Record

PP - Proceedings Papers
- 23 - Scientific papers published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society volume 55, 1894

RefNo	PP/23/17
Previous numbers	PP/55/18
Level	Item
Title	Printed proof, 'Experiments on a fundamental question in electro-optics: Reduction of relative retardations to absolute' by John Kerr
Date	1894
Description	Kerr writes: 'To prepare the way, I begin by recalling these well-known facts: that when light passes through an electrostatically strained medium in a direction perpendicular to the line of electric force, it undergoes a uni-axal double refraction, the optic axis coinciding with the line of force; that with reference to this action, dielectrics are divisible into two classes, the positive and the negative, which are optically related to each other in the same way as the positive class of crystals to the negative; that the intensity of the action, or the quantity of optical effect per unit thickness of the dielectric, is measured by the product CF2, where C is a constant which is characteristic of the medium, and P is the value of the resultant electric force: that the effects are generally observed and examined still as they were discovered first, by simple experiments with a pair of Nicol’s prisms and a slip of strained glass or other phase-difference compensator.' Annotations in pencil and ink. Subject: Optics Received 9 March 1894. Read 15 March 1894. A version of this paper was published in volume 55 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society as 'Experiments on a fundamental question in electro-optics: Reduction of relative retardations to absolute'.
Extent	12p
Format	Printed
PhysicalDescription	Ink and graphite pencil on paper
Digital images	View item on Science in the Making
AccessStatus	Open
RelatedMaterial	DOI: 10.1098/rspl.1894.0040

Fellows associated with this archive

Code	PersonName	Dates
NA7122	Kerr; John (1824 - 1907)	1824 - 1907

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