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Joseph Hall Affair
Fri Dec 16, 2005
Listen in RealAudio 
In the nineteenth century, weather observations on high mountain peaks were greatly
desired to settle basic questions in science. 1859 Joseph Henry, one of America's
leading scientists and director of the Smithsonian Institution, loaned "a fine set of
instruments" to Joseph Hall to make meteorological observations on the summit of Mt.
Washington. But Hall never established a weather station there and he never took any
observations.
Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton and this is the Weather Notebook.
Three years later, still seeking observations, the Smithsonian sent another observer,
Professor John Mason, to the Mt. Washington Valley. Although ready to ascend the
mountain, Mason could not find Joseph Hall or his borrowed instruments.
The locals said that Hall had sold the instrument to Hiram Cutting for the "very low
price" of $40 and had left the area. Ironically, Cutting, a distinguished citizen of
Lunenburg, Vermont and future Vermont state geologist, was using his newly acquired
instruments to provide volunteer weather observations for the Smithsonian
Institution!
So Hall was gone and Cutting had the instruments, a bill of sale from Hall, and a
generous letter from Joseph Henry donating the instruments to him as an official
Smithsonian observer. We don't know if Cutting got his money back or when or if
Professor Mason got his instruments, but the "Hall affair" definitely delayed progress in
American science. We do know that twelve years later, in 1874, the U.S. Army Signal
Service established a weather station on Mt. Washington. The current Mt. Washington
Observatory traces its history to 1932.
Thanks today to James Fleming, professor at Colby College in Maine. The Weather
Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory. It is supported by the
National Science Foundation and Subaru of America. Special funding comes from
Davis Instruments, makers of the Car Chip, and the Vantage Pro Wireless Weather
Station.
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