Category: Publications

Writing “Imperial Weather: Meteorology, Science, and the Environment in Colonial Malaya.”

Post author By ichmeteo
Post date March 28, 2025

By Fiona Williamson, ICHM Co-President and Singapore Management University

Over the past few years, I have been deeply engaged in the project of understanding the relationship between colonialism and the weather in British Malaya. I began this project with an interest in the nascent meteorological services in the region, from uncovering an early observatory experiment in Singapore in 1841 which was a small part of a global investigation of magnetism, to the advent of a small, but dedicated meteorological service in 1929. Across this period, it was obvious that the British government were not keen to invest resources into meteorology, as they had in some of their other Asian colonies, including India and Hong Kong.

Tags Asia, colonial history, environmental history, Fiona Williamson, Malaysia, Singapore

Publications Resources

Two new books on the history of meteorology in China

Post author By ichmeteo
Post date August 28, 2024

By Zhenghong Chen

As the author of ten works on the history of meteorology in China in recent years, I would like to introduce you to two new titles.

A General History of Meteorological Science and Technology, China Meteorological Press, 2020.

The first book is A General History of Meteorological Science and Technology, consisting of two volumes, which received funding from the China National Publication Foundation and was published by the China Meteorological Press in 2020. This work may be the first general history of meteorological science and technology in the world, elaborating on the development and important content of meteorological science and technology over the past five thousand years, and proposing many important academic viewpoints, which has been praised by several Chinese Academics. Although published in Chinese, many universities and libraries in China have already collected this work of over 800 pages and hundreds of images, which can also be found at the Library of Congress in the United States.

The second book, written in English, is China’s Medium and Long-Term Science and Technology Program-History and Philosophy, which was published by Springer Switzerland in 2021. This book offers an overview of modern science and technological development in China in a historical context, explains the Medium and Long-Term Science and Technology Program (MLSTP) in the People’s Republic of China, and reflects upon China’s scientific and technological development and the history of the MLSTP in order to better understanding the advancement of science and technology in China and the world.

China’s Medium and Long-Term Science and Technology Program-History and Philosophy (Springer, 2021)

Please do check out these titles and share (if relevant) among your own networks.

If you have any questions about either title, please reach out directly to Professor Chen.

Tags books, China, China Meteorological Administration, Springer, Zhenghong Chen

Opportunities Publications

Call for Papers: ‘Connecting Oceanic Asia’

Post author By ichmeteo
Post date November 15, 2023

Source: http://www.weathergraphics.com/malaysia/

For a Special Issue of our journal History of Meteorology edited by Dr. Xiao Liu and Dr Zhenwu Qiu

We’re looking for contributors for an exciting special issue of our journal History of Meteorology titled, “Connecting Oceanic Asia: Production and Application of Meteorological Knowledge”. We are after exciting original papers which focus on any aspect of how modern meteorological knowledge was produced under the influence of regional interactions in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.

The collection is being edited by HoM Editorial Collective member, Dr Xiao (Shawn) Liu (Tsinghua University) and his colleague Dr Zhenwu Qiu. Papers can be up to 10,000 words, including citations, see the full style guide and information for more. All papers must be in English, however, we can provide extra copy-editing support for any authors for whom English is a second language. Abstract should be submitted by 10th December and we would expect the selected contributors to provide their draft paper by 15th March 2024 (however, there is some flexibility on this timeline).

We already have several contributors lined up for the special issue, but are seeking another 2 – 3 authors to come on board as contributors. If you are interested in contributing to this special issue or have any questions please reach out to the editors directly. To propose a contribution please send an abstract (no more than 300 words) and a brief C.V. to the below email addresses.

Contact Information:

Dr. Xiao (Shawn) LIU (xliu128@163.com)

Dr. Zhenwu QIU (qiuzhenwu1994@gmail.com).

Abstract Submission Deadline: 10th December, 2023 (The selected contributors would be expected to provide their draft paper by 15th March 2024)

Please do share this announcement with any relevant colleagues and networks.

