Mortality of Europeans in British West and British East Africa

1927 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. E. Raynes
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Finite Differences ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Sir Isaac Newton ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
Good Fortune ◽  
University Library ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The University

In two previous papers (vol. li, p. 77 and p. 211) an account has been given, of the published work of Newton on the subject of Interpolation by means of formulas of Finite Differences, and references have been made to the important letter which Newton sent on 24 October 1676, to Oldenburg, the Secretary of the Royal Society, with the intention that it should be communicated to Leibnitz. The second paper closed with a quotation from this letter, in which Newton mentions “a method [for the “construction of tables by interpolation] which I had almost “decided to describe here for the use of computers.” It has been my good fortune to discover that Newton had prepared an account of his method for inclusion in the letter and that the draft is preserved in the University Library at Cambridge among the Portsmouth Collection of Books and Papers written by or belonging to Sir Isaac Newton. By the freely granted permission of the Syndicate of the Library, I am able to give a reproduction and transcription of the manuscript, and I have added a translation.

scholarly journals At the Anniversary Meeting, November 30, 1844

1851 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 519-538
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Sir Isaac Newton ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
Legal Proceedings ◽  
The Public ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Antarctic

Gentlemen, The time has again come round for my addressing you, and for ex­pressing my own gratitude, as well as yours, to your Council for their constant and zealous attention to the interests of the Royal Society. We have been compelled during several late years to have recourse to legal proceedings on the subject of the great tithes of Mablethorp, a portion of the Society’s property, and I rejoice to say with success. In my last address, I was required to give our thanks to Mr. Watt and to Mr. Dollond for the valuable busts which they had kindly presented to us. That of Mr. Dollond is placed at the commence­ment of the staircase leading to our apartments, and serves to indi­cate that his valuable improvements in the construction of our tele­scopes have been so many steps to the acquisition of higher and higher knowledge of the great universe of which this globe forms so insignificant a part. By the liberality of Mr. Watt we shall soon be furnished with handsome pedestals for the busts of his father and of Sir Isaac Newton, the two great lights of British mechanical genius and British philosophical science. Mr. Gilbert has kindly undertaken to furnish a similar pedestal for the bust of his father, and we have thought it right to provide one for that of Sir Joseph Banks. These will shortly form a conspicuous ornament of our place of meeting. The magnetical observatories are still carrying on their observa­tions, both in Her Majesty’s dominions and in foreign countries, and another naval officer, Lieut. Moore, has proceeded to the Antarctic Seas to complete a portion of the survey of Captain Sir James Ross, which was interrupted by stress of weather. That gallant and enter­ prising officer will, I hope, ere long give to us and to the public his own narrative of his important discoveries. Detailed accounts of the botany and zoology of the regions visited by him are preparing under the patronage of the Government, while Colonel Sabine is proceeding with the raagnetical observations, which were the more immediate objects of this, one of the most important voyages of discovery ever undertaken.

Brighter than how many suns? Sir Isaac Newton’s burning mirror

1989 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-51 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Radiant Heat ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sir Isaac Newton ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Hearsay Evidence

There are a number of references in the scientific literature to a burning mirror designed by Sir Isaac Newton (1). Together, they record that it was made from seven separate concave glasses, each about a foot in diameter, that Newton demonstrated its effects at several meetings of the Royal Society and that he presented it to the Society. Nonetheless, neither the earliest published list of instruments possessed by the Royal Society nor the most recent one mentions the burning mirror; the latest compiler does not even include it amongst those items, once owned, now lost. No reference to the instrument apparently survives in the Society’s main records. It is not listed by the author of the recent compendium on Newton’s life and work (2). There is, however, some contemporary information still extant (Appendix 1). Notes of the principles of its design and some of its effects are to be found in the Society’s Journal Book for 1704; some of the dimensions and the arrangement of the mirrors are given in a Lexicon published by John Harris which he donated to the Royal Society at the same meeting, 12 July 1704, at which Newton gave the Society the speculum. The last reference in the Journal Book is dated 15 November that year, when Mr Halley, the then secretary to the Society, was desired to draw up an account of the speculum and its effects (3). No such account appears to have been presented to the Royal Society. There is no reference in Newton’s published papers and letters of his chasing Halley to complete the task, nor is there any mention of it in the general references to Halley. The latter was, of course, quite accustomed to performing odd jobs for Newton; that same year he was to help the Opticks through the press. The only other contemporary reference to the burning mirror, though only hearsay evidence since Flamsteed was not present at the meeting, is in a letter the latter wrote to James Pound; this confirms that there were seven mirrors and that the aperture of each was near a foot in diameter (4). Because John Harris gave his Dictionary to the Royal Society in Newton’s presence, it is reasonable to assume that his description is accurate. As Newton would hardly have left an inaccurate one unchallenged, then, belatedly, the account desired of Mr Halley can be presented. In some respects, the delay is advantageous, since the subject of radiant heat and its effects, although already by Newton’s period an ancient one, is today rather better understood. On the other hand, some data has to be inferred, that could have been measured, and some assumptions made about Newton’s procedures and understanding that could have been checked (5).

