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[[File: 41w7ygCtVnL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg|thumbnail|left|300 PX|''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XB6QVT3/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B06XB6QVT3&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=36f2fc29bd01c77085dd27fa7254fe95 Make it Rain]'' by Kristine C. Harper]]
In the 19th and 20th Centuries, both the federal and state governments of the United States explored ways to control the weather. Initially these were not particularly serious, but by the Cold War the United States was looking for any advantage it could find over the Soviet Union. Professor Kristine C. Harper's new book, <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XB6QVT3/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B06XB6QVT3&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=36f2fc29bd01c77085dd27fa7254fe95 Make It Rain: State Control of the Atmosphere in Twentieth-Century America]</i>, published by [http://www.press.uchicago.edu/index.html The University of Chicago Press] explores the bizarre and ridiculous history of state-funded attempts to control the weather.
Kristine Harper is currently an Associate Professor of History at Florida State University. In addition to <i>Make it Rain</i>, Professor Harper also wrote the definitive history of meteorology <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262517353/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0262517353&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=a600610f4135a3ed07d654cf017dd3a8 Weather by the Numbers: The Genesis of Modern Meteorology]</i>. Here is our interview: '''In an episode of White Rabbit Project, the hosts describe how in 1915 the city of San Diego hired rainmaker Charles Hatfield to end a drought. Needless to say, it went horribly wrong soon . Soon after Hatfield was hired when , San Diego experienced the largest and deadliest flood in its history. Hatfield was fairly notorious and even inspired the Burt Lancaster movie “The Rainmaker.” When did the state and federal governments begin to see rainmakers, such as Hatfield, as legitimate options?'''
While the federal government did not hire people like Hatfield, who generally used “secret” concoctions that were supposed to induce rain, it did finance rainmaking tests in the Texas Panhandle in 1891. These experiments did not mean that government scientists had accepted its efficacy, only that Illinois Senator James Farwell, who owned semi-arid land in Texas that would be more profitable with additional water, managed to slip in an appropriation for the US Department of Agriculture to conduct such experiments. Several individuals, including meteorologist James Pollard Espy, had been arguing for the possibility of using smoke from burning brush or exploding ordnance to create clouds that would ultimately provide needed rain. Even into the early twentieth century, when the City of San Diego hired Charles Hatfield, most self-described rainmakers were hired by agricultural interests and not by municipalities. Federal, state, and municipal interest did not ramp up until the late 1940s as the post-World War II idea that there was a technological fix for whatever ailed the country took hold.
None of them worked really well. The bottom line: weather control efforts—primarily silver iodide seeding—worked best when it was going to rain anyway. However, all of these projects provided a wealth of information on cloud physics and precipitation processes. And while federal activity in weather control is much diminished, state and local governments have continued to pursue a variety of programs to boost rain- and snowfall, and to reduce hail damage.
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This book could be used in history and science policy courses that address 20th century uses of science and technology to fix man-made and naturally occurring problems. Because it clearly and simply explains the scientific and technological aspects of weather control, students can follow those developments while they examine the influence of politics, society, and culture on both scientific and technological developments and their applications, and also how science and technology influence politics, society, and culture. Considering current discussions of the potential hazards from climate change and the possibilities of geoengineering techniques to mitigate them, it is important to see how similar efforts have worked—or not—in the past.
[[Category:Interviews]]
