Preface

1974 ◽  
Vol 336 (1604) ◽  
pp. 3-4
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Physical System ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Physical Science ◽  
Planetary Science ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Astronomical Society ◽  
Royal Astronomical Society ◽  
Long Course ◽  
Nicolaus Copernicus

On 1973 January 25 the Royal Society with the support of the Royal Astronomical Society celebrated the quincentenary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus by a symposium on planetary science followed by a reception. The work of Copernicus opened the way to sensible studies of the Sun and planets as a physical system and, down the long course of history, this has led directly to the emergence of almost the whole of modern physical science. As the symposium lectures (chapters 2-5 of this volume) abundantly demonstrate, however, at this present time there is a greater and more productive interest in the physics of the Solar System itself than there has been, it could well be claimed, since the work of Newton which, through that of Kepler, depended so essentially upon the work of Copernicus.

Celebration of the quincentenary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus

1973 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-13
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Planetary Science ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Future Issue ◽  
Historical Material ◽  
Outer Planets ◽  
Royal Astronomical Society ◽  
Nicolaus Copernicus ◽  
The University ◽  
Fred Hoyle

On Thursday, 25 January 1973, the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society celebrated the quincentenary of the birth of Copernicus in 1473. The celebrations took the form of a symposium on planetary science, organized by Sir Harrie Massey, Sec.R.S., and Professor W. H. McCrea, F.R.S., at which four papers were presented: ‘The Moon’ by Professor S. K. Runcorn, F.R.S.; ‘Mars and Venus’ by Professor R. M. Goody;‘Jupiter and Saturn’ by Professor R. Hide, F.R.S.; and ‘The outer planets and their satellites’ by Dr G. A. Wilkins. In the evening a reception was held at which Sir Fred Hoyle, F.R.S., delivered a lecture on ‘The work of Nicolaus Copernicus’ and many exhibits illustrating modern developments in planetary science as well as historical material relating to Copernicus were on display. On the following morning senior scholars from selected schools were invited to view the exhibits and to listen to a talk on Copernicus by Dr J. R. Ravetz of the University of Leeds. The papers read at the Symposium, the lecture by Sir Fred Hoyle and the talk by Dr J. R. Ravetz will be published in a future issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society , series A, and in a special commemorative volume.

scholarly journals Solar eclipse of May 28, 1900. Preliminary report of the expedition to the south limit of totality to obtain photographs of the flash spectrum in high solar latitudes

1901 ◽  
Vol 67 (435-441) ◽  
pp. 370-385 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Preliminary Report ◽  
The South ◽  
Astronomical Society ◽  
Royal Astronomical Society ◽  
The Government ◽  
Flash Spectrum ◽  
Government Grant

This expedition was one of those organised by the Joint Permanent Eclipse Committee of the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society, funds being provided from a grant made by the Government Grant Committee. The following were the principal objects which I had in view in arranging the expedition:— To obtain a long series of photographs of the chromosphere and flash spectrum, including regions of the sun’s surface in mid-latitudes, and near one of the poles.

scholarly journals Address BY Dr. J. H. Jeans, President of the Royal Astronomical Society and Secretary of the Royal Society.

1925 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 151-152
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Special Care ◽  
Natural Knowledge ◽  
Astronomical Society ◽  
Good Fortune ◽  
Royal Astronomical Society ◽  
Vice Chancellor ◽  
Learned Societies ◽  
Lord Chancellor

My Lord Chancellor, Mr. Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Campbell, Ladies and Gentlemen: It would be an impertinence on my part to try to add anything to the Cambridge welcome which the Chancellor has offered you, but it is my privilege to be allowed to offer you a few words of welcome from a somewhat different angle. As the Chancellor has said, it is my good fortune to be officially connected with the two learned societies to whom, I suppose, your visit to this country means most: the Royal Society, which takes all natural knowledge for its province, and which is especially interested in international co-operation in the pursuit of such knowledge, and the Royal Astronomical Society, which takes astronomical knowledge for its special care. I am sure that both these bodies would wish that I should seize this opportunity to offer a most cordial welcome to our astronomical visitors from other countries; a welcome not only to Cambridge, but to this country in general. We feel it right that your visit should begin at Cambridge, but we are sure it is not right that it should end there; we hope you will remember that, after Cambridge, London also exists.

