Sir Francis Ronalds was a nineteenth-century English meteorologist, an inventor, and a pioneer of the electric telegraph. He was knighted in 1870 for his contributions to science. Ronalds was born in London to middle class merchant parents. Ronalds was among at least ten children in the family. His father died when he was nineteen, which obligated him to take over the family cheese monger business. However, since childhood he displayed an interest and aptitude for science. He created a primitive electric telegraph in 1816 and sent messages through eight miles of wire, beginning in his garden in the west end of London. He even enclosed the wire in glass tubing and buried it in trenches that ran through the garden.

Ronalds presented his invention and demonstrated its value to a committee at the British Admiralty (Navy), but they expressed no interest. Ronalds gave up and never patented his work, though it was later picked up and patented by Charles Wheatstone and William Cook. Ronalds really was ahead of his time, and many of his technologies were not necessary for governments during his lifetime, so most were not seriously pursued. When he contacted the secretary of the Admiralty, Mr. Barrow, he described his invention as "a mode of conveying telegraphic intelligence with great rapidity, accuracy, and certainty, in all states of the atmosphere, either at night of in the day, and at small expense." The precise governmental response was a terse, "telegraphs of any kind are now wholly unnecessary."

Disappointed, Ronalds took to traveling around Europe and the Mediterranean studying science. During this time he also began forming what would become the Ronalds Library. Today it has more than 2,000 volumes and 4,000 pamphlets. In 1843 he became director and superintendent of the Kew Meteorological Observatory. His work involved a system of registering meteorological data. He was awarded a grant to continue with his project. A similar system was developed independently by Charles Brooke, but the British Association confirmed Ronalds' priority. This was the beginning of automatic, accurate recording of meteorological data and remained in use for years after Ronalds' death in 1873.

Ronalds retired in 1852, though he continued to work on various projects, including his library. He was able to pursue science as a hobby thanks to a comfortable pension. Many of his later years were spent cataloging his collection and adding records of other scientific books, which had been published on electricity and magnetism.