Received JH's Cape Results with joy. JH gives new interest to 'our old friend the Great Bear.' WW thinking of setting up self registering photographic magnetic observatory at Lowestoft.
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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.
Received JH's Cape Results with joy. JH gives new interest to 'our old friend the Great Bear.' WW thinking of setting up self registering photographic magnetic observatory at Lowestoft.
Discusses university politics. Misses JH. Impressed by [Edward] Bromhead's mathematical abilities. Is considering translating a book by S. F. Lacroix. George Peacock's Tripos examination questions have caused controversy. Believes Peacock should have stressed applied over pure mathematics.
Informs JH of the place of Simon Stevin in the history of the idea of a parallelogram of forces. Has heard that JH is investigating polarized rays.
Expresses thanks for and comments on JH's account of JH's optical experiments. Discusses efforts to improve mathematical education at Cambridge, including WW's book on mechanics.
Urges JH to come to Brighton and then to return with him to Cambridge; stresses that both he and Richard Jones are anxious to talk with JH.
Discusses regions of the Alps and sends sketch of Monte Rosa. Informs JH of a brilliant student, G. B. Airy, who is constructing a calculating machine. Condolences on the death of William Herschel.
Presents a system WW has devised for designating the faces of crystals. Asks JH whether it would be suitable for presentation to the R.S.L.
Describes plan to carry out pendulum experiments with G. B. Airy. Asks JH for help in borrowing instruments from the R.S.L.
Describes the pendulum experiments he and G. B. Airy are carrying out in Dolcoath Mine.
Reports that an accident destroyed one of the pendulums used by G. B. Airy and WW in their Dolcoath experiments. Obtained some results and believes in the general soundness of the method employed.
Tells JH that the Lucasian Professorship has become available. Believes most Cambridge people favor JH. Urges JH to write the electors, i.e., the heads of the Cambridge colleges.
Hopes to draw up 'a comparative view of the chemical and mineralogical classification of fossils....' Asks JH's view of J. J. Berzelius's system of chemical notation.
Pleased to learn that they share the same view of the reform of chemical nomenclature. Discusses various professorships at Cambridge and the question of who should head the R.S.L. Praises Richard Jones's ideas in political economy.
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.
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?