Page 166 - James Rodger Fleming - Fixing the sky

in weather control led to a new knowledge which, it is believed now, will result
34
in inestimable benefits for mankind.” When one of Schaefer’s cloud-seeding
attempts coincided with an 8-inch snowfall in upstate New York—earlier the
weather bureau had forecast “fair and warmer”—Langmuir was quick to claim that
cloud seeding had “triggered” the storm. Cloud seeding was becoming a controver-
sial issue, and Langmuir’s exaggerated claims threatened to take the company into
litigious territory, far beyond the limits of normal corporate support for research. 35
on November 18, 1946, just three days after the public learned about cloud
seeding, Simeon H. F. Goldstein, an insurance broker in New York City, wrote to
General Electric warning of the need for liability coverage and offering insurance
services “to protect your Company against lawsuits for bodily injury and prop-
erty damage resulting from artificial snowstorms produced at your direction”:

The newspapers report that your Company has developed a method of manufactur-
ing snow, and will soon use it in the field. This is likely to produce lawsuits against your
Company. Traffic accidents, as well as injurious falls by individuals, frequently result
from natural snow, and are similarly likely to be caused by artificial snow. Govern-
ment units, as well as large property-holders, will be put to extra expense in removing
snow from roads and thoroughfares. When it melts, snow causes floods. It may also
cause direct damage to property which happens to be in the open, as well as to struc-
tures which are not fully enclosed. . . . In addition to the foreseeable results, the com-
plete novelty of the operation means that other sources of liability—unforeseeable
both in their nature and extent—may exist. It would therefore seem dangerous to
leave yourselves unprotected in these circumstances. May I hear from you? 36

GE lawyers, fearing a deluge of property damage and personal inconvenience
suits, immediately tried to silence Langmuir and his team. Langmuir and Schae-
fer, however, were riding high on a wave of publicity. They were both outspo-
ken, enthusiastic promoters and popularizers of large-scale weather control. But
Langmuir had extra clout and flaunted his Nobel laureate status. In the press and
before the meteorological community, Langmuir repeatedly expounded his sen-
sational vision of large-scale weather control and even climate control, with pos-
sible military implications. It was beginning to get pathological. 37

Project Cirrus

In February 1947, General Electric research director Suits hurriedly called a halt
to outdoor experimentation on cloud seeding and instructed Langmuir’s team

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