Richard Hamblyn (born 1965) is a British environmental writer and historian. He is a lecturer in the Department of English, Theatre and Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London, [1] and has contributed articles and reviews to the Sunday Times , The Guardian , the Independent , the Times Literary Supplement and the London Review of Books . [2]
His books include The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies (2001), an account of the life and work of Luke Howard which won a 2001 Los Angeles TimesBook Prize [3] and was shortlisted for the 2002 Samuel Johnson Prize; [4] [5] Terra: Tales of the Earth (2009), a study of natural disasters, a BBC Wales Science Book of the Year; [6] and an anthology of science writing, The Art of Science: a Natural History of Ideas (2011). [7] He has also written four illustrated books on weather in association with the UK Met Office, including The Cloud Book (2008); Extraordinary Clouds (2009); and Extraordinary Weather (2012), and edited Daniel Defoe's first book, The Storm (1704) for Penguin Classics(2005).Works written in collaboration with the British landscape photographer Jem Southam include Clouds Descending (2009) and The River in Winter (2012).
In the academic year 2008–09 Hamblyn was writer-in-residence at the University College London Environment Institute, and produced the book Data Soliloquies (Slade, 2009) with Martin John Callanan who was artist-in-residence for the same year. [8]
Thomas Alan Shippey is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien about whom he has written several books and many scholarly papers. His book The Road to Middle-Earth has been called "the single best thing written on Tolkien".
Karl Shuker is a British zoologist, cryptozoologist and author. He lives in the Midlands, England, where he works as a zoological consultant and writer. A columnist in Fortean Times and contributor to various magazines, Shuker is also the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cryptozoology, which began in November 2012.
Luke Howard, was a British manufacturing chemist and an amateur meteorologist with broad interests in science. His lasting contribution to science is a nomenclature system for clouds, which he proposed in an 1802 presentation to the Askesian Society. Because of this, Howard is referred to as "The Godfather of Clouds", the "namer of the clouds", and the "father of meteorology".
Colm Tóibín is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet.
John Peter Berger was an English art critic, novelist, painter and poet. His novel G. won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism Ways of Seeing, written as an accompaniment to the BBC series of the same name, was influential. He lived in France for over fifty years.
Jonathan Mark Hamilton Priaulx Raban was an award-winning British travel writer, playwright, critic, and novelist.
Richard Alan Fortey is a British palaeontologist, natural historian, writer and television presenter, who served as president of the Geological Society of London for its bicentennial year of 2007.
Daniel Tammet is an English writer and savant. His memoir, Born on a Blue Day (2006), is about his early life with Asperger syndrome and savant syndrome, and was named a "Best Book for Young Adults" in 2008 by the American Library Association's Young Adult Library Services magazine. His second book, Embracing the Wide Sky, was one of France's best-selling books of 2009. His third book, Thinking in Numbers, was published in 2012 by Hodder & Stoughton in the United Kingdom and in 2013 by Little, Brown and Company in the United States and Canada. His books have been published in over 20 languages.
A pileus, also called scarf cloud or cap cloud, is a small, horizontal, lenticular cloud appearing above a cumulus or cumulonimbus cloud. Pileus clouds are often short-lived, with the main cloud beneath them rising through convection to absorb them. They are formed by strong updraft at lower altitudes, acting upon moist air above, causing the air to cool to its dew point. As such, they are usually indicators of severe weather, and a pileus found atop a cumulus cloud often foreshadows transformation into a cumulonimbus cloud, as it indicates a strong updraft within the cloud.
Amit Chaudhuri is a novelist, poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, singer, and music composer from India.
Sean O'Brien FRSL is a British poet, critic and playwright. Prizes he has won include the Eric Gregory Award (1979), the Somerset Maugham Award (1984), the Cholmondeley Award (1988), the Forward Poetry Prize and the T. S. Eliot Prize (2007). He is one of only three poets to have won both the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for the same collection of poems.
John Glenday grew up in Monifieth.
Ralph Abercromby was a Scottish meteorologist.
Cirrostratus fibratus or also called Cirrostratus filosus is a type of cirrostratus cloud. The name cirrostratus fibratus is derived from Latin, meaning "fibrous". Cirrostratus fibratus is one of the two most common forms that cirrostratus often takes, with the other being cirrostratus nebulosus. They are formed from strong, continuous winds blowing at high altitudes, and they often cover a large portion of the sky. Cirrostratus fibratus may often develop from either cirrus fibratus or cirrus spissatus cloud. Precipitation is often imminent behind these clouds; however, they are not a precipitation-producing cloud.
Cirrostratus nebulosus is a type of high-level cirrostratus cloud. The name cirrostratus nebulosus is derived from Latin, the adjective nebulosus meaning "full of vapor, foggy, cloudy, dark". Cirrostratus nebulosus is one of the two most common forms that cirrostratus often takes, with the other being cirrostratus fibratus. The nebulosus species is featureless and uniform, while the fibratus species has a fibrous appearance. Cirrostratus nebulosus are formed by gently rising air. The cloud is often hard to see unless the sun shines through it at the correct angle, forming a halo. While usually very light, the cloud may also be very dense, and the exact appearance of the cloud can vary from one formation to another. In the winter, precipitation often follows behind these clouds; however, they are not a precipitation-producing cloud.
Martin John Callanan, is a British conceptual artist working in Scotland. He taught at the Slade School of Fine Art from 2008-2019. Key exhibitions include White Cube Mason's Yard, Or Gallery, Berlin, Casal Solleric, Spain, Whitechapel Gallery, London, Imperial War Museum, International Film Festival Rotterdam and Whitstable Biennale. In 2013 Callanan was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize, an award for young academic researchers. Callanan worked with the Bank of England for 12 months from July 2015, and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
The Public Domain Review is an online journal showcasing works which have entered the public domain. It was co-founded by Jonathan Gray and Adam Green. It was launched on January 1, 2011, to coincide with Public Domain Day.
John Banville is an Irish novelist, short story writer, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. He has won the Booker Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Austrian State Prize for European Literature and the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature; has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature; knighted by Italy; is one of the most acclaimed writers in the English language.
Jem Southam is a British landscape photographer and educator. He makes long-term studies of selected sites, in colour. Southam's work is held in the collections of the British Council; UK Government Art Collection; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Science Museum Group, UK; Tate, UK; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Stratocumulus volutus is a rare species of stratocumulus cloud, typically forming alone. Volutus is translated from Latin, meaning revolve, being described as a roll cloud. Stratocumulus volutus clouds are low-level clouds, forming below 2,000 meters. Volutus clouds are much more common in the form of stratocumulus, as opposed to altocumulus volutus. Stratocumulus volutus clouds are not severe, and may only bring several minutes of rain. Alternatively, stratocumulus volutus clouds may form with numerous layers, contradicting the usual rounded form.