| RefNo | MS/603/8/16 |
| Previous numbers | 1355 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Letter from H M [Hector Munro] Macdonald, 52 College Bounds, Aberdeen, to [Joseph] Larmor |
| Creator | Macdonald; Hector Munro (1865-1935); British mathematician |
| Recipient | Larmor; Sir Joseph (1857-1942); Irish theoretical physicist |
| Date | 4 February 1910 |
| Description | Macdonald has looked through [John William] Nicholson's two papers in the Philosophical Magazine. The first is an elaboration of [Hendrik Antoon] Lorentz, the second an account of his work in supplying approximations. Macdonald comments upon his vagueness in the important question of how intensity falls off inside a shadow, and that his criticism of [Henri] Poincaré is not to the point. Macdonald has noted to Larmor before that he thinks 'the real error is in assuming continuity in the form of the approximation as it passes from n<z to n>z', which was the source of his own error in his first attempt: 'one ought to see that it makes the Bessel functions infinite for a finite value'. He cannot make headway in the problem he is struggling with, but is leaving it to simmer. He asks what has happened to [Andrew Russell] Forsyth. |
| Extent | 4p. |
| Format | Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | Ink on paper |
| AccessStatus | Open |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA1351 | Macdonald; Hector Munro (1865 - 1935) | 1865 - 1935 |