Prize Subjects Proposed by the French Academy of Sciences for the Year 1910

I have for some time entertained an opinion, in common with some others who have turned their attention tot he subject, that a good series of observations with a Water-Barometer, accurately constructed, might throw some light upon several important points of physical science: amongst others, upon the tides of the atmosphere; the horary oscillations of the counterpoising column; the ascending and descending rate of its greater oscillations; and the tension of vapour at different atmospheric temperatures. I have sought in vain in various scientific works, and in the Transactions of Philosophical Societies, for the record of any such observations, or for a description of an instrument calculated to afford the required information with anything approaching to precision. In the first volume of the History of the French Academy of Sciences, a cursory reference is made, in the following words, to some experiments of M. Mariotte upon the subject, of which no particulars appear to have been preserved. “Le même M. Mariotte fit aussi à l’observatoire des experiences sur le baromètre ordinaire à mercure comparé au baromètre à eau. Dans l’un le mercure s’eléva à 28 polices, et dans Fautre l’eau fut a 31 pieds Cequi donne le rapport du mercure à l’eau de 13½ à 1.” Histoire de I'Acadérmie, tom. i. p. 234. It also appears that Otto Guricke constructed a philosophical toy for the amusement of himself and friends, upon the principle of the water-barometer; but the column of water probably in this, as in all the other instances which I have met with, was raised by the imperfect rarefaction of the air in the tube above it, or by filling with water a metallic tube, of sufficient length, cemented to a glass one at its upper extremity, and fitted with a stop-cock at each end; so that when full the upper one might be closed and the lower opened, when the water would fall till it afforded an equipoise to the pressure of the atmosphere. The imperfections of such an instrument, it is quite clear, would render it totally unfit for the delicate investigations required in the present state of science; as, to render the observations of any value, it is absolutely necessary that the water should be thoroughly purged of air, by boiling, and its insinuation or reabsorption effectually guarded against. I was convinced that the only chance of securing these two necessary ends, was to form the whole length of tube of one piece of glass, and to boil the water in it, as is done with mercury in the common barometer. The practical difficulties which opposed themselves to such a construction long appeared to me insurmountable; but I at length contrived a plan for the purpose, which, having been honoured with the approval of the late Meteorological Committee of this Society, was ordered to be carried into execution by the President and Council.

Ivan Djaja (Jean Giaja) and the Belgrade School of Physiology

Physiological Research ◽

10.33549/physiolres.932180 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. S1-S13 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P. R. ANDJUS ◽

S. S. STOJILKOVIC ◽

G. CVIJIC

Keyword(s):

Associate Member ◽

The Balkans ◽

French Academy ◽

Seminal Work ◽

National Medical ◽

Medical Academy ◽

The University ◽

Academy Of Sciences ◽

Alexander Fleming

The founder of physiology studies in the Balkans and the pioneer of research on hypothermia, Ivan Djaja (Jean Giaja) was born 1884 in L’Havre. Giaja gained his PhD at the Sorbonne in 1909. In 1910 he established the first Chair of Physiology in the Balkans and organized the first Serbian Institute for Physiology at the School of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade. He led this Institute for more than 40 subsequent years. His most notable papers were in the field of thermoregulation and bioenergetics. Djaja became member of the Serbian and Croatian academies of science and doctor honoris causa of Sorbonne. In 1952 for the seminal work on the behavior of deep cooled warm blooded animals he became associate member of the National Medical Academy in Paris. In 1955 the French Academy of Sciences elected him as associate member in place of deceased Sir Alexander Fleming. Djaja died in 1957 during a congress held in his honor. He left more than 200 scientific and other papers and the golden DaVincian credo “Nulla dies sine experimento”. His legacy was continued by several generations of researchers, the most prominent among them being Stefan Gelineo, Radoslav Andjus and Vojislav Petrović.