Tags applied meteorology, Asia, Call for Papers, history of meteorology

Publications

History of Meteorology 6 (2014)

Post author By ichmeteo
Post date December 31, 2014

ICHM’s peer-reviewed journal, History of Meteorology 6 (2014), is now available with a special section of papers from the 2014 International Congress of History of Science, Technology, and Medicine edited by Ruth A. Morgan.

Publications

Frederic W. Harmer

Post author By ichmeteo
Post date June 1, 2014

One of our members, John A. Kington, will be publishing a book about Frederic W. Harmer in July 2014. For more information, please see: http://afes-press-books.de/html/SpringerBriefs_ESDP_Harmer.htm

Publications

New History of Meteorology

Post author By ichmeteo
Post date April 16, 2014

An early release of History of Meteorology, Volume 6 is now available. Click here to read more.

Climate History Network Publications

Climate History Forum in Environmental History

Post author By ichmeteo
Post date April 4, 2014

(cross post from the Climate History Network)

The April 2014 issue of Environmental History features an extended forum on climate history. The introductory essay focuses on two questions raised throughout the articles: (1)How does the study of climate history enrich the field of environmental history more broadly? (2) How can environmental historians contribute to present-day understandings of and responses to global climate change? The first contribution, by Adrian Howkins considers the history of Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys as a lens on contemporary climate science and the meaning of the Anthropocene. Georgina Endfield analyses the workings of vulnerability, resilience, and adaptation through past climate changes and extremes, with case studies from colonial Mexico. Lawrence Culver discusses the historical perceptions and cultural construction of climate through 19th-century American debates over expansion into the arid West and the myth that “rain follows the plow.” Sam White’s essay surveys the place of animals in climate history, emphasizing human use of animals as a key factor in past and present climate change vulnerability and resilience. Sherry Johnson considers the impact of smaller climate cycles and extreme events through a case study of Florida natives during the War of Jenkin’s Ear and the Stono Rebellion (1738-40). James Fleming traces the history of a medical metaphor of climate and climate change both in scientific and popular discourse, noting its effects on policy proposal including as geoengineering. Philip Garone details the practical and political significance of climate change for US public lands management and considers its consequences for our understandings of conservation, preservation, and wilderness. Finally, Mark Carey makes a case for a critical climate history: an active involvement of historians in climate change discussions, and climate models and scenarios that are better informed by history.

Publications

Toxic Airs: Body, Place, Planet in Historical Perspective

Post author By ichmeteo
Post date February 19, 2014

Toxic Airs: Body, Place, Planet in Historical Perspective
James Rodger Fleming and Ann Johnson (eds.)

For more info, visit: http://www.upress.pitt.edu/BookDetails.aspx?bookId=36392

Publications

New Book on Fog – French

Post author By ichmeteo
Post date February 17, 2014

La brume et le brouillard dans la science, la littérature et les arts (Hermann, 2014)

Sous la direction de Karin Becker et Olivier Leplatre.

Click here for more info at the publisher’s website.

Publications

New book on thermometers

Post author By ichmeteo
Post date September 17, 2013

Holland, Rainer und Gerhard Stöhr, Thermometer, Skalen und deren Väter. 210 Seiten, 75 Tafeln und Abbildungen, 2013, Selbstverlag Riedlingen, ISBN: 978-3-00-042-032-0, Preis: 34,80 €

This is a wonderful book on the development of thermometers, which gives a lot of information, pictures, and references. It includes special thermometers and the transformation of their scale in Celsius or Fahrenheit. During the German-Austrian and Swiss Meteorological Conference (DACH 2013), which took place in Innsbruck (Austria) in September 2013, the authors received the Paulus Price for the best publication in history of meteorology.

Further publications describe the handling of mercury barometers and the history of hygrometers:

Holland, Rainer und Gerhard Stöhr, Quecksilber-Barometer Handbuch.114 Seiten, zahlreiche Abbildungen, 2012, Selbstverlag Riedlingen, ISBN: 978-3-00-038294-9, Preis: 25,80 €
Holland, Rainer und Gerhard Stöhr. Geschichte der Hygrometer. 110 Seiten, ca. 80 Abbildungen, 2011, Selbstverlag Riedlingen, ISBN: 978-3-00-033734-5, Preis: 18,90 €