A translation of the paper "Presentation of some observations that could be made to shed light on Meteorology" by Johann Heinrich Lambert (1771)

Pascal Marquet

REVIEW 2 major objections 5 minor 7 references

A translation of the paper "Presentation of some observations that could be made to shed light on Meteorology" by Johann Heinrich Lambert (1771)

T0 review · 2 major / 5 minor · reviewed 2026-08-06 · deepseek-v4-flash

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Pith's one-line read Johann Heinrich Lambert's 1771 memoir laid out a synchronized global weather-observation network with 32 stations, standardized times, and shared registers — more than seventy years before the first international meteorological conferences.

desk verdict A careful translation of Lambert's 1771 observing-network proposal, wrapped in an overstated novelty claim that ignores earlier coordinated schemes like Jurin's. read the letter →

arxiv 2507.13422 v2 pith:XZR2UMK3 submitted 2025-07-17 physics.hist-ph physics.geo-ph

Pascal Marquet This is my paper · ORCID

classification physics.hist-phphysics.geo-ph MSC 01A5086A10 PACS 01.65.+g92.60.-e

keywords globalobservationnetworkhistoryofmeteorologyabsolutezeroairthermometersynchronizedobservationsJ.H.Lambert1771meteorologicalregistersicosahedron

verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal

The pith

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The reading

This paper presents an English translation of Johann Heinrich Lambert's 1771 memoir in which the Mulhouse-born mathematician proposes turning meteorology into a predictive science by imitating astronomy: a global network of observers taking the same measurements at the same times. Lambert divides the Earth's surface into twenty triangular faces of an icosahedron, places 20 observers at the centers plus 12 at the vertices, and specifies that all record barometer, thermometer, wind, and weather symbols at the same hour, referred to London noon, in a standardized four-part register. The translator argues this is a strikingly early blueprint for a coordinated meteorological observation system, preceding the Smithsonian network of 1849 and the first international meteorological conference of 1853 by roughly eight decades. The paper adds a second, separate claim: extrapolating the air-thermometer table in Lambert's posthumous 1779 Pyrometrie gives a minimum temperature near −270°C, close to the modern absolute zero and decades before Kelvin.

What carries the argument

Two devices carry the argument. For the network claim, the central object is the icosahedron tiling of the globe: 20 equal triangular faces, with one observer at the center of each face and one at each of the 12 shared vertices, yielding 32 stations whose spacing (37–41 degrees) Lambert argues matches the spatial reach of large barometric variations; this geometric scheme is then made practical by the four-part monthly register organized by longitude, the London-noon reference time, and the proposed weather symbols. For the temperature claim, the machinery is a linear extrapolation: Lambert's 1779 table lists 'degrees of the air thermometer' against Fahrenheit temperatures, and fitting a straight line through most of the points shows the degrees vanish near −270°C, which the author treats as evidence that Lambert had essentially found absolute zero through the constant-volume air thermometer, just as Amontons had done earlier and Kelvin would do later.

What would settle it

Locate a meteorological proposal printed before 1771 that already specifies synchronized observations at fixed times across a global set of stations with standardized registers; or recompute the extrapolation of Lambert's 1779 table using all listed points (including the two excluded ones, −62°F and 805°F) and show the zero-intercept moves far from −270°C.

Watch

Extended reading notes

Core claim

Lambert's 1771 paper, here translated from Old French, is the centerpiece. Its thesis is that meteorology will only become a science on a par with astronomy once it collects connected observations — that is, simultaneous recordings of pressure, temperature, wind, and sky state made at fixed times across the whole globe, with the results pooled into shared registers. Lambert concretely proposes 32 observers (20 at the centers of the triangular faces of an icosahedron, 12 at the vertices), separated by 37 to 41 degrees, with ships filling the intermediate ocean regions as mobile observatories; observations are to be made at London noon to correct for meridian differences, and published in registers with one folio page per month, one column per station, using compact decimal units and a small set of weather symbols. The translator's additional discovery is that in Lambert's 1779 Pyrometrie, the 'degrees of the air thermometer' table, plotted against Fahrenheit temperatures, fall almost on a straight line whose extrapolation to zero degrees gives about −270°C, a value close to the −273°C later adopted by Kelvin and much closer than the values proposed by Lavoisier, Laplace, or Dalton.

Load-bearing premise

The load-bearing premise is that Marquet's English translation faithfully represents Lambert's 1771 text and that no earlier or contemporary publication already proposed a coordinated global network of synchronized meteorological observers; the secondary claim depends on the air-thermometer scale being linear enough to justify extrapolating the fitted line to zero.

