IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
The autobiography of Sir John Houghton
With Gill Tavner
Lion Hudson. 303 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 0 745 955 841
No-one has contributed more to climate science than Sir John Houghton. This book is his ‘scientific story’ (p. 9). It is an intriguing mix of personal anecdote, scientific explanation and persuasive argument.
Born to parents with Strict Baptist roots, Sir John was brought up in Rhyl in a Brethren assembly. He went up to Oxford in 1948 and threw himself into a scientific career. His team developed instruments to measure the atmosphere that were sent into orbit by NASA on Nimbus 4, 5, 6 and 7. Moving into senior management, he first merged the Rutherford and Appleton labs, then headed up the Met Office.
