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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.
Acknowledges receipt of Royal Observatory's astronomical, meteorological, and magnetic observations for 1863.
Passes along a report that someone took a 4-foot telescope to the top of Snowdon [mountain], from where he could see the eight satellites of Saturn and the rings of Neptune.
Is working on a problem in polarized light, and finds his result disagreeing with F. J. D. Arago's third law; leads JH to think light cannot be undulatory in nature.
Comments on GA's explanations about polarized light, and discusses GA's idea of the nature of light [see GA's 1865-10-18].
Realizes that GA is quite correct [see GA's 1865-10-30]; JH had neglected a basic principle about interference.
Has noted that Josef Stefan of the Vienna Academy of Sciences holds views on light and its polarization similar to GA's [see GA's 1865-10-30]. Agrees with GA's correction of an essay on Julius Caesar's landing in Britain.
Saddened by the poor treatment of W. H. Smyth [see GA's 1865-10-18].
Approves of GA's development of a new type of eyepiece for use with the Royal Observatory's transit circle telescope.
Is returning the Proceedings of the Manchester Society, and The Magnetical and Meteorological Observations for 1851-58. Regarding the registration of magnetical disturbances.
Concerning JH's memorial to W. R. Hamilton's daughter. Holiday in Keswick. Comments on JH's papers on optics and force.
Writes about a long standing, very old, member of the Royal Observatory's Board of Visitors [W. H. Smyth] having been summarily dismissed from the Board.
Explaining JH's polarization difficulty [see JH's 1865-10-16].
Printed address of the Astronomer Royal to individual members of the Board of Visitors of the Royal Observatory.
Further regarding polarized light and its interferences.
Regarding I. K. Brunel's bridges and JH's letter on suspension roofs. Effects of a thunderstorm on a water barometer.