Optical connections: Taking the temperature

The issue of climate change is a subject that is front and centre of the debate about how our society should move forward to secure our future. There are records, models and forecasts (some more reliable than others) that feed into the discussion.

So it is interesting to look at a weather record, compiled in the 18th century, by an English spectacle maker, James Ayscough, better known for designing spectacles with eponymous double-hinged sides. He also produced a range of scientific and optical instruments, which he no doubt employed in taking his meteorological measurements.

Ayscough was clearly well-regarded by his optical peers as he was elected Master of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers (WCSM) in 1752.