Societas Meteorologica Palatina
1780 - 1795
On September 15, 1780, the Prince Elector of the Palatinate (Kurpfalz) chartered the first international network of meteolrological observers known as the "Societas Meteorologica Palatina", a section of the Academy of Sciences of his capital city Mannheim. In charge of the project was the Catholic priest Johann Jakob Hemmer (1733-1790).
The society organized meteorological observations by members distributed in as many as 37 locations, principally in Europe but some far as the Urals (Pyschmen) and North America (Cambridge, Massachusetts). Each station was provided with a thermometer (sometimes two), a barometer, a hygrometer and a variation compass. The instruments were callibrated in Mannheim before being sent off to the contributing stations. Their manufacture, callibration and transportation was paid for by the Elector.
Members of the network had to agree to follow precise written instructions to collect their observations, made thrice daily (7am, 2pm and 9pm), which were then recorded on monthly data forms printed in Mannheim. These forms formed the basis of an annual publication by the Society, the Ephemerides.
The society had an immense role in spurring an interest in meteorology, together with a precise methodology for its practice, throughout its many contributing stations, some of them located in provincial backwaters.
Two significant events in 1790 led to the eventual dissolution of the Society around 1795: The death of Father Hemmerer, and the French invasion of the Palatinate, after which the Elector was forced to relocate to Munich.
The society organized meteorological observations by members distributed in as many as 37 locations, principally in Europe but some far as the Urals (Pyschmen) and North America (Cambridge, Massachusetts). Each station was provided with a thermometer (sometimes two), a barometer, a hygrometer and a variation compass. The instruments were callibrated in Mannheim before being sent off to the contributing stations. Their manufacture, callibration and transportation was paid for by the Elector.
Members of the network had to agree to follow precise written instructions to collect their observations, made thrice daily (7am, 2pm and 9pm), which were then recorded on monthly data forms printed in Mannheim. These forms formed the basis of an annual publication by the Society, the Ephemerides.
The society had an immense role in spurring an interest in meteorology, together with a precise methodology for its practice, throughout its many contributing stations, some of them located in provincial backwaters.
Two significant events in 1790 led to the eventual dissolution of the Society around 1795: The death of Father Hemmerer, and the French invasion of the Palatinate, after which the Elector was forced to relocate to Munich.
For a detailed history of the society, including a list of its contributing stations, see: David Cassidy, "Meteorology in Mannheim: The Palatine Meteorological Society, 1780-1795)", Sudhoffs-Archiv, 69 (1985), pp.8-25. (In CHSI Library).