Record

RefNoACS/1/1/221
AltRefNo77220
77198
LevelItem
TitleLetter from [Joseph] Larmor, Cambridge, to [Alan Archibald Campbell] Swinton
CreatorLarmor, Sir Joseph (1857-1942) Knight Physicist
Date26 February 1922
DescriptionInforms he has read Swinton's MS with interest, having annotated it in pencil. States that Swinton's extracts from the notebooks of [David Edward] Hughes considerably mitigate the impression made by his letter in "The Electrician". States that Hughes did not anticipate the [Oliver Joseph] Lodge master patent, and possibly the [Édouard Eugène Désiré] Branly coherer was a mere application of his microphone. Discusses his personal resentment of 'the usual statement that Stokes the theorist put him off his stride', proceeding to discuss the controversy at their interview on the question whether it was "conduction" or "induction", with Hughes insisting on the former, which Stokes insisted was absurd as all the effects were in keeping with "induction", which even then did not at all exclude aether-waves. Trusts in vindication of Stokes' reputation as well as Hughes, that Swinton's note will be published in an effective manner, with an explanatory note. Suggests meeting with Swinton to tackle the Hughes notebooks, trusting Swinton has already 'extracted the pith' but emphasising the need for a contemporary confirmation of the statement in "The Electrician".

The postscript mentions the reopening of the [Oliver] Heaviside relief, detailing the case, commeting on the involvement of [George Frederick Charles] Searle and [Ernest] Rutherford.
Extent6p
FormatTypescript
Manuscript
PhysicalDescriptionThe original letter is handwritten and comprises four pages. Attached is a typewritten copy, consisting of two pages, featuring additional notes in pencil on the second page.
Carbon
Ink on paper
AccessStatusOpen
Fellows associated with this archive
CodePersonNameDates
NA7894Larmor; Sir; Joseph (1857 - 1942); physicist1857 - 1942
NA8285Swinton; Alan Archibald Campbell (1863 - 1930); electrical engineer1863 - 1930
NA7981Hughes; David Edward (1831 - 1900); teacher and telegraph engineer1831 - 1900
NA8070Lodge; Sir; Oliver Joseph (1851 - 1940); physicist1851 - 1940
NA2861Heaviside; Oliver (1850 - 1925)1850 - 1925
NA1320Searle; George Frederick Charles (1864 - 1954); physicist1864 - 1954
NA8278Rutherford; Ernest (1871 - 1937); Baron Rutherford of Nelson1871 - 1937
NA8283Stokes; Sir; George Gabriel (1819 - 1903); physicist1819 - 1903
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