Book excerpt: On the occasion of its 75th anniversary, the American Meteorological Society engaged a number of eminent pioneers and leading practitioners to write about the fields they helped develop. They were joined by several professional historians of science and technology. The resulting essays constitute a substantial sampling of what has been learned since 1919 in the atmospheric sciences and services—in research, in education, and in the private sector. This volume will be of interest to weather professionals and enthusiasts, historians of science, and to students of science and history. It will help us calibrate where we are, where we have been, and where we might be going as a discipline. Hopefully it will inspire others to value the past and to dig into it more deeply. Such attention to history is a necessary step in the maturation of a scientific discipline.