scholarly journals Henry Cavendish and the effect of gravity on propagation of light: a postscript

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl-Heinz Lotze ◽  
Silvia Simionato

AbstractThis paper is devoted to two hitherto unpublished original documents by Henry Cavendish (1731–1810) which provide insight into his calculations of the deflection of light by isolated celestial bodies. Together with a transcription of these documents, we comment on their contents in the present-day language of physics. Moreover, we compare them with a paper by Johann Georg von Soldner (1776–1833) on the same subject.

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (8) ◽  
pp. 755-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
W T Chyla

The frequency-sensitive extremum principle for propagation of light rays in the geometrical optics regime is used to develop a nonperturbative method for tracing light rays in a transparent refractive medium in the general relativistic environment. The general formulation of the theory is given first; it allows for the numerical analysis of a nonlinear superposition of gravitational and refractive lensing, when neither of the two effects can be treated as a small perturbation. The scope of the general theory is gradually narrowed to the Schwarzschild field, the spherical symmetry of the refractive properties of the medium, and the small deflection regime approximation. A simple, analytically solvable example of deflection of light rays by a mass embedded in a refractive medium is considered in detail; in a vacuum, deflection of light rays by the Sun is reproduced.PACS Nos.: 42.15-i, 04.20-q, 98.90+s


Traditio ◽  
1962 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
James F. McCue

It is difficult to deduce the Aristotelian scientific procedure — to take his abstract statement of the nature of science and to show that his actual method in a particular work is adequately explained by the initial definition. Yet Aristotle's actual method is worth getting at. It provides insight into Aristotle and into Greek thought, and it sheds light on the course of ideas during the centuries which have been scientifically Aristotelian. In the following pages, I have tried to discover and to describe the method at work in a particular scientific treatise. The unit chosen for study is the first book and a half of the De caelo. Here it is that Aristotle develops his highly influential science of the celestial bodies.


2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (S261) ◽  
pp. 103-111
Author(s):  
Pierre Teyssandier

AbstractWe present a review of the different methods currently developed to determine the deflection of light rays due to gravity. The aim of these methods is primarily to calculate the angular distances with an accuracy of the order of microarcsecond.


1966 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 322-330
Author(s):  
A. Beer

The investigations which I should like to summarize in this paper concern recent photo-electric luminosity determinations of O and B stars. Their final aim has been the derivation of new stellar distances, and some insight into certain patterns of galactic structure.


1999 ◽  
Vol 173 ◽  
pp. 309-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Fukushima

AbstractBy using the stability condition and general formulas developed by Fukushima (1998 = Paper I) we discovered that, just as in the case of the explicit symmetric multistep methods (Quinlan and Tremaine, 1990), when integrating orbital motions of celestial bodies, the implicit symmetric multistep methods used in the predictor-corrector manner lead to integration errors in position which grow linearly with the integration time if the stepsizes adopted are sufficiently small and if the number of corrections is sufficiently large, say two or three. We confirmed also that the symmetric methods (explicit or implicit) would produce the stepsize-dependent instabilities/resonances, which was discovered by A. Toomre in 1991 and confirmed by G.D. Quinlan for some high order explicit methods. Although the implicit methods require twice or more computational time for the same stepsize than the explicit symmetric ones do, they seem to be preferable since they reduce these undesirable features significantly.


1984 ◽  
Vol 75 ◽  
pp. 461-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Hart

ABSTRACTThis paper models maximum entropy configurations of idealized gravitational ring systems. Such configurations are of interest because systems generally evolve toward an ultimate state of maximum randomness. For simplicity, attention is confined to ultimate states for which interparticle interactions are no longer of first order importance. The planets, in their orbits about the sun, are one example of such a ring system. The extent to which the present approximation yields insight into ring systems such as Saturn's is explored briefly.


Author(s):  
D. F. Blake ◽  
L. F. Allard ◽  
D. R. Peacor

Echinodermata is a phylum of marine invertebrates which has been extant since Cambrian time (c.a. 500 m.y. before the present). Modern examples of echinoderms include sea urchins, sea stars, and sea lilies (crinoids). The endoskeletons of echinoderms are composed of plates or ossicles (Fig. 1) which are with few exceptions, porous, single crystals of high-magnesian calcite. Despite their single crystal nature, fracture surfaces do not exhibit the near-perfect {10.4} cleavage characteristic of inorganic calcite. This paradoxical mix of biogenic and inorganic features has prompted much recent work on echinoderm skeletal crystallography. Furthermore, fossil echinoderm hard parts comprise a volumetrically significant portion of some marine limestones sequences. The ultrastructural and microchemical characterization of modern skeletal material should lend insight into: 1). The nature of the biogenic processes involved, for example, the relationship of Mg heterogeneity to morphological and structural features in modern echinoderm material, and 2). The nature of the diagenetic changes undergone by their ancient, fossilized counterparts. In this study, high resolution TEM (HRTEM), high voltage TEM (HVTEM), and STEM microanalysis are used to characterize tha ultrastructural and microchemical composition of skeletal elements of the modern crinoid Neocrinus blakei.


Author(s):  
Peter Sterling

The synaptic connections in cat retina that link photoreceptors to ganglion cells have been analyzed quantitatively. Our approach has been to prepare serial, ultrathin sections and photograph en montage at low magnification (˜2000X) in the electron microscope. Six series, 100-300 sections long, have been prepared over the last decade. They derive from different cats but always from the same region of retina, about one degree from the center of the visual axis. The material has been analyzed by reconstructing adjacent neurons in each array and then identifying systematically the synaptic connections between arrays. Most reconstructions were done manually by tracing the outlines of processes in successive sections onto acetate sheets aligned on a cartoonist's jig. The tracings were then digitized, stacked by computer, and printed with the hidden lines removed. The results have provided rather than the usual one-dimensional account of pathways, a three-dimensional account of circuits. From this has emerged insight into the functional architecture.


Author(s):  
J. J. Laidler ◽  
B. Mastel

One of the major materials problems encountered in the development of fast breeder reactors for commercial power generation is the phenomenon of swelling in core structural components and fuel cladding. This volume expansion, which is due to the retention of lattice vacancies by agglomeration into large polyhedral clusters (voids), may amount to ten percent or greater at goal fluences in some austenitic stainless steels. From a design standpoint, this is an undesirable situation, and it is necessary to obtain experimental confirmation that such excessive volume expansion will not occur in materials selected for core applications in the Fast Flux Test Facility, the prototypic LMFBR now under construction at the Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory (HEDL). The HEDL JEM-1000 1 MeV electron microscope is being used to provide an insight into trends of radiation damage accumulation in stainless steels, since it is possible to produce atom displacements at an accelerated rate with 1 MeV electrons, while the specimen is under continuous observation.


Author(s):  
John R. Devaney

Occasionally in history, an event may occur which has a profound influence on a technology. Such an event occurred when the scanning electron microscope became commercially available to industry in the mid 60's. Semiconductors were being increasingly used in high-reliability space and military applications both because of their small volume but, also, because of their inherent reliability. However, they did fail, both early in life and sometimes in middle or old age. Why they failed and how to prevent failure or prolong “useful life” was a worry which resulted in a blossoming of sophisticated failure analysis laboratories across the country. By 1966, the ability to build small structure integrated circuits was forging well ahead of techniques available to dissect and analyze these same failures. The arrival of the scanning electron microscope gave these analysts a new insight into failure mechanisms.


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