Further Newton correspondence

1982 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-34 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
University Library ◽  
The University

It is very unlikely that a group of thirty unknown ‘Newton letters’ will ever appear again. The group itself we recorded in vol. VII of The Correspondence of Isaac Newton (p. 357) when its whereabouts were unknown to us; it had been sold as Lot 129 in the great Sotheby sale of 1936. The purchaser was Dr Erik Waller, after whose death the letters passed with the rest of his collection into the Library of the University of Uppsala, which kindly supplied photocopies of them. I am very grateful to Mr Andrew Brown of the Voltaire Foundation, Oxford, who brought these letters to my attention. In fact, only two of them (X.984 and X .i342.1) are from ‘Newton’s pen’— and both of these are copies; these only, together with the Newtonian drafts from the Cambridge University Library here added to. the Uppsala letters for the sake of completeness (all of these drafts having been discovered by Dr Whiteside) I have printed here as accurately as possible. The letters to Newton in the Uppsala group, for the most part in Latin, I have reproduced in English, often severely abbreviated. Many of them are no more than letters of thanks for copies of Opticks, or for election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society.

scholarly journals Bibliography of recent books and articles dealing with the history of the Royal Society

1970 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-133
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
New Haven ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Sir Isaac Newton ◽  
Charles Town ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
James Cook ◽  
John Hunter ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Sciences

Each number of Notes and Records contains a short bibliography of books and articles dealing with the history of the Royal Society or its Fellows which have been noted since the publication of the last number. If Fellows would be good enough to draw the Editor’s attention to omissions these would be added to the list in the next issue. Books Badash, L. (Editor). Rutherford and Boltwood: letters on radioactivity. (Yale studies in the History of Sciences and Medicine, Vol. 4.) New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969. $12.50. Begg, A. C. and Begg, N.C. James Cook and New Zealand . Wellington, N.Z.: A. R. Shearer, 1969. £ 2 5s. Berkeley, E. and Berkeley, Dorothy, S. Dr Alexander Gordon of Charles Town . University of North Carolina Press, 1969. $10.00. Bestcrman, T. Voltaire. London: Longmans, 1969. 8s. Bowden, D. K. Leibniz as a librarian and eighteenth-century librarians Germany . London: University College, 1969. 7s. 6d. Darwin, C. R. Questions about the breeding of animals . Facsim. repr. with an introduction by Sir Gavin Dc Beer. London: Society for the Bibliography of Natural History, 1969. £1 15s. Davis, N. P. Lawrence and Openhimer . London: Cape, 1969. 2s. Dobson, J. John Hunter. Edinburgh & London: E. & S. Livingstone, 1969. £ 2 10s. Eales, N. B. The Cole library of early medicine and zoology . Catalogue of books and pamphlets. Part 1. 1472 to 1800. Oxford: Aldcn Press for the Library, University of Reading, 1969. £$ 5s. Edleston, J. (Editor). Correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton and Professor Cotes . (1830.) (Cass Library of Science Classics. No. 12.) London: Frank Cass, 1969. £ 6 6s. Fothergill, B. Sir William Hamilton . Faber and Faber, 1969. £ 2 10s. French, R. K. Robert Whytt, the soul, and medicine . (Publications of the Wellcome Institute, No. 17.) London: Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine, 1969. £ 2 5s.

A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts of Nicolaus Mercator, F. R. S. (1620-87), in Sheffield University Library

1986 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-37 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Alma Mater ◽  
University Library ◽  
Oliver Cromwell ◽  
The University ◽  
Scientific Achievements

The scientific achievements of Nicolaus Mercator have in recent years A begun to achieve a just measure of attention (1). Little beyond the bare details, however, is known about the life and career of this early Fellow of the Royal Society. Born Nicolaus Kauffman in Holstein, he was known throughout most of his life by the Latinized version of his name. He attended the University of Rostock and seems to have taught for a time at both his alma mater and at the University of Copenhagen. In 1654 he moved to England after his proposal for a revision of the calendar (2) caught the notice of Oliver Cromwell. He left England for France about 1683, having been engaged by Colbert to design the waterworks at Versailles.

