Page 66 - James Rodger Fleming - Fixing the sky

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rain makerS

It is not generally known . . . that the question of causing rain by artificial
means is no new one.

—Robert DeCourcy Ward, “Artificial Rain”

he quest to control nature, including the sky, is deeply rooted in the
history of Western science. In the dedication to The Great Instau-
T ration (1620), Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626) encouraged his “wis-
est and most learned” patron, James I, to regenerate and restore the sciences.
Bacon’s program involved “collecting and perfecting” natural and experimen-
tal histories to ground philosophy and the sciences “on the solid foundation
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of experience of every kind.” His wide-ranging catalog of particular histo-
ries included aerial and oceanic topics that are relevant here: lightning, wind,
clouds, showers, snow, fog, floods, heat, drought, ebb and flow of the sea. The
goal was to replace Aristotelian natural philosophy, stimulate rapid progress in
science, improve the human condition through technology, and eventually con-
trol nature.
Bacon’s philosophy identified three fundamental states of nature: (1) the lib-
erty of nature, (2) the bonds of nature, and (3) things artificial. In the first cat-
egory, nature is, well, “natural”—free and unconstrained. The second category
comprises mistakes and monstrosities resulting from motions that are violently
forced or impeded. The third category involves art and technology—mechanisms