Luke Howard

Howard was born the first child of Robert and Elizabeth Howard. His father was a successful businessman and, like Luke Howard himself later on, was a dissident of the Quaker religious community. This enabled him to send his son to a Grammar School in Burford near Oxford for seven years. Although he did not receive a scientific education according to today's standards, he showed a special interest in nature, especially in clouds. The unusual weather phenomena of the year 1783, which can be traced back to eruptions of the volcanoes Laki on June 8 and Asama, were probably particularly formative for the eleven-year-old Howard. Due to the entry of volcanic particles up to high atmospheric layers, impressive color effects occurred on the whole northern hemisphere. The enormous dust cloud covered all of Europe and parts of North Africa in the following summer. In addition, an impressive meteor on August 18th of the same year caused a huge dust cloud. Howard became and remained a devoted weather observer until the end of his life, also with the drive to be able to explain these phenomena. However, he was not a meteorologist by profession, but a businessman.

After his school education, he began an apprenticeship as a pharmacist with Ollive Sims in Stockport in 1787, but also studied chemistry, botany and French. In 1795 his father gave him the necessary starting capital for his own business. In the following year he married Mariabella Eliot, from whose marriage several sons emerged. On March 23, 1796, he became a member of the Askesian Society, a small discussion group of like-minded people. Howard subsequently entered into a business relationship with its founder William Allen and his company Plough Court pharmacy, where he was responsible for the production of chemicals.