Fitzroy, Robert 1805-65
English naval officer and meteorologist

Born at Ampton Hall, Suffolk, he was educated at Royal Naval College (1819-28) and as commander of the Beagle, he surveyed the coasts of South America (1828-30). In 1831 he circumnavigated the globe in the Beagle accompanied by Charles Darwin, with whom he collaborated in publishing Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of HMS Adventure and Beagle (1839). He was made Governor of New Zealand (1843-45) and was elected FRS in 1851. In 1854 he was attached to the meteorological department of the Board of Trade and became the first director of the Meteorological Office (1855). He set up a network of telegraph stations for the rapid collection of meteorological observations and was a pioneer in making weather charts. For these he introduced a set of symbols for wind speed and direction, pressure and temperature, and he invented the term 'synoptic chart'. Using these charts he began a system of gale warnings for shipping. He went on to produce weather forecasts for the press, but these attracted considerable opposition. He wrote The Weather Book (1863), which contains pictures of storms remarkably like present-day satellite pictures. He analysed the famous Royal Charter storm of 1859. He also invented the 'Fitzroy barometer' and was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society.