| Activity | He was born in Whitefriars, London and studied geology at the Royal School of Mines, South Kensington under De La Beche, Smyth and Percy and at the Mining Academy of Freiburg.
He joined the Geological Survey of India in 1855 and studied the coal deposits of Orissa but in 1862 ill health led him to leave the Survey and join the Presidency College in Calcutta.
His interest in meteorology grew after his appointment as professor of science at the Presidency College from 1862 to 1874. In 1864, cyclones hit Eastern India, killing 70,000 and damaging the port of Calcutta. Blanford co-wrote a report on the subject and was subsequently appointed secretary of the commission created to establish a system of storm warnings in order to protect Calcutta's harbour. Blanford was placed in charge of the Bengal Province Meteorological Department, which covered Calcutta, in 1867. The regionalised nature of these local organisations was soon found to be a problem, and in 1875, the India Meteorological Department was founded, with Blanford in charge. He initiated publication of the department's scientific results and made long-term weather forecasts using the link between the nature of snow in the Himalayas and rainfall in the rest of India. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1880.
He returned to England in 1888. He was for some time the president of the Asiatic Society. He died in Folkestone in 1893.
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