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. 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.