Editorial extensions

If this is right

If the dating holds, Lambert's proposal is the earliest known blueprint for a globe-spanning, time-synchronized meteorological observation network, predating official networks by about 80 years.
The use of a single reference meridian (London noon) for simultaneous observations is a direct precursor to the universal time coordination adopted in the 19th century.
The standardized four-part register — columns by longitude, decimal lines for pressure, Fahrenheit degrees, wind-force points, and weather symbols — is an early prototype of modern meteorological codes and synoptic charts.
Treating ships as 'mobile observatories' anticipates ship weather reporting and the later ocean weather station programs.
If the air-thermometer extrapolation is accepted, Lambert's 1779 value of about −270°C supports the constant-volume air thermometer as the instrument that first made absolute zero numerically accessible.

Reading between the lines

Editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

Lambert's icosahedron is a uniform spherical grid, but uniform spacing is not the same as optimal placement for weather phenomena; a modern test could compare his 32 stations with a network sized by variance or by dynamical sensitivity, and would likely show that the 37–41° spacing is too coarse to resolve synoptic weather systems in mid-latitudes.
The dependence on colonial outposts and missionaries, chosen because 'people who know how to count and write' suffice, carries an implicit coverage bias toward trading routes and away from oceans and polar regions — a bias that persists in today's observing system.
The −270°C value is sensitive to the two excluded table points; a reanalysis that fits all points, or applies a real-gas correction instead of a strictly linear pressure–temperature law, would shift the extrapolated zero by a few degrees — a simple quantitative check.
Lambert's emphasis on 'great variations' as the carriers of general laws can be read as an early statement of the synoptic-scale view that later bore fruit in frontal and cyclone theory.

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Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, and a circularity audit.

Desk Editor's Note

read the letter

The real value here is the translation. Marquet gives a readable English rendering of Lambert's 1771 “Exposé” and reproduces the old French text, so readers can verify the rendering. That is a service for historians of meteorology and for anyone wanting a primary source on early coordinated observation. The translation is careful, the footnotes on old French units and instrument scales are useful, and the 32-observer icosahedral scheme is made concrete with a modern map. Credit where due: this makes an obscure text accessible.

The soft spots are in the packaging. The abstract and conclusion call the proposal “prophetic” and imply it is the origin of global coordinated meteorology, but the paper never engages the prior literature. James Jurin’s 1723 Invitatio in the Philosophical Transactions already asked observers in different countries to keep standardized weather diaries with prescribed instruments and to transmit them to the Royal Society. Lambert’s specific geometry, the fixed London-noon observing time, and the columnar register format are distinctive refinements, but they are refinements of an existing program, not the invention of the program. The word “prophetic” should be toned down, and the first-network claim needs a survey or it should be cut.

The -270°C extrapolation from Lambert’s 1779 thermometer table is a side remark, but it is stated without uncertainty and with two points excluded. It is an estimate, not a measurement, and should be labeled as such. It is also not new—it was already in Marquet (2019).

The paper leans on Wikipedia and a few modern comparisons rather than on historiographic scholarship. That is fine for a note, but not for a priority claim.

Who is this for? Historians of meteorology and readers who want a reliable English rendering of a real primary source. It is not a physics result. It deserves a serious referee—I would send it to a historian of science—with the instruction to check the priority framing and ask for the novelty language to be adjusted. The translation itself is solid, but the interpretation needs a leash.

Referee Report

2 major / 5 minor

Summary. This paper presents an English translation of Johann Heinrich Lambert's 1771 Old French memoir "Exposé de quelques observations qu'on pourroit faire pour répandre du jour sur la Météorologie," with the original Old French text reproduced. The introduction discusses Lambert's 1779 air-thermometer table, which the author extrapolates to a minimum temperature of approximately -270°C, and the conclusion argues that Lambert's proposal for a global network of 32 observers anticipated the Smithsonian network (1849) and the Brussels conference (1853).