On the water barometer erected in the hall of the Royal Society

Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London ◽

10.1098/rspl.1830.0079 ◽

1837 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 134-136

Keyword(s):

Royal Society ◽

Present Situation ◽

Atmospheric Tides ◽

Steam Boiler ◽

Periodic Oscillations ◽

French Academy ◽

Different Temperatures ◽

History Of ◽

Additional Support ◽

Academy Of Sciences

The author having long considered that a good series of observations with a water barometer would be of great value as throwing light upon the theory of atmospheric tides, of the horary and other periodic oscillations of the barometer, and of the tension of vapourat different temperatures, was desirous of learning whether any such series of observations had ever been made. But he could meet with none having any pretensions to accuracy ; for neither those of Otto Guericke, in whose hands the water barometer was merely a philosophical toy, nor the cursory notices of the experiments of Mariotte upon this subject contained in the History of the French Academy of Sciences, can be considered as having any such claim. The difficulties which opposed the construction of a perfect instrument of this kind long appeared to be insurmountable; but the author at length proposed a plan for this purpose, which, having been approved of by the late Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society, was ordered by the President and Council to be carried into execution. The author then enters fully into the details of the methods he employed for constructing the whole of the apparatus, and for placing in its present situation in the centre of the winding staircase conducting to the apartments of the Royal Society. The tube was very skilfully made by Messrs. Pellattand Co. at the Falcon Glass-house. It was 40 feet long, and one inch in diameter at its lower end; and so nearly cylindrical, throughout its whole extent, as to diminish only by two tenths of an inch at its upper end. A second tube of the same dimensions was also made as a provision in reserve against any accident happening to the first. These tubes were both securely lodged in a square case by means of proper supports. A small thermometer with a platina scale, was introduced into the upper end of the tube. An external collar of glass was united to that end by heating it. This was done with a view of giving it additional support, and of preventing it from slipping. This end of the tube was then drawn out into a fine tube ready for sealing with the blowpipe; and a small stopcock was fitted on to it. The cistern of the barometer was formed by a small copper steam boiler, 18 inches long, 11 wide, and 10 deep, capable of being closed by a cock, and having at the bottom a small receptacle for holding the lower end of the tube, so as to allow of the water in the cistern being withdrawn, without dis turbing that contained in the tube.

French Academy of Sciences.—Anniversary Meeting

Nature ◽

10.1038/011178a0 ◽

1874 ◽

Vol 11 (270) ◽

pp. 178-178

Keyword(s):

French Academy ◽

Academy Of Sciences

The French Academy of Sciences in the nineteenth century

Minerva ◽

10.1007/bf01102182 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 73-102 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Maurice Crosland

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

French Academy ◽

Academy Of Sciences

Science under Control: The French Academy of Sciences, 1795-1914. Maurice P. Crosland

Isis ◽

10.1086/357531 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 87 (2) ◽

pp. 367-368

Author(s):

Camille Limoges

Keyword(s):

French Academy ◽

Academy Of Sciences

French Academy of Sciences

Scientific American ◽

10.1038/scientificamerican01201877-872bsupp ◽

1877 ◽

Vol 3 (55supp) ◽

pp. 872-872

Keyword(s):

French Academy ◽

Academy Of Sciences

French academy of Sciences

Scientific American ◽

10.1038/scientificamerican06101876-375asupp ◽

1876 ◽

Vol 1 (24supp) ◽

pp. 375-375

Keyword(s):

French Academy ◽

Academy Of Sciences

XXII.—On the Decomposition of Forces externally applied to an Elastic Solid

Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh ◽

10.1017/s0080456800025588 ◽

1872 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 715-727 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

W. J. Macquorn Rankine

Keyword(s):

Elastic Solid ◽

Philosophical Magazine ◽

French Academy ◽

Academy Of Sciences ◽

First Time

Introductory Remarks.—The principles set forth in this paper, though now (with the exception of the first theorem) published for the first time, were communicated to the French Academy of Sciences fifteen years ago, in a memoir entitled “ De l'Equilibre intérieur d'un Corps solide, élastique, et homogène,” and marked with the motto, “ Obvia conspicimus, nubem pellente Mathesi,” the receipt of which is acknowledged in the Comptes Rendus of the 6th April 1857.(1.) Principle of Isorrhopic Axes.—The following theorem was first published in the “Philosophical Magazine” for December 1855.Prop. I. “Theorem. Every self-balanced system of forces applied to a connected system of points is capable of resolution into three rectangular systems of parallel self-balanced forces applied to the same points.