The Science Museum has created a wonderful short video dedicated to the work of Luke Howard. Luke Howard was an amateur meteorologist and chemist who invented the cloud classification system in 1802, in an essay titled ‘On the modifications of clouds’ which was read to the Askesian Society. The Askesian Society was a small debating and self-improvement club joined by those with an interest in research and education. He wanted to emphasise the importance and usefulness of meteorology and visual observations of wind and clouds.
Howard was one of the original members of the Royal Meteorological Society and his measurements were used up until his death in 1864. Luke Howard and his clouds has been published in the Royal Meteorological Society’s Weather Journal.