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12661 results in History of science

Page 44 of 634

The Architect, Engineer, and Operative Builder's Constructive Manual
  • Or, A Practical and Scientific Treatise on the Construction of Artificial Foundations for Buildings, Railways, etc.
  • Christopher Davy
  • Published online:
    05 December 2014
    Print publication:
    10 July 2014
    First published in:
    1839
  • Little is known about Christopher Davy (c.1803–49), despite his regular contributions to architectural and engineering magazines in Britain and America. Describing himself as an 'architect and teacher of architecture', he also took an interest in steam engines and railway construction. In this work, published in 1839, and using information gathered from experiments by the Board of Ordnance, Davy begins by describing the characteristics of the geology of England and Wales, with regard to its suitability for obtaining building materials and laying strong foundations. He describes the means by which soil and rock samples may be taken, and gives details relating to the construction of the foundations of St Paul's Cathedral on the troublesome London clay. Later chapters discuss the practicalities of pile driving, the use of concrete, and the properties of limestone. Reflecting the progress of technical knowledge in the early nineteenth century, the work features several illustrations of contemporary apparatus.

Practical Essay on the Strength of Cast Iron and Other Metals
  • Containing Practical Rules, Tables, and Examples, Founded on a Series of Experiments, with an Extensive Table of the Properties of Materials
  • Practical Essay on the Strength of Cast Iron and Other Metals
  • Thomas Tredgold
  • Edited by Eaton Hodgkinson
  • Published online:
    05 December 2014
    Print publication:
    22 May 2014
    First published in:
    1842
  • Although cast iron was used in pagoda construction in ancient China, it was in Britain in the eighteenth century that new methods allowed for its production in quantities that enabled widespread use. An engineer who had educated himself tirelessly in technical subjects from carpentry to architecture, Thomas Tredgold (1788–1829) first published this work in 1822. It served as a standard textbook for British engineers in the early nineteenth century, and several translations extended its influence on the continent. Reissued here in the fourth edition of 1842, edited and annotated by the structural engineer Eaton Hodgkinson (1789–1861), who presents his own research in the second volume, this work addresses both practical and mathematical questions in assessing metallic strength. In Volume 1, wherever progress has been made since the original publication, Hodgkinson adds notes to Tredgold's original text, pointing out certain errors.

Meteorological Essays and Observations
  • J. Frederic Daniell
  • Published online:
    05 December 2014
    Print publication:
    21 February 2013
    First published in:
    1827
  • By the early nineteenth century, meteorologists were equipped with plenty of useful devices: barometers, thermometers, hygrometers, and any number of variations thereon. But the nature of these instruments was not wholly understood. While it was possible to take accurate measurements with a barometer, what physical process made the mercury move? What exactly is atmospheric pressure? And how can one measure sunlight? Ranging from wild theories of gravity-resistant air particles to the latest experiments in altitude, chemist and physicist John Frederic Daniell (1790–1845) presents his answers in this collection of essays. First published in 1823, this enlarged second edition of 1827 includes his work on the climate of London, the effect of atmospheric conditions on human health, and suggested improvements for the design of a new hygrometer. Daniell later became the first professor of chemistry at King's College, London, and foreign secretary of the Royal Society.

Voyage of the Challenger: The Atlantic
  • A Preliminary Account of the General Results of the Exploring Voyage of HMS Challenger during the Year 1873 and the Early Part of the Year 1876
  • Volume 1
  • Charles Wyville Thomson
  • Published online:
    05 December 2014
    Print publication:
    22 May 2014
  • In 1871 the British government agreed to support an expedition to collect physical and chemical data and biological specimens from the world's oceans. Led by Charles Wyville Thomson (1830–82), the expedition used HMS Challenger, refitted with laboratories. They sailed nearly 70,000 nautical miles around the world, took soundings and water samples at hundreds of stops along the way, and discovered more than 4,000 new marine species. Noted for the discovery of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Pacific's deepest trench, the expedition laid the foundations for modern oceanography. This acclaimed two-volume account, first published in 1877, summarises the major discoveries for the Atlantic legs of this pioneering voyage. Illustrated with plates and woodcuts, Volume 1 describes the laboratories and equipment, the observations from Portsmouth via Tenerife to the Caribbean, and the detailed studies on the Gulf Stream.

