ABBE, CLEVELAND (1838-1916)

American meteorologist and astronomer who established scientific weather forecasting in the United States. He was born in New York City and graduated from the New York Free Academy (now College of the City of New York) in 1857. He later studied for two years in Russia under the famous astronomer Otto Struve. In 1886 he became director of the Cincinnati (Ohio) Observatory, where he compiled weather observations from Midwestern telegraph stations and issued daily forecasts. He was then called to Washington to organize the national Weather Service (1871), fore runner of the U.S Weather Bureau (1891) where he served until his retirement in 1916.