| RefNo | HS/16/352 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Letter, from Sir John Herschel to Mary Somerville, dated at Collingwood |
| Creator | John Frederick William Herschel |
| Recipient | Somerville; Mary (1780-1872); née Fairfax; afterward Greig; Scottish scientist; astronomer; mathematician |
| Date | 2 November 1845 |
| Description | Autograph letter signed by sender. On recto, John Frederick William Herschel discusses Mary Somerville's experiments on actinochemistry (photography), sent to him on 20 September 1845. He sees prospects in the field and encourages her to continue her work. John Frederick William Herschel describes a clockwork to be attached to a "prismatic apparatus" which would improve the performance of the experiments. He takes the liberty of sending her experiments to the Secretary of the Royal Society, after consultation with Mr Greig [Mary Somerville's son, Woronzow Greig], to be published in the Philosophical Transactions in the form of "an extract of a letter" to John Frederick William Herschel. Confident of her results and that they will lead to a "vast field of curious and beautiful research". Recently attended a meeting on continental magnetism and meteorology. Comments on Humboldt' s book "Cosmos'(Vol. I)".
On verso, correspondence from Margaret Brodie Herschel on family matters.
[Contains an illustration: drawing of prismatic apparatus and clock movement] |
| Language | English |
| Extent | 3pp |
| Format | Manuscript |
| Place origin | Collingwood, Hawkhurst, Kent |
| Origin coordinates | 51.035306, 0.513556 |
| Digital images | View item on Science in the Making |
| AccessStatus | Open |
| RelatedMaterial | HS/22/254 |
| RelatedRecord | HS/22/254 |
| URLDescription | Also available on Epsilon |
| URL | https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/herschel/letters/Herschel2661
|
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA8238 | Herschel; Sir; John Frederick William (1792 - 1871); mathematician and astronomer | 1792 - 1871 |