A History of Seeing the Unseen: Photography and the Advancement of Atmospheric Science

In an article published in 1872, 67 years after the discovery of photography was announced in Paris, France, Henry B. Pritchard (1841-1884) wrote: “In the chemical, physical and meteorological sciences...photography aids in many ways, and thus helps to the advancement and progress of our knowledge of these matters...[Photography] has in several instances done something more than render yeoman’s service to higher attainments; it has also been the means of discovering phenomena which could by no other means have been ascertained.” The boon to science was partly due to the fact that photography was considered a purely mechanical process, and therefore perceived as an objective recorder of scientific experiments. Moreover, because photography has the ability to discretize time and fossilize it in a photograph, it has enabled science to document for later analysis a wide range of phenomena, many of which are beyond the ability of the unaided eye to see. Indeed, atmospheric science is replete with phenomena that can only be seen or understood through photographs, including: recording wavelengths of light that are invisible to the unaided eye, the nighttime imaging of clouds, the shattering of colliding raindrops, and the flight of thunderbolts. In this talk, I will provide a brief history of how photography has enabled atmospheric scientists to see the unseen.