History of numerical modelling

• Lewis Fry Richardson (Kings, Nat. Sci., 1900)

• Whilst working as an ambulanceman in WW1 he produced the first numerical weather forecast, using a slide-rule.

• During intervals between transporting wounded soldiers back from the front he made a 6-hour forecast of pressure and wind, starting from analysis of the conditions at 7am on 20 May 1910.

• It took at least 6 months and was very inaccurate.

• Proposed a “forecast factory” with some 26, 000 accountants

• 25 years later Jule Charney formulated equations to be solved on a computer

• First successful numerical prediction of weather in April 1950 using ENIAC computer