Significance. If the historical claims are accepted, the paper makes a valuable primary source accessible to Anglophone readers and documents a striking early proposal for synchronized meteorological observations with standardized time, instruments, and register formats. The translation appears faithful when checked against the reproduced Old French text, which is a strong foundation. The paper's broader historical significance, however, depends on two claims that are not fully established: that Lambert's proposal was without significant precedent, and that his 1779 table supports a value of -270°C for the zero of temperatures. The first requires a survey of earlier coordinated-observation proposals; the second requires a transparent fit to the tabulated data.

major comments (2)

[Abstract and Conclusion] The claim that Lambert's 1771 article described 'the idea of a global observation network' in a 'rather striking manner' and was 'prophetic' (abstract, conclusion, footnotes 9–11) is not supported by a comparison with prior proposals. The paper cites only a Wikipedia timeline and contrasts with the 1849 and 1853 networks. It does not discuss earlier calls for coordinated meteorological observation, such as James Jurin's 'Invitatio ad observationes meteorologicas communi consilio instituendas' (Philosophical Transactions 32, 1723, pp. 422–425), which already invited observers in different countries to keep standardized diaries with prescribed instruments and a fixed register format, transmitted to the Royal Society. The paper should either acknowledge such precursors and specify what is novel in Lambert's proposal (e.g., the icosahedral layout, the fixed observing hour relative to London noon, the columnar data format, and the suggestion of ship reports), or moderate the originality claim.
[Section 1 and Fig. 2] The extrapolation of Lambert's 1779 air-thermometer table to -270°C excludes two of the tabulated points (-52.2°C and 429.4°C) with no reported fit, uncertainty, or justification. The claim that Lambert 'devised the idea of a minimum temperature value corresponding to -270°C' is therefore not established by the paper's own data; it is an inference by the present author based on a selected linear subset. The paper should present the raw data, the fitted line, and a sensitivity analysis of the excluded points, or state explicitly that the -270°C value is the author's modern extrapolation rather than a value Lambert consciously proposed.

minor comments (5)

[Section 1, paragraph on Amontons] The calculation of Amontons' zero (-240°C) is arithmetically correct, but the paper later refers to '-270°C of J. H. Lambert' without clearly distinguishing that both values are modern extrapolations rather than explicitly stated historical values; this distinction should be maintained throughout.
[Abstract and Section 2] The phrase 'global observation network' is an interpretive gloss; Lambert's proposal is more specifically a sparse network of 32 observation points arranged on an icosahedron, supplemented by ship reports. Consider using more neutral wording such as 'global observation scheme' when describing the historical content.
[Old French transcription, final line] The short line 'Νουν.Μem . 1771' at the end of the reproduction appears to be a typographical artifact; it should be corrected to 'Nouv. Mém. 1771' or removed for clarity.
[Figure 2 caption] The word 'Celcius' in the figure caption should be 'Celsius'.
[Footnotes 9, 11, and 14] The editorial footnotes claiming Lambert's proposals were 'highly innovative and prophetic' are not supported by citations to historical scholarship; they should be labeled as the translator's opinions or supported by references to secondary literature.

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged · score 0.0 of 10

No significant circularity: the translation is anchored to the reproduced 1771 source text, and the absolute-zero discussion is an extrapolation from Lambert's independent 1779 table.

full rationale

The paper's primary deliverable is an English translation of Lambert's 1771 memoir, and the Old French original is reproduced in full, allowing independent verification. The historical description of a coordinated global observing network is a reading of that external text, not a claim derived from the paper's own assumptions. The secondary claim about Lambert's minimum-temperature value is obtained by plotting the 1779 air-thermometer table printed in Lambert's Pyrometrie; most tabulated points lie on a line whose extrapolated zero is near -270°C. This is a fit to an independent historical dataset and is explicitly tied to a figure in Marquet (2019), but Marquet (2019) is not used as the authority for Lambert's data; the table is quoted directly. Even if the extrapolation is statistically questionable because two points are excluded, that is a soundness concern, not a circular one. The priority claim for the 1771 proposal is asserted with reference to the Smithsonian network and the 1853 Brussels conference; the absence of a survey of earlier proposals (e.g., Jurin 1723) is a completeness or accuracy issue, not a circularity issue. No equation or parameter is defined in terms of the result it is used to support, and no load-bearing conclusion rests on a self-citation alone. The paper is therefore self-contained against external benchmarks and receives a circularity score of 0.

Assumptions & free parameters 1 free parameters · 3 assumptions · 0 invented entities

The paper introduces no physical or mathematical entities. It relies on historical assumptions about authenticity, linearity of early thermometry, and priority, plus one fitted intercept for the -270°C estimate.

free parameters (1)

Intercept of linear extrapolation for Lambert's air-thermometer data = approximately -270°C
Obtained by fitting a straight line to most points in Lambert (1779, p.276-277) and extrapolating to zero air-thermometer degrees; two points (-52.2°C, 429.4°C) are excluded, with no error analysis.

assumptions (3)

domain assumption The reproduced Old French text of Lambert (1771) is authentic and accurately transcribed.
All translation and historical claims depend on the source text being genuine; the paper reproduces it but provides no critical edition or archival scan.
domain assumption The air-thermometer degrees vary linearly with temperature over the full extrapolation range.
Used in Section 1 to infer -270°C from Lambert's table; the paper does not justify linearity beyond the plotted points.
domain assumption No earlier or contemporary work proposed a global synchronized meteorological observation network.
Underlies the paper's claims of novelty and prophetic status; asserted without surveying 18th-century meteorological literature.

