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Weathering the empire: meteorological research in the early British straits settlements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2015

FIONA WILLIAMSON
FIONA WILLIAMSON*
Affiliation:
School of History, Politics and Strategy, National University of Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia43600. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

This article explores meteorological interest and experimentation in the early history of the Straits Settlements. It centres on the establishment of an observatory in 1840s Singapore and examines the channels that linked the observatory to a global community of scientists, colonial officers and a reading public. It will argue that, although the value of overseas meteorological investigation was recognized by the British government, investment was piecemeal and progress in the field often relied on the commitment and enthusiasm of individuals. In the Straits Settlements, as elsewhere, these individuals were drawn from military or medical backgrounds, rather than trained as dedicated scientists. Despite this, meteorology was increasingly recognized as of fundamental importance to imperial interests. Thus this article connects meteorology with the history of science and empire more fully and examines how research undertaken in British dependencies is revealing of the operation of transnational networks in the exchange of scientific knowledge.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 48 , Issue 3 , September 2015 , pp. 475 - 492
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Copyright
Copyright © British Society for the History of Science 2015 

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References

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35 Tenth Meeting, op. cit. (34), pp. 430–1.

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55 BL, IOR F/4/2026, 91387, f. 12, 7 January 1843. See also Edward Belcher, Narrative of the Voyage of the HMS Samarang, During the years 1843–46: Employed Surveying the Islands of the Eastern Archipelago, repr., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011, p. 166.

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