George Hadley

George Hadley (February 12, 1685 – June 28, 1768) was an English lawyer and amateur meteorologist who proposed the atmospheric mechanism by which the Trade Winds are sustained, which is now named in his honor as Hadley circulation. As a key factor in ensuring that European sailing vessels reached North American shores, understanding the Trade Winds was becoming a matter of great importance at the time. Hadley was intrigued by the fact that winds which should by all rights have blown straight north had a pronounced westerly flow, and it was this mystery he set out to solve.