| RefNo | AP/38/28 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Unpublished paper, 'Dynamical illustrations of the magnetic and the helicoidal rotatory effects of transparent bodies on polarized light' by William Thomson |
| Date | 1856 |
| Description | Thomson explains that 'the elastic reaction of a homogeneously strained solid has a character essentially devoid of all heliçoidal and of all dipolar asymmetry. Hence the rotation of the plane of polarization of light passing through bodies which either intrinsically possess the heliçoidal property (syrup, oil of turpentine, quartz crystals, etc.), or have the magnetic property induced in them, must be due to elastic reactions dependent on the heterogeneousness of the strain through the space of a wave, or to some heterogeneousness of the luminous motions dependent on a heterogeneousness of parts of the matter of lineal dimensions not infinitely small in comparison with the wave length'.
Annotations in ink throughout.
Subject: Physics / Optics / Calculus
This paper was published in full in volume 8 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society as 'Dynamical illustrations of the magnetic and the heliçoidal rotatory effects of transparent bodies on polarized light'. |
| Extent | 12p |
| Format | Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | Ink on paper |
| Digital images | View item on Science in the Making |
| AccessStatus | Open |
| RelatedMaterial | DOI: 10.1098/rspl.1856.0043 |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA8289 | Thomson; William (1824 - 1907); Baron Kelvin of Largs; mathematician and physicist | 1824 - 1907 |