Asks JH for efforts on behalf of [William] Ritchie. Urges JH to apply for vacant Lucasian professorship. This failing, hopes Charles Babbage will be a candidate.
Showing 41–60 of 211 items
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.
Asks JH for efforts on behalf of [William] Ritchie. Urges JH to apply for vacant Lucasian professorship. This failing, hopes Charles Babbage will be a candidate.
Charles Babbage has been elected to Cambridge's Lucasian professorship. Thanks JH for his efforts. Hopes Babbage will fill it effectively.
Encourages JH's efforts in writing a treatise on sound. Asks JH's advice on a system of mineralogical classification that WW, as Cambridge's new professor of mineralogy, had drawn up.
Will sponsor JH for the Cambridge Philosophical Society. Discusses WW's published report of WW's Dolcoath mine experiments. Comments on mineralogical classification. Promises to send books to JH on sound and music.
Asks about JH and WW collaborating on a volume for Dionysius Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia. Discusses aspects of mineralogical classification and crystal structure.
Invites WW to JH's wedding. Asks him to come early to meet the bride's family.
Will attend JH's marriage, but cannot be present for some preliminaries. Discusses relations between chemistry and mineralogy.
Where should WW meet JH on Tuesday before JH's wedding?
Asks JH to return a musical instrument he had borrowed. Mentions dining with Mrs. Alexander Stewart [JH's new mother-in-law]. Asks JH to look over a sheet of chemical elements to be used as a basis for a mineralogical classification. Invites JH and his bride to visit WW in Cambridge.
Asks JH for advice on a table designed to show the relation between the chemical elements and the known minerals. Asks JH about various problems relating to determining chemical formulas.
Recommends G. B. Airy for superintendence of the Nautical Almanac. Expresses hope that Richard Jones's book will be published. Laments lack of recognition given to British scientists.
Sends JH a copy of Richard Jones's new book [Essay on the Distribution of Wealth]. Congratulates JH on the publication of his new book [Prelim. Discourse].
Thanks WW for sending Richard Jones's new book and comments on it. Comments on WW's 'Science of the English Universities' and WW's review of Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology. Has heard that WW is reviewing JH's Prelim. Discourse.
Is sending WW a large collection of writings on optics and light.
Returns the collection of optical writings that JH had sent. Comments on the controversy over the nature of light. Criticizes paper by Richard Potter attacking JH and other wave theorists of light.
Comments negatively on whether photonomy is a proper name for the study of light. Has suggested that the B.A.A.S. invite eminent scientists to survey their specialties. Discusses whether B.A.A.S. should meet at Cambridge. Has published his review of JH's Prelim. Discourse.
Thanks WW for his favorable review of JH's Prelim. Discourse. Vernon Harcourt has asked JH for his views on the establishment of a B.A.A.S. Expresses some support but numerous reservations. Responds favorably to WW's suggestion that prominent scientists prepare surveys of their specialties for the meeting.
Sends JH a report by Mrs. Thomas Malthus on experiments relating to vision. Mentions T. Malthus's views of books on political economy by Thomas Chalmers and Richard Jones. Praises T. Malthus.
Is sending JH some writings by Mr. (Mrs.?) Thomas Malthus on idiotic people and a book by WW [Astronomy and General Physics]. Mentions Richard Jones. Asks whether WW has seen 'the comet.'
Comments on the optical experiments with 'Mr [Thomas] Malthus's eyes.' Reports that Richard Jones has received a professorship at King's College. Mentions WW's intention to investigate tides.