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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.
Sends GA information about indices of refraction in different glasses and in different parts of the spectrum; also recommends the writings of Josef Fraunhofer.
Writes to urge GA to avail himself of the opportunity of working with Basil Hall in swinging the pendulum at Greenwich; concludes with a note for William Whewell about JH's view of the 'extremely irregular' figure of the earth.
Comments on GA's observing in Cornwall, and on the geodetic calculations made by GA in a paper read by JH.
Comments on a paper on achromatic eyeglasses submitted by GA to the R.S.L.; also on a paper of William Whewell's on the operation of a pendulum.
A letter of introduction for a Mr. Thomson, who intends to go to South America and establish schools, and wishes to talk to GA about university education.
A letter accompanying several other letters that might be of interest to GA; encourages GA to act quickly if he means to try for 'the appointment.'
Talks at length about the operation of the Board of Longitude and of procedures GA should know if he wishes to present proposals to the Board; JH seems to be trying to calm down GA.
Asks GA about the purpose of the request for the use of Christiaan Huygens's telescope in the possession of the R.S.L.; JH comments on the accuracy of James South's astronomical observations.
Offers information, and strategy, which GA may find useful if he is seriously considering a position at Dublin Observatory; much of the information JH provides comes from Francis Beaufort.
Comments on GA's response to an offer from Dublin [see JH's 1827-4-7]; also about the discussion in the Council of the R.S.L. of a report of experiments from William Whewell and GA; JH makes some disparaging remarks about the work of John Pond.
Explains to GA the disposition, by the Committee on Papers of the R.S.L., of GA's experimental results [see JH's 1827-5-3].
Comments on GA's work on the solar tables, GA's pending paper on eyepieces, and on the quality of observations made at Greenwich and Paris; GA is intending to repeat the experiment of swinging a pendulum in a mine, and JH believes the Board of Longitude can provide the equipment.
Informs GA that JH turned down the offer of the Lucasian Professorship at Cambridge, and suggests that Charles Babbage be offered the job.
States JH's position on the question of publishing all the observations of an observatory, or working out results and publishing only those; notes clearness of Encke's Comet; comments on the return of Charles Babbage from abroad.
Has prepared a paper on the doctrine of sound; expects to be up to spend several days with GA at the Cambridge Observatory.
Comments on several astronomical topics, viz., the publication of unreduced observations, the strange behavior of some of GA's clocks, the problem of no significant stars in some areas when sweeping the sky, and the effects of Venus and the Moon on each other's behavior; asks GA for confirmation of some star positions.