Encourages GA to consider favorably the offer of Hugh Percy [Duke of Northumberland] of donating a telescope to Cambridge Observatory.
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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.
Encourages GA to consider favorably the offer of Hugh Percy [Duke of Northumberland] of donating a telescope to Cambridge Observatory.
Details about proposals for magnetic expeditions, as they are to be presented to British government [see GA's 1838-11-12]. Also included is a copy of the resolutions passed at a B.A.A.S. meeting on 25 Aug. 1828.
About JH's visit to Carl Friedrich Gauss, and Gauss's well-devised magnetic measuring instruments.
A note along with letters from R. A. Cauchoix, the telescope maker, and [J. C. Spencer,] Lord Althorp, about the B.A.A.S.; JH is trying to clean up observation reports before leaving for the Cape.
About the question of an astronomer for a vacant position at Kew Observatory.
Further about the telescope to be donated by Hugh Percy [see JH's 1833-8-15], along with a promise that JH will write to R. A. Cauchoix about the telescope.
George Everest-Thomas Jervis affair. Observations on the production of color by chemical rays.
More about arrangements with R. A. Cauchoix and the telescope for Cambridge Observatory; JH also comments on the state of his nebula work.
Has been asked to serve on a Standards Commission, to reestablish standards destroyed by the fire in the Houses of Parliament [1834]; is willing to serve.
Comments on the work of the Standards Commission, hoping that it will move quickly to a conclusion [see GA's 1838-11-14].
Replies to GA's request for meeting dates [see GA's 1838-11-14], and suggests ways to shorten the work of the commission [see JH's 1838-11-16].
Agrees to GA's suggested dates [see GA's 1838-11-20]; comments on several approaches to defining a standard of weight.
Describes the tests and adjustments JH has recommended to Thomas Maclear to try to remove anomalies from the functioning of the transit circle at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope; also comments on the beauty of some southern nebulae.
Congratulates GA on being honored by H. M. Government [GA was offered a knighthood, which he declined], and of being appointed Astronomer Royal, and further tells GA about some of JH's observations, and the instruments in use [letter finished 11 Oct.].
Thanks GA for all his efforts on Thomas Maclear's behalf [see GA's 1839-2-25]; comments on some developments in photography, including the work of Nicephore Niepce done in approximately 1826.
Sympathizes with GA in the family sorrow [deaths of GA's sons Arthur and George]; JH complains that house hunting, and other matters, are keeping him from important work.
About astronomical matters, such as parallax and variable stars.
Comments on GA's and Edward Sabine's work on the figure of the earth; describes some results JH obtained from using quartz for polarizing light, and is unhappy with the proposed recipient of the R.A.S. medal, M. C. T. Damoiseau, whose lunar theory JH cannot understand.
An extensive discussion of the best way of presenting the results produced from the observations made at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, together with comments about the duties and responsibilities of the Astronomer Royal.
Is trying to clean up JH's nebulae observations preparatory to leaving for the Cape; comments on communications from F. G. W. Struve about double stars.