Meteorology                    [Image]



 Although the weather has

 been a primary concern of      In the 1920s, meteorological

 mankind since before the       instruments were attached to

 dawn of civilization, the      large kites which were sent

 famous Meteorologica of        aloft to take measurments in

 Aristotle, written in the      the lower atmosphere. Some

 fourth century B.C., are the   of these kites reached

 earliest known treatises on    altitudes of a mile or more.

 meteorology. For the next      The kites were tethered to a

 2,000 years, the science did   large wench housed in a

 not progress substantially     shelter which could be

 beyond the level found in      rotated according to the

 Aristotlešs day. Significant   wind direction. Such a

 development in meteorology     shelter is shown here in a

 resumed in the 17th and 18th   photograph taken in the

 centuries with the invention   1920s. (National Weather

 of instruments by which the    Service photo.)

 primary physical elements

 could be measured. Study of

 the data collected by these    in the sixth century B.C. At

 instruments led to the         first, the program was

 discovery of the fundamental   nothing more than a single

 laws governing the behavior    race the length of the

 of gases, liquids, and         stadium. Afterward,

 solids.                        additional events were

                                added, including the discus

 Modern weather forecasting     throw, the javelin throw,

 did not begin until the 19th   the broad jump, wrestling,

 century, when networks of      etc. Even so, the Games

 weather observing stations     remained largely a localized

 were established. Data from    event.

 these networks facilitated

 the preparation of daily       After flourishing for a

 weather charts, which, in      number of years, the Olympic

 turn, allowed meteorologists   Games experienced a hiatus

 to analyze and observe         of almost 2,000 years

 characteristic patterns of     following their abolishment

 pressure, wind, and            by the Roman emperor

 temperature. Later,            Theodosius I. In 1896, the

 rules-of-thumb were            games of the I Olympiad of

 developed regarding the        the modern cycle were held

 movement and development of    in Athens, Greece. While the

 these atmospheric patterns,    Games have enjoyed steadily

 and this facilitated the       increasing popularity over

 first systematic routine       the past 100 years, the

 forecasting of the weather.    truly explosive growth in

                                global interest has come

 Rapid development in the       during the last half of the

 science of weather             20th century, with the

 forecasting occurred with      advent of television,

 the advent of the high-speed   satellite

 digital computer and the       telecommunications, and

 launching of meteorological    travel by jet aircraft. Nine

 satellites in the latter       nations were enlisted for

 half of the 20th century.      the first modern Olympics.

 The satellites began           Today, more than 170 nations

 collecting meteorological      compete in the quadrennial

 information from areas of      celebration of the Olympic

 the globe that had been vast   Games. The Olympic symbol of

 data void regions, and the     the five rings, or

 high-speed computer allowed    interlocking circles,

 meteorologists to utilize,     represents five geographic

 in an operational setting,     areas ‹Europe, Asia, Africa,

 data from computer             Australia, and America. The

 simulations of the             Games draw athletes and

 atmosphere.                    spectators from all over the

 During the final decade of     world and trigger the

 the 20th century, the          investment of hundreds of

 introduction of                millions of dollars on

 high-resolution, Doppler       infrastructure, security,

 capable, weather               and telecommunications.

 surveillance radars; new

 meteorological satellites

 with sensing capabilities of

 much higher quality; and new

 computers with much greater

 processing speeds have given

 the meteorologist the

 capability of forecasting

 the weather with much

 greater detail in time and

 space.



 The Olympic Games

 Details regarding the origin

 of the Olympic Games are

 nebulous because sketchy

 history has become

 intertwined with Greek

 mythology. According to

 legend, the origin of the

 Games can be traced to

 Hercules, the renowned Greek

 hero. Hercules is said to

 have organized a celebration

 of athletic events following

 his capture of Iole,

 daughter of Eurytus, king of

 Oechalia. Others attribute

 the origin to a different

 Hercules of ancient Greece

 called the Dactyl, who was a

 gnome or wizard. Whatever

 the case, the Olympic games

 are believed to have been

 first celebrated



A GLANCE BACK IN TIME



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