THE SUBJECT-APPROACH IN THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Libri ◽  
1956 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. MacCallum Walker
Keyword(s):  
University Library ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The University

scholarly journals Arthur Mannering Tyndall, 1881-1961

1962 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 159-165 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Private School ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Physical Laboratory ◽  
University College ◽  
The Subject ◽  
University Of Bristol ◽  
The University ◽  
The City ◽  
Outstanding Teacher

Arthur Mannering Tyndall was a man who played a leading part in the establishment of research and teaching in physics in one of the newer universities of this country. His whole career was spent in the University of Bristol, where he was Lecturer, Professor and for a while Acting ViceChancellor, and his part in guiding the development of Bristol from a small university college to a great university was clear to all who knew him. He presided over the building and development of the H. H. Wills Physical Laboratory, and his leadership brought it from its small beginnings to its subsequent achievements. His own work, for which he was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, was on the mobility of gaseous ions. Arthur Tyndall was born in Bristol on 18 September 1881. He was educated at a private school in Bristol where no science was taught, except a smattering of chemistry in the last two terms. Nonetheless he entered University College, obtaining the only scholarship offered annually by the City of Bristol for study in that college and intending to make his career in chemistry. However, when brought into contact with Professor Arthur Chattock, an outstanding teacher on the subject, he decided to switch to physics; he always expressed the warmest gratitude for the inspiration that he had received from him. He graduated with second class honours in the external London examination in 1903. In that year he was appointed Assistant Lecturer, was promoted to Lecturer in 1907, and became Lecturer in the University when the University College became a university in 1909. During this time he served under Professor A. P. Chattock, but Chattock retired in 1910 at the age of 50 and Tyndall became acting head of the department. Then, with the outbreak of war, he left the University to run an army radiological department in Hampshire.

scholarly journals John Edward Lennard-Jones, 1894-1954

1955 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 174-184 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Trinity College ◽  
National Physical Laboratory ◽  
Grammar School ◽  
Atoms And Molecules ◽  
Lennard Jones ◽  
Physical Laboratory ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The University ◽  
University Of Manchester

John Lennard-Jones was born on 27 October 1894 in Leigh, Lancashire and was educated at Leigh Grammar School, where he specialized in classics. In 1912 he entered Manchester University, changed his subject to mathematics in which he took an honours degree and then an M.Sc. under Professor Lamb, carrying out some research on the theory of sound. In 1915 he joined the Royal Flying Corps, obtained his Wings in 1917 and saw service in France; he also took part in some investigations on aerodynamics with Messrs Boulton and Paul and at the National Physical Laboratory. In 1919 he returned to the University of Manchester as lecturer in mathematics, took the degree of D.Sc. of that university and continued to work on vibrations in gases, becoming more and more interested in the gas-kinetic aspects of the subject as his paper of 1922 in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society shows. In 1922, on the advice of Professor Sydney Chapman, he applied for and was elected to a Senior 1851 Exhibition to enable him to work in Cambridge, where he became a research student at Trinity College and was awarded the degree of Ph.D. in 1924. At Cambridge under the influence of R. H. Fowler he became more and more interested in the forces between atoms and molecules and in the possibility of deducing them from the behaviour of gases.

On the attractions of homogeneous ellipsoids

1832 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 341-341
Keyword(s):  
Centrifugal Force ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Mutual Attraction ◽  
Sir Isaac Newton ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Rotatory Motion

The theory of the figures of the planets involves two questions perfectly distinct from each other; first, the figure which a mass of matter would assume by the mutual attraction of its particles, combined with a centrifugal force, arising from rotatory motion; and secondly, the force with which a body so formed will attract a particle occupying any proposed situation. The latter is the subject of the present inquiry; and it is also limited to the consideration of homogeneous bodies bounded by finite surfaces of the second order. This subject was first partially treated of by Sir Isaac Newton, who, in determining the attraction of spherical bodies, has also treated of other solids, formed by the rotation of curves round an axis, and of the attractions they exert upon bodies placed in the line of their axes. MacLaurin was the first who determined the attractions that such spheroids of revolutions exert on particles placed anywhere, either in or within their surfaces.

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