Buys Ballot, Christophorus

Christophorus Buys Ballot, (born October 10, 1817, Kloetinge, Neth.—died February 3, 1890, Utrecht), Dutch meteorologist particularly remembered for his observation in 1857 that the wind tends to blow at right angles to the atmospheric pressure gradient. Although he was not the first to make this discovery, his name remains attached to it as Buys Ballot’s law (q.v.).

Buys Ballot studied and taught at the University of Utrecht, attaining the rank of professor in 1867. He also served as the director of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, which he founded in 1854.