Record

RefNoMS/603/3/50
Previous numbers449
LevelItem
TitleLetter from Geo Fras [George Francis] Fitzgerald, Trinity College, Dublin, to [Joseph] Larmor
CreatorFitzGerald; George Francis (1851-1901); Irish theoretical physicist
RecipientLarmor; Sir Joseph (1857-1942); Irish theoretical physicist
Date3 April 1894
DescriptionFitzgerald returns Larmor's notes with his own annotations. He thinks that Larmor has taken refuge in the medium being discrete in structure. Fitzgerald believes that the paper would be more intelligible if the medium consisted of discrete elements. He thinks Larmor's theory is the same as J.J.'s [Joseph John Thomson's, as a dynamical explanation of Thomson's], which is purely descriptive; Thomson's description would fit Larmor's theory. Fitzgerald notes the one real difficulty, in that actual motion is in no case known to combine with magnetic force, the rotation of the Earth not being a case in point. He considers how Larmor's work relates to Lord Kelvin's, and to Clifford. [Oliver] Heaviside suggests Larmor's analysis but discards it, thinking that it is not possible to deduce the mechanical force on charged currented bodies, which Fitzgerald disagrees with. The only difficulty would be in what superficial assumptions Larmor might make.
Extent4p.
FormatManuscript
PhysicalDescriptionInk on paper
AccessStatusOpen
Fellows associated with this archive
CodePersonNameDates
NA7971Fitzgerald; George Francis (1851 - 1901)1851 - 1901
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