Coastlines, Borders, and Pacifism: Lewis Fry Richardson and the Development of the Coastline Paradox

Abigail Taylor-Roth (Ph.D. Candidate, Committee on the Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science) received a Nicholson Grant to conduct field work in England in the fall of 2025 as a part of her research on materiality in the production of mathematical knowledge

1. Describe the archive and the region that you visited. Why did you visit this archive in particular?  

I visited several archives on my trip, including the Met Office in Exeter, Lancaster University, the University of the West of Scotland. I visited these archives because each one locations held different materials from Lewis Fry Richardson’s life and reflected different portions of his career. Across these sites, I looked at meteorological material, teaching notes, correspondence, and journals full of research notes.  

I also was able to add in a day at the University of Edinburgh archives where I looked at some correspondence that will be useful in a separate chapter.  

2. How will this archival trip shape your dissertation project? 

The material from this archival trip will shape the first two chapters of my dissertation, which investigate Richardson’s mathematical methods and his approach to the mathematical study of war. After the trip, I have a much more nuanced picture of Richardson and the various hats that he wore throughout his life. For example, after looking through the vast quantity of teaching materials, I was led to consider how his teaching was not a break from more “important” research, but rather a part of his research process and one of the means through which he developed his own mathematical education.  

3. What was the most surprising, revelatory, or exciting object you found in the archive? Please describe and upload any relevant photos you have permission to circulate. 

At the Met Office archive, it was exciting to look through some unsorted files from the observatory where Richardson was briefly Superintendent. There were many letters demonstrating the interest that meteorologists in the 1950s and 60s had in Richardson’s work and the histories that they tried to piece together. It was fun to notice what aspects of Richardson were interesting to them in comparison to what interests me about Richardson today. I have a much better understanding of the various ways that mathematicians, meteorologists, and historians have taken up Richardson’s legacy now.  

However, the most revelatory aspect of the trip was not a specific object but rather seeing the Scottish countryside. In addition to the archives listed above, I visited the small village of Kilmun, where Richardson retired from teaching and worked on his models of war, and the remote Eskdalemuir Observatory. Both sites gave me a much better sense of how much Richardson sought out remote, northern living locations. In particular, he began researching coastlines while living in Kilmun and so it was especially influential to experience how drastic the coastline in front of Kilmun is, on the shores of the Holy Loch and surrounded by mountains. Eskdalemuir Observatory, by contrast, is inland and sits on top of a windy hill (although just how windy it was and how the tree cover changed caused many instrumental challenges in the mid 20th century). As I got a tour from the current superintendent, I could picture Richardson stepping outside every hour to take instrument measurements and the vast changes in weather he faced every day – from rain to sun and back again. Eskdalemuir and Kilmun were both beautiful and being in the expansive hills of Scotland was a delightful break from libraries.  

 4. What advice do you have for graduate students preparing for archival trips? 

Before an archival trip, it is of course helpful to do the standard things like looking through finding aids, identifying relevant material, and talking to the archivists. I would also suggest planning time into your busy schedule to review and collate your notes and to rest. Especially if you are moving around to new towns and archives frequently, it can be hard to settle into a routine. I found that having a set plan for reviewing my notes and writing general thoughts at the end of each day helped me to stay grounded in the midst of so much travel. Also, prioritize finding a place to stay close to the archive so that you minimize how much time you spend on buses back and forth.