisioned pooling data to understand meteorological phenomena.

The idea aimed to elevate meteorology to a scientific discipline.

Abstract

The Mulhouse mathematician Jean-Henri (or Johann Heinrich) Lambert (August 26 or 28, 1728; September 25, 1777) is well known for having devised the conformal conic projection in 1772, which is still used in some graphical outputs of our weather forecasting models, under the name "Lambert projection" Less well known is that he also devised the idea of a minimum temperature value corresponding to $-270${\deg}C in 1777, the year of his death and therefore 70 years before Lord Kelvin. But Johann Heinrich Lambert also published in 1771 an even lesser-known article, which is the subject of this publication. This article, written in Old French and published in a German journal, described in a rather striking manner the idea of a global observation network where the Earth would be divided into different zones where observers would record the same wind, temperature, pressure, and other current weather data at the same fixed times. The goal would then be to pool all this data to seek to understand how meteorological phenomena evolve in space and time, and to make meteorology a science on a par with astronomy.