Dutch Skies, Global Laws
Journal: Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences
Year: 2016

This essay examines the transformation of a local rule of thumb into a widely acknowledged meteorological law, generally known as Buys Ballot’s law. This law relates wind direction to atmospheric pressure. From 1857 to 1867, Christophorus Buys Ballot (1817–1890) actively lobbied in the international arena for his wind rule, which he regarded as a promising basis for a system of storm warnings. At the same time he was reluctant to generalize his rule beyond the Dutch boundaries or to make strong