JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
I found this lovely little article in the not-terribly-common Natural Science for April 1896 while looking for an article on the nearly still brand-new discovery of X-rays. "Natural Science" was really more like natural philosophy than the biological stuff, as a quick breeze through any of its volumes shows, though there is plenty of high-Victorian interest in all aspects of living sciences found here. What was so interesting about the horizontal pendulum was how the author (C.Davison of "King Edward's High School, Birmingham") traced down its history of having been independently discovered (and forgotten) "no less than eight times within a period of sixty years". As with other inventions that were "in the air" (like the telephone, and the electric telegraph, and the television, and so on, where a number of people were working independently at the same time) the horizontal pendulum was that too--except that the process of discovery continued for quite a long time.
I don't mean to go into this at all--I just liked the wonderful research and presentation in this little five-page article. And for anyone who cares, C. Daivson's (not C. Davisson as in Daivsson and Germer) references are included below.
Nice reminder - some years back, I worked in the Geophysics department at Birmingham University, and was involved in re-assembling a Milne-Shaw seismograph brought in in pieces by an aged guy who was, I recall, Shaw's son. The clockwork recording drum was beyond repair, but we managed to rig it up with a magnet and coil out of an old galvanometer to give an electrical output. It worked well enough for an open day demo.
Posted by: Ray Girvan | 24 June 2014 at 05:56 AM
Fascinating story, Ray. I'm curious now for more background. This reminds me of stories about John Strong (optics) who would show up at observatories with malfunctioning/busted drives or mechanical foulups and he would fix stuff with the oily box of bits from the supply closet.
Posted by: John F. Ptak | 24 June 2014 at 09:48 AM
If you don't mind my running with it, I fancy chasing it up too. Milne's a fascinating guy; he went to Japan as a academic, and came back with a Japanese wife (a Buddhist abbot's daughter) and servant, to live on the outskirts of Newport, Isle of Wight. Somehow - last year being a bit hectic - I missed the centenary of his death, in July 2013, when there were a lot of thematic displays around Newport.
Posted by: Ray Girvan | 24 June 2014 at 03:36 PM
Not at all, Ray--you may have of the space you might want here forever, as your comments are always diverting (while at the same time being spot-on), interesting, enlightening, and very entertaining.
Posted by: John F. Ptak | 24 June 2014 at 06:10 PM
Done: Milne-Shaw http://jsbookreader.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/milne-shaw.html
Posted by: Ray Girvan | 26 June 2014 at 10:12 PM
Great storytelling, Ray! Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: John F. Ptak | 27 June 2014 at 10:17 AM