The work of Nicolaus Copernicus

1974 ◽  
Vol 336 (1604) ◽  
pp. 105-114 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Major Axis ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Circular Model ◽  
Popular View ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Nicolaus Copernicus

It is commonly supposed that Copernicus placed the Sun at the centre of the solar system, letting the planets move around the Sun in simple circles, thereby recovering the theory of Aristarchus of Samos. This popular view is quite wrong, as it will be the purpose of this lecture to show. The six planets known to Copernicus have the eccentricity values given in the following table: planet eccentricity major-axis (in terms of Earth) Mercury 0.2056 0.387 Venus 0.0068 0.723 Earth 0.0167 1.000 Mars 0.0933 1.524 Jupiter 0.0484 5.203 Saturn 0.0558 9.539 The departures from simple circles are particularly serious for Mercury and Mars. If the eccentricity is ignored for these planets it will be found that the predictions of a simple circular model are in very serious disagreement with observation. The errors for Mars in the worst circumstances would be more than 15°, errors so gross as to have been unacceptable to astronomers even 1500 years before Copernicus. Ptolemy, working between A. D. 100 and 150, developed a geocentric theory which reduced the discrepancies by more than an order of magnitude - in the case of Mars, from more than 15° to about 1°. It was this far more sophisticated theory of Ptolemy which Copernicus had to match in his heliocentric theory.

scholarly journals Obituary notices

1930 ◽  
Vol 126 (803) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Trinity College ◽  
London Mathematical Society ◽  
Mathematical Society ◽  
Astronomical Society ◽  
Senior Member ◽  
Royal Astronomical Society

Dr. Glaisher died on December 7, 1928, at the age of eighty years. At the time of his death he was the senior of the actual Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, was the senior member of the London Mathematical Society, and was almost the senior in standing among the Fellows of the Royal Society and among the Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society. Throughout all his years he was devoted to astronomy, chiefly in its mathematical developments. In his prime he ranked as one of the recognised English pure mathematicians of his generation, pursuing mainly well-established subjects by methods that were uninfluenced by the current developments of analysis then effected in France and in Germany. Towards the end of his life he had attained high station as an authority on pottery, of which he had diligently amassed a famous collection. Glaisher was the elder son of James Glaisher, F. R. S., himself an astronomer, a mathematician specially occupied with the calculation of numerical tables, and a pioneer in meteorology, not without risk to his life. For the father, one of the founders of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, was an aeronaut of note; with Coxwell, in 1862, he made the famous balloon ascent which reached the greatest height (about seven miles) ever recorded by survivors.

Napier Tercentenary Celebration, July 1914

1914 ◽  
Vol 7 (110) ◽  
pp. 299-300
Author(s):  
C.G. Knott
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Astronomical Society ◽  
Town Council ◽  
Royal Astronomical Society ◽  
University College ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University ◽  
The Town ◽  
Educational Importance

John Napier's Logarithmorum Canonis Mirifici Descriptio was published in 1614 ; and it is proposed to celebrate the tercentenary of this great event in the history of mathematics by a Congress, to be held in Edinburgh on Friday, 24th July, 1914, and following days.The Celebration is being held under the auspices of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, on whose invitation a General Committee has been formed, representing the Royal Society of London, the Royal Astronomical Society, the Town Council of Edinburgh, the Faculty of Actuaries, the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, the Universities of St. Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh, the University College of Dundee, and many other bodies and institutions of educational importance.The President and Council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh have now the honour of giving a general invitation to mathematicians and others interested in this coming Celebration.

scholarly journals Charles Babbage and the Ophthalmoscope

1940 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-148 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Active Part ◽  
Scientific Instruments ◽  
Astronomical Society ◽  
Royal Astronomical Society ◽  
Great Utility ◽  
History Of ◽  
Design And Construction

In the early part of 1940, at one of the dinners of the Royal Society A Dining Club, Sir John Parsons drew the attention of those present to a fact of some interest in the history of the Society, namely, that the Ophthalmoscope had been invented by Charles Babbage, F.R.S., in 1847, four years before H. von Helmholtz published his Eines Augen-Spiegels in 1851. Von Helmholtz however foresaw the great utility of his invention and devised a much more efficient instrument without knowing what Babbage had done and it is to him therefore that the credit belongs. Babbage is well known as a mathematician who interested himself in the design and construction of scientific instruments. He was at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and was elected to the Fellowship of the Society in 1816. From 1828 to 1839 he held the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge, but is said to have delivered no lectures during his tenure of it. He took an active part in the foundation of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820, and was secretary of it until 1824.

L. J. Comrie's Contribution to Navigation

1951 ◽  
Vol 4 (02) ◽  
pp. 206-208
Author(s):  
D. H. S. ◽  
P. F. E.
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Methods ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Scientific Computing ◽  
Modern Concept ◽  
Astronomical Society ◽  
Royal Astronomical Society ◽  
Detailed Assessment ◽  
Widespread Interest

Members will have learned with regret of the death of Dr. L. J. Comrie, M.A., PH.D., F.R.S., who died at the age of 57 on 11 December 1950. Dr. Comrie's contributions to science were primarily in the fields of astronomy and computation, and in the latter field he may be said to have created the modern concept of scientific computing and to have laid the foundations for the present widespread interest in numerical methods and in digital calculating machines. Tributes to this side of his work have already been paid, both here and abroad, and the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society are both publishing fuller notices which will give a detailed assessment of his work. The following note, pays a tribute to Dr. Comrie's contribution to navigation.

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