At first light, the project of classifying the clouds might seem a bit uninspired, if useful. Not so for Luke Howard (1772–1864), industrial chemist by trade and amateur meteorologist by calling, whose 1803 Essay on the Modification of Clouds records the fruits of a fervent, lifelong dedication to skygazing. It was long thought impossible to infer clear types from the constantly shifting skies. But based on the journals he’d kept since the age of ten, Howard became the first to name standard cloud formations systematically. We still use the Latin names he chose today: cirrus (from the Latin for a wisp of hair), cumulus (“convex or conical heaps”), stratus (a “horizontal sheet”), and nimbus (the rain cloud). The project was not only a meteorological breakthrough, but yielded sketchbooks filled with wind-swept watercolors and inspired a new generation of landscape painters. Years later, Howard earned the surprising distinction of being named in a poem by Goethe.