James Jurin and the Royal Society’s meteorological correspondence network

The XVIII century was characterized by improvements in meteorological instruments and a significant increase in the number of scholars conducting regular observations. Meteorology became increasingly organized, and there were many attempts to establish international networks of meteorological observatories. In this regard, the Royal Society of London played a leading role from its founding in 1660. The strength of its broad and multifaceted activity consisted essentially in its extensive use of scientific correspondence.
Communications produced by observers outside London soon became part of the Society's daily practice, and several members undertook projects dedicated to collecting data and writing technical reports on specific topics. James Jurin, who served as secretary of the Society from 1721 to 1727, established an international network of observatories dedicated to the collection of meteorological data, presenting his ambitious program on December 12, 1723, later published in the Society's Philosophical Transactions. Jurin's proposal also included a template for the correspondents to follow in compiling their reports: the underlying idea was to standardize observations, instruments, and measurement methods. Consequently, participants were asked to record observations twice a day, including temperature, pressure, wind direction and intensity, descriptions of clouds, and the amount of rain and snow. The main challenge was obtaining uniform measurements. To address this problem, Jurin obtained funding from the Council of the Royal Society to purchase eighteen Hauksbee thermometers to send to foreign correspondents, but, unfortunately, his attempt was unsuccessful.
Jurin's network included observatories in Uppsala, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Leiden, Naples, Luneville, Boston, and many cities in Great Britain, which regularly sent daily reports on atmospheric conditions. The correspondent from Naples was the physician and botanist Niccolò Cirillo, who joined Jurin's network in 1723, regularly carrying out his meteorological observations until his death in July 1735.

___Salvatore Esposito & Adele Naddeo