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Cite this review

Pith. "Pith review of A translation of the paper "Presentation of some observations that could be made to shed light on Meteorology" by Johann Heinrich Lambert (1771)." pith.science (2026). https://pith.science/paper/XZR2UMK3

@misc{pith2026250713422,
  author       = {Pith},
  title        = {Pith review of: A translation of the paper "Presentation of some observations that could be made to shed light on Meteorology" by Johann Heinrich Lambert (1771)},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://pith.science/paper/XZR2UMK3}},
  note         = {Machine review of arXiv:2507.13422}
}

abstract

The Mulhouse mathematician Jean-Henri (or Johann Heinrich) Lambert (August 26 or 28, 1728; September 25, 1777) is well known for having devised the conformal conic projection in 1772, which is still used in some graphical outputs of our weather forecasting models, under the name "Lambert projection" Less well known is that he also devised the idea of a minimum temperature value corresponding to $-270${\deg}C in 1777, the year of his death and therefore 70 years before Lord Kelvin. But Johann Heinrich Lambert also published in 1771 an even lesser-known article, which is the subject of this publication. This article, written in Old French and published in a German journal, described in a rather striking manner the idea of a global observation network where the Earth would be divided into different zones where observers would record the same wind, temperature, pressure, and other current weather data at the same fixed times. The goal would then be to pool all this data to seek to understand how meteorological phenomena evolve in space and time, and to make meteorology a science on a par with astronomy.

Figures

Figures reproduced from arXiv: 2507.13422 by the authors.

**Figure 2.** On the left: The “ Table of observed degrees of heat ” published in the §-508 (p.276-277) in the book by Lambert (1779), with Fahrenheit temperatures from −62°F to 1600°F. On the right: Two diagrams of the “ degrees of the air thermometer ” plotted from the same Table by Lambert (1779), but against the Celcius temperatures from −320°C to 950°C (Top), and a zoom for temperatures from −320°C to 140°C (bottom). -200 0 … view at source ↗

**Figure 3.** Two examples of convex regular icosahedra formed from 20 triangular faces and approaching the sphere (one of the Platonic solids): on the left from https: // www. aquaportail. com/ dictionnaire/ definition/ 11550/ icosaedre ; and on the right from https: // fr-academic. com/ dic. nsf/ frwiki/ 833227 —————————————————————————————————————– This project could be carried out, if one were willing to bear the expense. Not… view at source ↗

**Figure 5.** Left (a,b): The symbols for the weather conditions shown on page 63 in the 1771 article by J. H. Lambert (1771). Here we recognize the beginnings of the symbols used to represent the present weather conditions or clouds on operational weather charts (such as the “ Norwegian ” charts colored in red, blue, purple, etc.). Lambert’s French terms were: “ nuées ” for clouds; “ pluie ” for rain; “ neige ” for snow; “ broui… view at source ↗

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Reference graph

Works this paper leans on

7 extracted references · 7 canonical work pages

[1]

Amontons, G., 1703: Le thermom\'etre r\'eduit \`a une mefure fixe & certaine, & le moyen d'y rapporter les obfervations faites avec les anciens Thermom\'etres [\,The thermometer reduced to a fixed and certain measurement, and the means of relating to it the observations made with the old thermometers.\,] . Mem. Acad. Royale Sci., 50--56, ://gallica.bnf.fr...

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Dalton, J., 1808: A new system of chemical philosophy. Part 1 , vi+1+540 Pp. R. Bickerstaff and S. Russel, London., ://archive.org/details/newsystemofchemi01daltuoft/page/n4/mode/1up

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Lambert, J. H., 1771: Expos\'e de quelques obfervations qu'on pourroit faire pour r\'epandre du jour fur la M\'et\'eorologie [\,Presentation of some observations that could be made to shed light on Meteorology\,] . Mem. Acad. Royale Sci. Berlin, 60--65+Fig, ://books.google.fr/books?id=FgQOAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=fr&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=...

