#ian mccaskill

[beardofeightbit]

And now, the weather.

[withbillyconnolly]

Francis Wilson: the most influential man in the room

Francis Wilson: first appearance at 10.34

Sir, I put it to you that Francis Wilson is the most famous British scientist of the 20th century.

His work will not be remembered -- weather forecasting, like ballet or bullfighting, is an ephemeral art -- but no scientist since Darwin was as famous in his day as Francis Wilson. Or, if not Wilson, then Ian McCaskill, Michael Fish, Bill Giles.

The 1980s were a strange time to be a meteorologist. Everyone watched the same handful of channels and this weather information, however vague, was all viewers had to go on. 

In no other era would these rain-mavens achieve such glamour. At no other time would a novelty song name-checking weather presenters have made headway. 

Sadly, those days have gone. More locally-relevant forecasts can be delivered to phones and computers, and the meteorologists are once again confined to the back room. A loss too for the compilers of TV "blooper" shows; because they broadcast live, and relied on technology, weather presenters were particularly vulnerable to it all going wrong. Here's Francis manfully struggling through.

You know, they deserved their status. The information they gave did not result in any one breakthrough, but in thousands of small changes of plan -- a picnic cancelled, a barbecue planned -- and those add up to something. A salute then, to the most influential scientists of their times.