Bill Burroughs was a notable scientist, civil servant and author.

He began his career as a scientist at the National Physical Laboratory during Harold Wilson's “white heat” revolution before becoming a scientific policy advisor in Washington and London, pressing the case early for renewable energy and the importance of the enviroment.

Throughout his career he pursued an obsession with the weather and published a dozen books on the subject of weather cycles and the impact of climate change on human societies, together with more than 200 articles and papers for The Times, Independent, Guardian and New Scientist.

Born in 1942 in Surrey where he lived for most of his life, Burroughs studied at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford. He then won a place at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, to study physics. It was that his fascination with the weather began as he skated on the Cherwell during the long, hard winter of 1963 - when fears were widespread that the world was experiencing a period of global cooling. His future wife, Suzanne, introduced him to skiing, and a lifelong love of extreme cold weather and snow was born.

After Oxford, Burroughs took up employment at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). During this time he attained an MSc then a PhD in infrared physics and atmospheric physics at London University.

His years at NPL coincided with the days of Harold Wilson's Labour government and his vaunted vision of the “white heat” of technology. They were exciting times, and young scientists were infused with a feeling of something new, and a promise of the future. Over the next seven years his work involved the new study of the properties of the atmosphere and how they worked. Experiments included flying new instruments on the Comet 2E aircraft and taking readings from mountain observatories.

With his colleague, Professor John Harries, he invented a new technique to measure the humidity of the high atmosphere, and studied the extraordinary dryness of the stratosphere. Burroughs was considered a highly original researcher and made many contributions that even now remain in the scientific literature.

In 1971 Burroughs took the opportunity to transfer to the role of First Secretary (Scientific) in the British Embassy in Washington, specialising in energy and the blossoming field of environmental issues. During this time he began to work on his first manuscript to introduce the workings of the atmosphere and weather to a non-academic audience.

However, his return to the UK and the requirements of his roles in the Department of Energy put this project on hold. He worked as PPS to Tony Benn and then David Howell. His civil service career progressed with roles in energy policy, notably developing renewable sources of energy and producing low-pollution energy sources. In 1987 he transferred to the Department of Health where he extended his scientific knowledge to medical issues, and ended his civil service career as head of international relations.

Burroughs was a member of the Royal Meteorological Society, regularly contributing and occasionally editing its magazine, Weather. He also became a regular freelance contributor to The Times, writing articles on skiing and the weather. Prior to the advent of the internet, for one season he wrote a weekly column on European skiing conditions based on the eye-witness observations of friends and family visiting the Alps.

In 1991 the 20-year gestation of his first manuscript resulted in Watching the World's Weather. This was rapidly followed by Weather Cycles: Real or Imaginary and then ten other books after his retirement from the civil service in 1995. He was approached by the World Meteorological Organisation to become editor and lead author of Climate into the 21st Century, published in 2003. This book sought to highlight the enormous progress in our understanding of the climate system and also to promote better community awareness of the importance of climate in our lives.

Burroughs became a popular public speaker lecturing on the impact of climate on subjects as diverse as gardening, art and industry. He particularly enjoyed the irony of addressing a rapt audience on “Winter Landscapes” while sailing through the Caribbean on a lecture cruise in December 2006. In 2005 he received the Michael Hunt Award from the Royal Meteorological Society for excellence in increasing the understanding of meteorology among the public.

Burroughs' writing covered not only the complex science of the weather but historical and contemporary questions regarding the impact of the weather and its fluctuations. He examined such questions as the impact of cold winters, droughts, floods, heatwaves and hurricanes on historic events. He asked also whether the frequency and impact of weather extremes was changing, and whether we can predict how the climate will behave in the future and the consequences of these changes. He remained ambivalent about man-made global warming, not denying the apparent increasing volatility of our weather patterns but keen to gather more evidence and set this in the context of a longer-term pattern which would only become discernible long after his lifetime.

Burroughs is survived by his wife, who worked as his secretary and assistant throughout his writing career, and by his son and daughter.

William Burroughs, writer and scientist was born on May 11, 1942. He died of sporadic CJD on November 22, 2007, aged 65