The 22 January 2005 Australian edition of New Scientist, No2483, pp
48-49 carries an article " The Slide Rule Orchestra" about the work of
British meteorologist Lewis Fry Richardson 1881-1953. Before WW I he
envisaged a large room crowded with 'calculators', each armed with a
slide rule and adding machine, and each working on differential
equations for weather data in separate map grid cells. His idea was to
develop equations which could predict the weather. As a Quaker, he
volunteered for ambulance duty in WWI, and worked on his equations when
off duty. But the manuscript was lost during a battle. After the war he
repeated the work and published it in 1922 as "Weather Prediction by
the Numerical Process", which was seminal enough to warrant a reprint
in 1965.

He had returned to his job with the UK Meteorological Office, but when
a government shuffle placed it under the control of the Air Ministry,
his pacifist feelings led him to resign. This was a major loss to
meteorology.

Thereafter, until his death he applied his statistical abilities to
study the causes and prevention of war. He published "Mathematical
Psychology of War" in 1919, and gained a degree in Psychology in 1929.
A major major work was published posthumously as "Statistics of Deadly
Quarrels", edited by Quincy Wright and C. C. Lienau (1960, The Boxwood
Press, Pittsburgh; Quadrangle Books, Chicago; and Stevens & Sons,
London).

Richardson estimated that it would need 64,000 'calculators' for his
'orchestra' to predict the global weather, although others estimated at
least 204,800 would be needed to just keep up with incoming data.

Cyril Catt