Editing Cleveland Abbe (section)

==Career==
His first job in astronomy was at the [[United States Naval Observatory]] from 1867-1868 as an aide, until the Cincinnati Astronomical Society offered him the director position at the [[Cincinnati Observatory]] in 1868.<ref name=wws/><ref name=EB>{{harvnb|Hoiberg|2010|p=11}}</ref> He spent a few years in Cincinnati, but his interests were already evolving. Remembering that meteorological conditions directly affected the work of astronomers, he began working in the field of meteorology. He won approval to report on and predict the weather, working on the premise that forecasts could and should be generated at minimal expense and in such a way as to perhaps even produce income. By 1873 he was let go by the Cincinnati Observatory due to funding issues and it was then that he made the decision that would change his career path.

===Meteorology===
[[File:PSM V32 D302 Cleveland Abbe.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Abbe published in ''[[Popular Science Monthly]]'']]
His first work on weather was centered on forecasting and issuance of warnings for severe weather. This preliminary work was started while still in Cincinnati. His first bulletin was issued on 1 September 1869.<ref name=ia>{{harvnb|Asimov|1964|p=343}}</ref><ref name=hum>{{harvnb|Humphreys|1946|p=1}}</ref> 

Abbe was appointed chief meteorologist at the [[National Weather Service|United States Weather Bureau]] on 3 January 1871, which at the time was part of the [[U.S. Signal Corps]].<ref name=hum/><ref name=EB/> One of the first things that he addressed was the [[forecasting]] dimension of meteorology. He recognized that predicting the weather required a widespread, yet coordinated team. And so with short-term funding granted from the [[Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce|Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce]], he enlisted twenty volunteer weather observers to help report conditions. [[Western Union]] agreed to permit the observers to communicate without charge, and Abbe and his team went to work. He selected data-collecting instruments that would be critical to the success of weather predicting, and he trained Army observer sergeants in their use. Field data was transmitted using [[code]] designed to minimize [[word count]]. Each message started with a station location, with code words for temperature, pressure, [[dew point]], precipitation and wind direction, cloud observations, wind velocity and sunset observations.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Albeck-Ripka |first=Livia |date=2024-01-08 |title=An Antique Dress Held a Secret: A Coded Message From 1888 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/08/us/antique-dress-weather-code.html |access-date=2024-01-10 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
At the designated times, information flooded the transmission stations. Clerks would then decode and record the messages and manually enter data onto [[weather map]]s, which were then used to predict the weather.

On February 19, 1871, Abbe personally gave the first official [[Weather forecasting|weather report]]. He continued to forecast alone for the next six months, while simultaneously training others. He was joined in mid-1871 by two Army lieutenants and a civilian professor in giving reports, and the team was then able to rotate the heavy workload. Abbe demanded precise language in the forecasts and ensured that every forecast covered four key meteorological elements: weather (clouds and precipitation), temperature, wind direction, and barometric pressure. By the end of the first year of reporting, over 60 copies of weather charts had been sent to Congress, the press, and various scientific institutions. By 1872, Abbe regularly sent over 500 sets of daily maps and bulletins overseas in exchange for European meteorological data. Abbe also insisted on verifying predictions. During the first year of operation, in 1871, Abbe and his staff verified 69 percent of their predictions; the annual report apologized for the other 31 percent, citing the time constraints as the cause.

In 1872, Abbe founded and was the initial editor of the ''[[Monthly Weather Review]]''. He also was the editor from 1892 until 1915 just before his death. The [[Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center|Mount Weather Observatory]] in Virginia also produced a weather bulletin, of which Abbe was the editor from 1909 to 1913.<ref name=wws/>

In order to compile his information, Abbe required a time-keeping system that was consistent among the stations. To accomplish this he divided the United States into four [[standard time zone]]s. In 1879, he published a paper titled ''Report on Standard Time''.<ref name=wws/> In 1883, he convinced North American railroad companies to adopt his time-zone system. In 1884, Britain, which had already adopted its own standard time system for England, Scotland, and Wales, helped gather international consent for global time. In time, the American government, influenced in part by his 1879 paper, adopted the time-zone system.<ref>{{harvnb|Asimov|1964|p=344}}</ref>

Abbe required that the weather service stay at the forefront of technology. Over time, the instrument division at the headquarters tested and calibrated thousands of devices and even began to design and build their own instruments. By the end of the century, self-registering equipment came into use, and the United States led the meteorological world with 114 Class I (automatic recording) observation stations. Anticipating an increase in international cooperation, Abbe began to seek quality instruments calibrated to international standards. He enlisted [[Oliver Wolcott Gibbs]] of [[Harvard University|Harvard]] and [[Arthur Williams Wright|Arthur Wright]] of [[Yale University|Yale]] to design improved equipment. For comparison purposes, Abbe ordered a barometer from [[Heinrich von Wild|Heinrich Wild]] (director of the Nicholas Central Observatory in Russia), as well as an anemometer and several types of hygrometers from Germany. Abbe then invented an anemobarometer to test the effect of chimney and window drafts on barometers in enclosed spaces.

Abbe returned to academia in 1886, when he accepted a professorship at [[George Washington University|Columbian University]], where he taught meteorology and remained until 1905. He was a regular lecturer at [[Johns Hopkins University|Johns Hopkins]] from 1896 through 1914.<ref name=wws/> He has authored nearly 300 scientific papers.<ref name=wws/> He was the recipient of three honorary degrees. His original school of higher learning, the City College of New York awarded him a [[PhD]] in 1891, in 1888 the [[University of Michigan]] gave Abbe an [[Legum Doctor|LL D]] as did the [[University of Glasgow]] in 1896.<ref name=wws/> [[Harvard University]] gave him the [[Bachelor of Science|S.B.]] degree in 1900.<ref name="BDA1906">{{harvnb|Johnson|1906|p=21}}</ref>

Abbe was elected as a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1871.<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=1871&year-max=1871&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-04-28|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> Associate Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1884.<ref name=wws/><ref name=AAAS>{{harvnb|Anon|2013|p=1}}</ref> In 1912 the [[Royal Meteorological Society]] presented him with their [[Symons Gold Medal]], citing his contribution "to instrumental, statistical, dynamical, and thermo dynamical meteorology and forecasting." In 1916 he was awarded the [[Public Welfare Medal]] from the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]],<ref name=PublicWelfare>{{harvnb|Anon|2015}}</ref> which also gave him the [[Marcellus Hartley Medal]].<ref name=hum/> He was also one of the 33 founders of the [[National Geographic Society]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hunter|2012}}</ref>