The Lapérouse Expedition and Geomagnetism: The Unexpected Discovery of Lamanon’s ‘Lost’ Letter and Ledru’s Instructions

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Doug Morrison ◽  
Ivan Barko

In January 1787, on board Lapérouse's Boussole anchored off Macao, the chevalier de Lamanon wrote a letter to the marquis de Condorcet, the then permanent secretary of the Académie Royale des Sciences in Paris. Lamanon's letter contained a summary of his magnetic observations made up to that point on Lapérouse's famous but ill-fated expedition. The letter, amongst other detail, included evidence that the Earth's magnetic field increased in intensity from the equator towards the poles. Sent to Condorcet via the then minister for the French Navy (the maréchal de Castries), the letter was subsequently lost, but not before it was copied. The copy, with early nineteenth-century ownership identified first to Nicolas Philippe Ledru and subsequently to Louis Isidore Duperrey, was itself then lost for over 150 years, but recently rediscovered bound-in with other manuscripts related to the Lapérouse expedition and terrestrial magnetism, including instructions by Ledru and remarks written in the 1830s and 1840s by Duperrey on Lamanon's letter and observations. The significance of Lamanon's letter and the Ledru and Duperrey manuscripts to the history of geomagnetism is discussed here. Duperrey's notes are transcribed in French for the first time and the Lamanon, Ledru and Duperrey manuscripts are translated into English, also for the first time.

2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-351
Author(s):  
Christopher Carter

While generally dismissed by historians as a romantic fantasy, the theory of an open polar sea fit into the context of a more unified view of the natural world developed in the early nineteenth century and exemplified by romantic philosophical ideas. Oersted's discovery of electromagnetism encouraged research into the possible connections between electricity, magnetism, heat and light. At the same time, there was renewed interest in geomagnetism inspired by Hansteen's revival of the four-pole theory of the Earth's magnetic field. Incorporating these works into a new theory of climate created a space for an ice-free Arctic by allowing a milder climate in the high latitudes. This attempt to fuse the study of meteorology and geomagnetism reinforced existing beliefs in an open polar sea and placed this sailor's dream into a holistic worldview that joined different natural phenomena in an effort to find one unifying principle behind all of nature.


2019 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 3-12
Author(s):  
Andriy Baitsar

The study considered the development of ideas about the limits of settling the Ukrainian people in connection with the compilation of ethnographical map of the Austrian and Russian monarchies, since the 40s of XIX century. The views of Ukrainian and Russian researchers who have studied this issue during different periods are analysed. In the manuscript “Geography of Ptolemy” in 1420 (the author is unknown), the map “Sarmatia” (Sarmatias) (the name of the map is conditional) Ukrainian lands were depicted for the first time and for the first time the map contained the inscription “Sarmatia”. Nicolaus Hermanus, who revised the content of “Geography” by Claudius Ptolemy (Cosmographia Claudii Ptolomaei Alexandrini Manuscript, 1467), first placed the name “European Sarmatia” (Sarmatia Єvropє) on the handwritten map of 1467. In the second (the first one with maps) Bologna edition 1477 (26 maps) of Claudia Ptolemy's “Geography” also contained a map of “European Sarmatia”. In the next Roman edition (1478) the Eighth Map of Europe (Octava Europe Tabula) and the Second Map of Asia (Secunda Asiae Tabula) are contained, which the Ukrainian lands are depicted in. Based on a detailed study and analysis of cartographic sources, summarizing the results of ethnographic, historical and geographical research of Ukrainian ethnic territory tracked changes in the boundaries of settling the Ukrainian ethnos. In the early nineteenth century in many European countries, regular population censuses had been introduced and ethnographic studies related to the Ukrainian national revival had been intensified. It created objective prerequisites for the beginning of ethnic mapping in the 1920s and became possible to map the composition of the population in detail, literally by settlements, to determine the absolute and relative share of a particular nationality in a certain territory. The main cartographic works of Ukrainian and Russian scientists, which depict the Ukrainian ethnic territory, are chronologically highlighted. Many ethnic maps have been described. On the basis of elaboration of a considerable number of cartographic and literary sources, the history of ethnographic mapping of the territory of Ukrainian settlements is chronologically covered. Key words: ethnographic researching, map, Ukrainian lands, ethnos.


1948 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 349 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Johnson ◽  
Thomas Murphy ◽  
O. W. Torreson

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-208
Author(s):  
H. J. Noltie

Biographical details of a significant family firm of early nineteenth-century botanical engravers are presented for the first time; in particular for Henry Hopkins Weddell (1794–1838), his brother Edward Smith Weddell (1796–1858) and their step-father John Warner (?1753–?1819). Two large presentation engravings (“swagger prints”), both privately published in 1826, are discussed – Doryanthes excelsa made for Walter Frederick Campbell of Islay and Rafflesia arnoldii commissioned by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. Also discussed are botanical aspects of the two plants and the history of their representation; brief biographical details of Raffles and Campbell are also provided. A catalogue of the firm's prints is appended.


§ 1. The present research forms part of a wider investigation of terrestrial magnetism, the main object of which is the study of certain electrical phenomena that are associated with solar emissions absorbed in the upper atmosphere, and with the systematic motions of the upper atmosphere. The subject also bears on the electrical conductivity of the solid earth and oceans. The results are briefly discussed from this standpoint in Part IV. The immediate subject of the paper is the lunar diurnal variation of the earth’s magnetic field, and particularly that of the declination at Greenwich, although the results of extensive reductions for other elements, at Batavia, Zikawei, and Pavlovsk, are also included.


Gesnerus ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 53 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 194-216
Author(s):  
Christoph Mörgeli ◽  
Stefan Schulz

Caesarean delivery was rarely practised in the early nineteenth century and was considered highly dangerous, being both technically and morally controversial. In view of this, Johann Jakob Locher's performance of two consecutive caesareans attracted international attention. Not only contemporary printed literature, but also the archive material and specimens presented in this journal for the first time provide a uniquely detailed account of the operations. The University of Zurich's Institute and Museum of the History of Medicine were able to acquire the preserved pelvis of the patient in 1983.


1954 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 194-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. CLEGG ◽  
Mary ALMOND ◽  
P. H. S. STUBBS

2021 ◽  
Vol 95 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Johann ◽  
David Becker ◽  
Matthias Becker ◽  
Matthias Hoss ◽  
Alexander Löwer ◽  
...  

AbstractIn recent strapdown airborne and shipborne gravimetry campaigns with servo accelerometers of the widely used Q-Flex type, results have been impaired by heading-dependent measurement errors. This paper shows that the effect is, in all likelihood, caused by the sensitivity of the Q-Flex type sensor to the Earth’s magnetic field. In order to assess the influence of magnetic fields on the utilised strapdown IMU of the type iMAR iNAV-RQH-1003, the IMU has been exposed to various magnetic fields of known directions and intensities in a 3-D Helmholtz coil. Based on the results, a calibration function for the vertical accelerometer is developed. At the example of five shipborne and airborne campaigns, it is outlined that under specific circumstances the precision of the gravimetry results can be strongly improved using the magnetic calibration approach: The non-adjusted RMSE at repeated lines decreased from 1.19 to 0.26 mGal at a shipborne campaign at Lake Müritz, Germany. To the knowledge of the authors, a significant influence of the Earth’s magnetic field on strapdown inertial gravimetry is demonstrated for the first time.


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