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H., 1779: Pyrometrie oder vom Maasse des Feuers und der W\"arme [\,Pyrometry or the measure of fire and heat\,] , 360 Pp

Lambert, J. H., 1779: Pyrometrie oder vom Maasse des Feuers und der W\"arme [\,Pyrometry or the measure of fire and heat\,] , 360 Pp. Bey Haude und Spener, Berlin, ://archive.org/details/bub_gb_G5I_AAAAcAAJ/page/n6/mode/1up, https://docnum.unistra.fr/digital/collection/coll12/id/61486

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Lavoisier, A. L., and P.-S. de la Place , 1780: M\'emoire sur la chaleur [\,Memoir on the heat\,] . Mem. Acad. Sci., 355--408, ://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3579h/f441.item

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The third law of thermodynamics or an absolute definition for Entropy. Part 1 : the origin and applications in thermodynamics

Marquet, P., 2019: Le troisi\`eme principe de la thermodynamique ou une d\'efinition absolue de l'entropie - P artie 1 : Origines et applications en thermodynamique [ see the English translation in the arXiv url `` The third law of thermodynamics or an absolute definition for Entropy. Part 1 : the origin and applications in thermodynamics\/ ]. La M\'et\'e...

work page Pith review arXiv 2019
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Reprinted in the Mathematical and Physical Papers of William Thomson (1882, Vol

Thomson, W., 1848: On an absolute thermometric scale founded on C arnot's theory of the motive power of heat, and calculated from R egnault's observations. Reprinted in the Mathematical and Physical Papers of William Thomson (1882, Vol. 1, Article 39, p.100-106) from the Cambridge Phil. Soc. Proc. (June 5, 1848) . Philosophical Magazine. S erie 3 , 33 (22...

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Pith tools

Reviewed August 6, 2026 · model on record in the stance chip above.

[1] [1]

Amontons, G., 1703: Le thermom\'etre r\'eduit \`a une mefure fixe & certaine, & le moyen d'y rapporter les obfervations faites avec les anciens Thermom\'etres [\,The thermometer reduced to a fixed and certain measurement, and the means of relating to it the observations made with the old thermometers.\,] . Mem. Acad. Royale Sci., 50--56, ://gallica.bnf.fr...

work page

[2] [2]

Part 1 , vi+1+540 Pp

Dalton, J., 1808: A new system of chemical philosophy. Part 1 , vi+1+540 Pp. R. Bickerstaff and S. Russel, London., ://archive.org/details/newsystemofchemi01daltuoft/page/n4/mode/1up

work page

[3] [3]

Lambert, J. H., 1771: Expos\'e de quelques obfervations qu'on pourroit faire pour r\'epandre du jour fur la M\'et\'eorologie [\,Presentation of some observations that could be made to shed light on Meteorology\,] . Mem. Acad. Royale Sci. Berlin, 60--65+Fig, ://books.google.fr/books?id=FgQOAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=fr&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=...

work page

[4] [4]

H., 1779: Pyrometrie oder vom Maasse des Feuers und der W\"arme [\,Pyrometry or the measure of fire and heat\,] , 360 Pp

Lambert, J. H., 1779: Pyrometrie oder vom Maasse des Feuers und der W\"arme [\,Pyrometry or the measure of fire and heat\,] , 360 Pp. Bey Haude und Spener, Berlin, ://archive.org/details/bub_gb_G5I_AAAAcAAJ/page/n6/mode/1up, https://docnum.unistra.fr/digital/collection/coll12/id/61486

work page

[5] [5]

L., and P.-S

Lavoisier, A. L., and P.-S. de la Place , 1780: M\'emoire sur la chaleur [\,Memoir on the heat\,] . Mem. Acad. Sci., 355--408, ://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3579h/f441.item

work page

[6] [6]

The third law of thermodynamics or an absolute definition for Entropy. Part 1 : the origin and applications in thermodynamics

Marquet, P., 2019: Le troisi\`eme principe de la thermodynamique ou une d\'efinition absolue de l'entropie - P artie 1 : Origines et applications en thermodynamique [ see the English translation in the arXiv url `` The third law of thermodynamics or an absolute definition for Entropy. Part 1 : the origin and applications in thermodynamics\/ ]. La M\'et\'e...

work page Pith review arXiv 2019

[7] [7]

Reprinted in the Mathematical and Physical Papers of William Thomson (1882, Vol

Thomson, W., 1848: On an absolute thermometric scale founded on C arnot's theory of the motive power of heat, and calculated from R egnault's observations. Reprinted in the Mathematical and Physical Papers of William Thomson (1882, Vol. 1, Article 39, p.100-106) from the Cambridge Phil. Soc. Proc. (June 5, 1848) . Philosophical Magazine. S erie 3 , 33 (22...

work page