The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs
  • Being the First Part of the Geology of the Voyage of the Beagle, under the Command of Capt. Fitzroy, R.N. during the Years 1832 to 1836
  • Charles Darwin
  • Published online:
    05 December 2014
    Print publication:
    19 September 2013
  • Published in 1842, this important monograph by Charles Darwin (1809–82) formed the first part of a trilogy of geological studies based on observations made during the celebrated second voyage of the Beagle. Influenced by Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology, Darwin drew in particular on data from the survey of the Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean to support his theory that subsidence of the ocean floor can account for the formation of coral atolls. He first presented his findings in a paper for the Geological Society of London in 1837, but a heavy workload and illness delayed the appearance of this elegantly argued and illustrated study. For this and his work on barnacles, Darwin would receive the Royal Society's royal medal in 1853. The other studies in the trilogy, Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands (1844) and Geological Observations on South America (1846), are also reissued in this series.

Philosophical Observations on the Senses of Vision and Hearing
  • To Which Are Added, a Treatise on Harmonic Sounds, and an Essay on Combustion and Animal Heat
  • John Elliott
  • Published online:
    05 December 2014
    Print publication:
    04 July 2013
    First published in:
    1780
  • Although first to suggest the possibility of light frequencies beyond the visible spectrum, the natural philosopher John Elliott (1747–87) was better known at his death for his failed suicide in front of the woman he loved. Tried for attempting to shoot her, he was acquitted but died in prison awaiting trial on the lesser charge of assault. First published in 1780, this work was his most important. Contemporary science held that vibrations of the air were directly communicated to the optic and auditory nerves and passed on to the sensorium, while Elliot proposed, through experimentation upon himself, the existence of sensory receptors, each tuned to only a limited part of the spectrum of physical frequencies. This insight led him to postulate the existence of what we now know to be ultraviolet and infrared radiation, thus paving the way for further discoveries in human sensory perception.

The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences
  • Founded upon their History
  • Volume 1
  • William Whewell
  • Published online:
    05 December 2014
    Print publication:
    02 January 2014
  • First published in 1840, this two-volume treatise by Cambridge polymath William Whewell (1794–1886) remains significant in the philosophy of science. The work was intended as the 'moral' to his three-volume History of the Inductive Sciences (1837), which is also reissued in this series. Building on philosophical foundations laid by Immanuel Kant and Francis Bacon, Whewell opens with the aphorism 'Man is the Interpreter of Nature, Science the right interpretation'. Volume 1 contains the majority of Whewell's section on 'ideas', in which he investigates the philosophy underlying a range of different disciplines, including pure, classificatory and mechanical sciences. Whewell's work upholds throughout his belief that the mind was active and not merely a passive receiver of knowledge from the world. A key text in Victorian epistemological debates, notably challenged by John Stuart Mill and his System of Logic, Whewell's treatise merits continued study and discussion in the present day.

A Selection of the Correspondence of Linnaeus, and Other Naturalists
  • From the Original Manuscripts
  • Volume 2
  • Edited by James Edward Smith
  • Published online:
    05 December 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • After the death of the younger Carl Linnaeus in 1783, the entirety of the Linnean collections, including the letters received by the elder Linnaeus from naturalists all over Europe, was purchased by the English botanist James Edward Smith (1759–1828), later co-founder and first president of the Linnean Society of London. In 1821, Smith published this two-volume selection of the letters exchanged by Linnaeus père et fils and many of the leading figures in the study of natural history, revealing some of the close ties of shared knowledge and affection that bound the European scientific community at that time. Where necessary, Smith translates the letters into English, with the exception of those written in French, which are presented in the original. The varied correspondents of Linnaeus senior, whose letters appear in Volume 2, include the botanists Johann Dillenius and Bernard de Jussieu, and the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Page 44 of 634