James Paton joined Edinburgh University Department of Natural History in 1928, and in 1944 became their first lecturer in meteorology. When a separate Department of Meteorology was created there in 1964 he was appointed head of department, a role in which he remained until his death in 1973. An active member, and for several years, director, of the British Astronomical Association Aurora Section, he published many works on auroral and noctiluscent cloud phenomena, and in 1964 initiated an annual report on noctiluscent cloud studies (NCS) in the Meteorological Magazine . This work was undertaken under the auspices of the Balfour Stewart Auroral Laboratory, which was based in Edinburgh University Department of Meteorology, with a geophysical unit of the British Anatarctic Survey, from 1965 - 1974. It was continued after his death by staff of the Department of Meteorology, and in 1983 taken over by the officers of the Aurora Section of the British Astronomical Association.
A short biographical sketch is given in Royal Meteorological Society, Weather, 54 (Sept 1999), 275
From the guide to the Papers of James Paton (fl 1928 - 1973), meteorologist, 1920s - 1970s, (University of Aberdeen)
