Born in
Rotherhithe, the son of a London watchmaker, Glaisher was a junior assistant at the
Cambridge Observatory from 1833 to 1835 before moving to the
Royal Observatory, Greenwich, where he served as Superintendent of the Department of Meteorology and Magnetism at Greenwich for 34 years. In 1845, Glaisher published his
dew point tables for the measurement of
humidity. He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1849. He was a founding member of the
Meteorological Society (1850) and the
Aeronautical Society of Great Britain (1866). He was president of the Royal Meteorological Society from 1867 to 1868. He remained a member until his death. He was also President of the
Royal Microscopical Society. He is most famous as a pioneering balloonist. Between 1862 and 1866, usually with
Henry Tracey Coxwell as his co-pilot, Glaisher made numerous ascents to measure the temperature and humidity of the atmosphere at the greatest altitudes attainable at that time. Ballooning in 1864 Their ascent on 5 September 1862 broke the world record for altitude but he passed out around before a reading could be taken. One of the pigeons making the trip with him died. Estimates suggest that he rose to more than and as much as above sea level. Glaisher lost consciousness during the ascent and Coxwell lost all sensation in his hands. The valve-line had become entangled so he was unable to release the mechanism; with great effort, he climbed onto the rigging and was finally able to release the vent before losing consciousness. This allowed the balloon to descend to a lower altitude. Glaisher lived at 20 Dartmouth Hill,
Blackheath, London, where there is a
blue plaque in his memory. The two made additional flights. According to the
Smithsonian Institution, Glaisher "brought along delicate instruments to measure the temperature, barometric pressure and chemical composition of the air. He even recorded his own pulse at various altitudes". In 1871, Glaisher arranged for the publication of his book about the balloon flights,
Travels in the Air, a collection of reports from his experiments. To ensure that numerous members of the general public would learn from his experiences, he included "detailed drawings and maps, colorful accounts of his adventures and vivid descriptions of his precise observations", according to one report. Glaisher was elected to the
American Philosophical Society in 1895. He died in Croydon, Surrey in 1903, aged 93. ==Family==