Glaisher, James

Glaisher, James glāˈshər [key], 1809–1903, English meteorologist and balloonist, b. London. He served as superintendent of the department of meteorology and magnetism at Greenwich Observatory from 1838 to 1874. He established the Meteorological Society in 1850 and later became one of the founders of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain. Between 1862 and 1866 he made a series of balloon ascensions with Henry T. Coxwell. He wrote many scientific books and papers; his best-known work is Travels in the Air (1867, in French; tr. 1871).

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