John Latham (21 July 1937 – 27 April 2021) was a British physicist and professor emeritus at the University of Manchester, known for his work on atmospheric electricity and, later in his career, climate engineering.
Latham obtained a PhD on thunderstorm electrification from Imperial College London, where he was supervised by John Mason.
[3] Latham is best known for his work on thunderstorm electrification[4] and marine cloud brightening,[5] a form of geoengineering which relies on seawater sprayed from ships.
[12] Latham's poetry is characterised by the kind of close observation typical of a scientist, combined with a natural ability to generate "a strikingly original angle of vision” whose metaphors "hang around in the mind long after you’ve read them”.
His later work focussed more intently on the themes of ageing and memory, a significant feature of his writing as dementia took hold, complicating the latter years of his life.