| RefNo | HS/19/7 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Summaries of letters between Sir John Frederick William Herschel and Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace |
| Date | 1822-1824 |
| Description | Summaries of four letters between French scholar Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827) and Sir John Frederick William Herschel, made by the latter, likely as a calendar of exchanges related to his time as Foreign Secretary to the Royal Astronomical Society.
The notes are headed 'Laplace', each letter is preceded with a reference (L1;H2; L2; H3...) except the first, marking the correspondent H = Herschel; L=Laplace.
H1: dated Jan. 21 1822, letter copied in full, advising Laplace of his election as associate of the RAS, autographed copy 'Foreign Secretary of the Astronomical Society of London'
L1: dated Feb. 25 1 1822, acknowledging letter [original is 'grateful']
L2: dated April 10 1822, "a note accompanying some papers which were duly forwarded to their destination"
H2: dated December 1 1822 [original, HS/11/101 dated December 21st], introducing him to Whewell and thanking him for volumes sent
L4: "a note with a paper - of no moment - given to Jones for a collecting friend".
L5: dated April 18 1823, accompanying papers to be distributed on a variety of topics, including the French board of longitude regarding the series of triangles to Shetland to join French and British coasts, enquiries regarding Newton's alleged madness, "miscellaneous scientific chit-chat"
H3: dated August 18 1823, sent by Mr Robinson as introduction, mentioning the perturbation of Ceres and Encke's comet, mentioning work with South on double stars and hoping for Arago to publish his ow observations on double stars as a comparison [original National Maritime Museum]
H4: dated March 18 1824, direct response to L5 rgarding Henry Kater's triangulation survey of north Scotland. Edward Sabine's study of pendulum lengths at various latitudes. François Arago did not receive letters from John Herschel and Francis Baily. remarks that the rumor of [Isaac] Newton's madness, based on a letter between Huygens and Leibniz is unlikely. Herschel's plans to reduce transit observations of fixed stars at Greenwich since [James] Bradley's time. Are French and other astronomers in agreement on common system of reductions? Will visit Paris next month. Observed curious phenomena in voltaic electricity, signed JFWH at the end.
Ecxept for H1 and H4, all letters are summarised in short paragraph. |
| Extent | 5 ff. |
| Format | Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | Ink on paper |
| Dimensions | 33.5cm x 20 cm |
| Digital images | View item on Science in the Making |
| AccessStatus | Open |
| RelatedRecord | HS/11/101 |
| HS/11/99 |
| HS/20/131 |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA8238 | Herschel; Sir; John Frederick William (1792 - 1871); mathematician and astronomer | 1792 - 1871 |