Accession No
6757
Brief Description
book, Étude sur la méteorologie des vents dans l'Atlantique nord, by M. LÉON BRAULT, French, 1881
Origin
France; Paris
Maker
Brault, Léon [author] Gauthier-Villars [publisher]
Class
books; meteorology
Earliest Date
1881
Latest Date
1881
Inscription Date
1881
Material
paper; ink
Dimensions
book length 553mm, width 434mm, height 20mm
Special Collection
Provenance
uncertain
Inscription
[cover]
ÉTUDE
SUR LA
MÉTEOROLOGIE DES VENTS
DANS
L'ATLANTIQUE NORD,
PAR M. LÉON BRAULT,
LIEUTENANT DE VAISSEAU
Mémoire extrait des Annales du Bureau central Méteorologique de France.
PARIS,
GAUTHIER-VILLARS, IMPRIMEUR-LIBRAIRE
DE L'ÉCOLE POLYTECHNIQUE, DU BUREAU DES LONGITUDE ET DU BUREAU CENTRAL MÉTÉOROLOGIQUE.
55, QUAI DES AUGUSTINS. 55.
1881
Description Notes
"Étude sur la méteorologie des vents dans l'Atlantique nord", by Léon Brault, Paris, France, 1881.
"The Study of the meteorlogy of winds in Northern Atlantic" is a book by Leon Brault. Divided into two part, the first includes 470,000 observations of the direction and the force of winds, categorised by month and recorded every 5°; the second includes maps of the direction and the velocity of winds during extreme seasons. The book is published by Gautheir-Villars in Paris, and is dedicated to Georges Charles Cloué, the then vice-admiral of the marine and colony.
The book includes multiple grilled charts to record the number of observations of winds under descriptions like "fresh winds" (vents frais), "strong breezes" (fortes brises), "pretty breezes" (jolies brises), "little breezes" (petites brises), "light brises" (légères brises), and "calm" (calmes). The extreme seasons refer to winter (hiver) and summer (été).
References
Events
Description
Léon Brault (1839-1885) graduated with high marks from École Polytechnique and became a marine officer at a very young age. He made lieutenant in 1867, and enjoyed a good career in the navy. He enjoyed drawing and sketches and his works showed his potential in art.
Brault noticed that the French did not particularly have their own wind charts. Instead, the French were compensated with charts published by the English and the Dutch, who were deeply inspired by Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873), a US meteorologist and cartographer. The idea that the French should have their exclusive wind maps brought Brault to work on the documentation and research of winds. The work was tedious and time consuming, involving much about combing through the archives buried in stores of French naval ports.
Brault died in 1885, aged 46 years old, of germ disease contracted in Asia and Africa.
22/08/2022
Created by: Guey-Mei Hsu on 22/08/2022
FM:47545
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