Alain Heussaff died about a month ago. As you may have seen from his obituary in The Irish Times, he was born in Brittany in 1921, and during the second World War became sufficiently embroiled in the Breton nationalist movement to be obliged to seek asylum in neutral Ireland. He liked it here and he stayed.
His obituary, rightly, gives emphasis to his linguistic achievements and to his lifelong efforts to encourage the pan-Celtic culture. He spent much of his time in the cultivation of his native Breton language, playing a large part in the publication of Geriadur Brezhoneg, a Breton dictionary, and writing Geriaoueg Sant-Ivi, an important work on the Breton language of his native region.
His was an impressive curriculum vitae and one well deserving coverage in The Irish Times.
Strangely, however, many of us who worked with Alain were only vaguely aware of his eminence in these esoteric spheres. To us, first and foremost, he was a meticulous and conscientious meteorologist, who spent his working life in aviation meteorology.
We remember him best for his heroic efforts to bring into focus the climate of our island in ancient times, delving into historical documents to identify and record whatever mention might be made of weather.
Alain's unique strength in the context of this task was his fluency in Irish, both modern and ancient.
He was able to delve, for example, into the original Cathreim Toirdhealbhaigh, a book which he describes as being "in turgid middle Irish about events in Co Clare at the beginning of the 14th century".
His conclusion, after goodness knows how long, was that "the two references to weather to be found in it amounted to nothing more than an expression of the type of conditions normally occurring in the winter and late spring".
But the Life of Aodh Rua O Domhnaill by Lughaidh O Cleirigh, written at the end of 16th century, proved to be more fruitful. So too was Tadgh O Cianain's account of the Flight of the Earls written in 1607, and Cin Lae Ui Mheallain, an account of the Cromwellian wars, also from the 17th century.
Another a rich source for him was the diary of Amhlaoibh O Suilleabhain from the Irish-speaking part of Callan, Co Kilkenny, for the years 1827-31.
On and off over a period of 15 years, Alain ploughed through dozens of such publications in search of weather references.
He found many, and thus unearthed nearly 1,000 useful records extending over 1,400 years from AD 490 to 1829 which, collectively, have added significantly to our knowledge of the Irish climate in the centuries gone by.