The Sir John Herschel Collection
The preparation of the print Calendar of the Correspondence of Sir John Herschel (Michael J. Crowe ed., David R. Dyck and James J. Kevin assoc. eds, Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998, viii + 828 pp) which was funded by the National Science Foundation, took ten years. It was accomplished by a team of seventeen professors, visiting scholars, graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and staff working at the University of Notre Dame.
The first online version of Calendar was created in 2009 by Dr Marvin Bolt and Steven Lucy, working at the Webster Institute of the Adler Planetarium, and it is that data that has now been reformatted for incorporation into Ɛpsilon.
Further information about Herschel, his correspondence, and the editorial method is available online here: http://historydb.adlerplanetarium.org/herschel/?p=intro
No texts of Herschel’s letters are currently available through Ɛpsilon.
Attended inquest regarding the 'calamitous' fate of [James] Grahame. Is sending JH inquest report, which contains important information.
Attended meeting of the Astronomical Society and made observations of Saturn. Invites JH to dinner party. Activities at the Board of Longitude. Contacts with French scientists.
Thanks JH for information on JH's detection of Encke's Comet. JS's contacts with various astronomers, including Peter Barlow, John Pond, and François Arago.
Reports on meeting of Francis Baily, Francis Beaufort, and JS with Lord Melville on the subject of a new Board of Longitude. Discusses proposed voyage of [James] Ross. Activities at the Astronomical Society. Congratulations to JH on his marriage.
Has confirmed the existence of a sixth star in the Nebular Trapezium [of Orion]. Discusses interest among leaders of the Astronomical Society in securing a royal charter. Asks for JH's views.
Reports on discussion in Astronomical Society council whether to favor JH's recommendation of a new nomenclature regarding the angular positions of double stars, or to support JS's preference for William Herschel's method. Other activities concerning the Astronomical Society.
Comments on efforts toward getting a royal charter for the Astronomical Society, a paper by Peter Barlow, and activities of the R.S.L. Correspondence with Wilhelm Struve. Difficulties in getting his new telescope constructed.
Has received JH's communication. Asks that JH not write JS unless he can write in a 'different manner.'
Regrets the tensions that arose between JH and JS. Congratulates JH on his knighthood. Laments the costs and difficulties involved in the construction of JS's new observatory.
Has heard that JH is publishing an attack on JS's double star observations made in France. Is this correct?
Has visited Caroline Herschel, who is well. Discusses whether JH will make magnetic observations at the Cape of Good Hope.
Does the person wishing to purchase JS's lens have a worthy objective in mind [see 1833-7-4]?
Will bring a transit instrument to Slough so that JH and JS can determine its longitude. Proposes joint observations of the satellites of Saturn. Has been observing 61 Cygni.
Regrets having missed JH. Has observed the seven satellites of Saturn and the fifth star of the Trapezium. Wishes to observe some of the objects observed by Wilhelm Struve.
Has been ill. Should we publish our observations of 340 double stars or extend the number to 400?
Reports unfavorably on the telescope of A. Rogers. Information regarding Charles Babbage and his engines. Controversy concerning the Nautical Almanac.