Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: May 31, 2004
Article Type: Journal

In a career spanning almost 70 years, meteorologist John H. Conover, who died recently at age 88, pioneered radar and time lapse photographic studies at the famous Blue Hill Weather Observatory in Milton, Massachusetts, near Boston, and was the observer on duty during a hurricane in l938 when wind speeds of 121 mph were recorded over a five minute period and a gust of 186 mph measured, the second highest wind ever recorded in the world.

After serving as acting director, Conover was instrumental in saving historical and scientific items from Blue Hill when Harvard University withdrew some of its support from the observatory after World War 11. The world-renowned library was divided between Harvard and various other repositories and historic instruments such as an original Hargrave kite went to the university.

Organized in the 1880s, Blue Hill for many years flew large kites in train with scientific gear on board to gather weather data. It was the scene of important experiments by William Eddy, inventor of the kite that bears his name.

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