The Leading Mid-European Astronomer Marian Wolfgang Koller

Marian Wolfgang Koller used to be considered the very best astronomer from Carniola next to Augustin Hallerstein. Today, his work connected with the Dalton Minimum is again in limelight as the alternative explanation of global warming phenomena. Koller wrote precise notes of six semestrial courses of Josef Stefan to promote Stefan’s talents. By using the international connection of his patron Koller, Stefan published at least twenty articles in the British Philosophical Magazine, some of them also in Paris and Geneva.

The ‘janitor-geologist’ and the ‘cold materialistic scientific men’: James Croll's navigation of scientific societies

ABSTRACT Scientific societies played a crucial role in the emergence of a professional culture of science in Britain in the mid- to late-19th Century. At first sight, James Croll's membership of a limited number of scientific associations may be assumed to be the result of his lack of social credit and scientific connections. In this article, by examining Croll's correspondence, I demonstrate that Croll's select participation in scientific clubs and associations reflected his strategic pursuit of a vision of science set apart from party or societal affiliation. I focus on the contrasting histories of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Geological Survey, as well as the institutional history of the Philosophical Magazine. Situating the institutions in their respective social and cultural contexts, I argue that the more meritocratic, inclusive social structure of the Survey and Magazine helps explain Croll's choice to avoid affiliation with the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Joule's 1840 manuscript on the production of heat by voltaic electricity

In 1840, James Prescott Joule submitted to the Royal Society a paper describing experimental research on the heat produced by electric currents in metallic conductors, and inferring that the effect was proportional to the resistance of the conductors and to the square of the intensity of the current. Only an abstract of this paper was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society , although a full paper with a similar title was printed in the Philosophical Magazine in 1841. Several authors have assumed that the content of the 1841 publication was the same as the rejected 1840 paper; however, the unpublished manuscript has been found within the archives of the Royal Society and is published here for the first time, along with a detailed analysis and comparison with the 1841 paper. The unpublished version is much shorter, and is different in certain respects from the published article. A detailed comparison throws light on several shortcomings of the unpublished version. The present work also studies the assessment of Joule's paper by the Royal Society, and elucidates the roles of Peter Roget and Samuel Christie in this connection.

“Uma teoria experimental dos quanta de luz” de Louis de Broglie: uma tradução comentada

Este artigo apresenta e discute uma das comunicações escritas em língua inglesa, enviada a Philosophical Magazine pelo físico francês Louis de Broglie, em 1924, intitulada “A tentative theory of light quanta”. No referido trabalho, de Broglie traz uma síntese das ideias tratadas em outros três artigos publicados em francês e propõe a elaboração de uma teoria dualística para a luz, enquanto explicação para muitos fenômenos que não podiam ser corretamente explicados pelas teorias ondulatória e corpuscular, se isoladas. Além de discutir resultados já conhecidos pela comunidade científica de sua época, os trabalhos de de Broglie apresentam ideias totalmente originais, embora já contivessem conceitos que são cruciais para a explicação de muitos fenômenos conhecidos atualmente (a exemplo do laser). Acreditamos que este material possa servir de suporte para a discussão dos principais aspectos dos trabalhos iniciais de de Broglie, haja vista que algumas de suas ideias são ainda adotadas, atualmente, e constituem parte dos conteúdos de física moderna e contemporânea.

Conservative attitudes to old-established organs: Oliver Lodge and Philosophical Magazine

In 1921 Oliver Lodge defended Philosophical Magazine against charges of mismanagement from the National Union of Scientific Workers. They alleged that its editors performed little editorial work, the bulk being done by the publishers, Taylor & Francis. Lodge reassured Nature's readers that the journal did consult its editors, and suggested ‘a conservative attitude towards old-established organs is wise; and that it is possible to over-organise things into lifelessness.’ The paper explores Lodge's response by considering the editorial arrangements at Philosophical Magazine . Founded in 1798, it remained remarkably unchanged and so appeared old-fashioned when compared with its closest rivals, Proceedings of the Royal Society and Proceedings of the Physical Society . We argue that for Lodge the management of Philosophical Magazine gave it the flexibility and independence required to sustain the kind of physics, also open to accusations of obsolescence, in which he believed.

Aspects and Abstracta

Philosophers of perception and psychologists first studied ‘multistable’ or ‘reversible’ figures, Kippbilder, in the nineteenth century. The earliest description of the phenomenon of a ‘sudden and involuntary change in the apparent position’ of a represented object occurred in a letter written by Louis Albert Necker in Geneva to Sir David Brewster on 24 May 1832 and published six months later in the Philosophical Magazine. The picture in question would become known as the Necker cube.