| RefNo | MS/242/10 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Letter from Jean François Dominique Arago to Thomas Young |
| Date | 24 December 1824 |
| Description | No origin listed.
Arago is back from Metz and guarantees that all his contributions to the Encyclopedia Britannica will be finished and sent to Young in 7 to 8 days and will fit within two pages. Arago presumes that his chapter on coloured polarisation may be thought too long but it is necessary to correct those (like [David] Brewster) who still think that the azimuth depolarisation is the true law ruling over the phenomenon. When such an error is endorsed by men of Mr [John] Herschel's calibre, it needs to be refuted with some force. In his latest publication, [Jean-Baptiste] Biot is still not admitting defeat and maintains that the azimuth is the basis of his whole system of circulation of light molecules, which he thinks is the discovery of the century.
Some pencil annotations in Young's hand by the address. |
| Language | French |
| Extent | 4p |
| Format | Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | Paper |
| AccessStatus | Open |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA7947 | Young; Thomas (1773 - 1829); physician, physicist and Egyptologist | 1773 - 1829 |
| NA2974 | Arago; Dominique Francois Jean (1786 - 1853); mathematician, physicist, astronomer and politician | 1786 - 1853 |