The French Academy of Sciences in the nineteenth century

Minerva ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Crosland
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
French Academy ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

Meanwhile, Back at Brookhaven

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
The State ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
French Academy ◽  
Local Media ◽  
Meteoritic Iron ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
The Town

At the end of the Nineteenth century William Ramsay, searching for minerals that might concentrate argon or helium, wrote, “One mineral—malacone—gave appreciable quantities of argon; and it is noteworthy that argon was not found except in it (and, curiously, in much larger amount than helium), and in a specimen of meteoric iron. Other specimens of meteoric iron were examined, but were found to contain mainly hydrogen, with no trace of either argon or helium. It is probable that the sources of meteorites might be traced in this manner, and that each could be relegated to its particular swarm.” Finally, sixty years later, this is what Ollie Schaeffer and I now set out to do. Meteoritic iron has been used since prehistoric times: necklaces of the metal beads interlaced with gold are found in the tombs of Egyptian kings, and an inventory of a Hittite temple, describing where on earth their gold and silver came from, lists their iron as having “fallen from the sky.” Yet as late as the early nineteenth century, the reality of meteorites still was not accepted by men of good will. For after all, how could heavy stones and chunks of iron fall out of the sky? And then in 1803 a huge shower of meteorites fell at L’Aigle, France, just at the time that the French Academy of Sciences had convened a meeting to discuss the question. In America no one paid much attention, until on December 14, 1807, at 6:30 in the morning, a bright fireball suddenly blazed through the sky over Vermont and Massachusetts. It was reportedly nearly as bright and big as the moon, until it suddenly exploded and disappeared over the town of Weston, Connecticut, showering the area with stone fragments, as the local media reported. In those days it took a while for the news to travel a few tens of miles, and so it was a few days before Yale’s new professor of chymistry (sic) and natural history, Benjamin Silliman, heard of it. Grabbing his hat and a colleague, Professor James L. Kingsley, he galloped across the state to Weston.

XXIII. On the water-barometer erected in the hall of the Royal Society

1832 ◽  
Vol 122 ◽  
pp. 539-574 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Physical Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Metallic Tube ◽  
French Academy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Made In

I have for some time entertained an opinion, in common with some others who have turned their attention tot he subject, that a good series of observations with a Water-Barometer, accurately constructed, might throw some light upon several important points of physical science: amongst others, upon the tides of the atmosphere; the horary oscillations of the counterpoising column; the ascending and descending rate of its greater oscillations; and the tension of vapour at different atmospheric temperatures. I have sought in vain in various scientific works, and in the Transactions of Philosophical Societies, for the record of any such observations, or for a description of an instrument calculated to afford the required information with anything approaching to precision. In the first volume of the History of the French Academy of Sciences, a cursory reference is made, in the following words, to some experiments of M. Mariotte upon the subject, of which no particulars appear to have been preserved. “Le même M. Mariotte fit aussi à l’observatoire des experiences sur le baromètre ordinaire à mercure comparé au baromètre à eau. Dans l’un le mercure s’eléva à 28 polices, et dans Fautre l’eau fut a 31 pieds Cequi donne le rapport du mercure à l’eau de 13½ à 1.” Histoire de I'Acadérmie, tom. i. p. 234. It also appears that Otto Guricke constructed a philosophical toy for the amusement of himself and friends, upon the principle of the water-barometer; but the column of water probably in this, as in all the other instances which I have met with, was raised by the imperfect rarefaction of the air in the tube above it, or by filling with water a metallic tube, of sufficient length, cemented to a glass one at its upper extremity, and fitted with a stop-cock at each end; so that when full the upper one might be closed and the lower opened, when the water would fall till it afforded an equipoise to the pressure of the atmo­sphere. The imperfections of such an instrument, it is quite clear, would render it totally unfit for the delicate investigations required in the present state of science; as, to render the observations of any value, it is absolutely necessary that the water should be thoroughly purged of air, by boiling, and its insinuation or reabsorption effectually guarded against. I was convinced that the only chance of securing these two necessary ends, was to form the whole length of tube of one piece of glass, and to boil the water in it, as is done with mercury in the common barometer. The practical difficulties which opposed themselves to such a construction long appeared to me insurmount­able; but I at length contrived a plan for the purpose, which, having been honoured with the approval of the late Meteorological Committee of this Society, was ordered to be carried into execution by the President and Council.

scholarly journals Ivan Djaja (Jean Giaja) and the Belgrade School of Physiology

2011 ◽  
pp. S1-S13 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. R. ANDJUS ◽  
S. S. STOJILKOVIC ◽  
G. CVIJIC
Keyword(s):  
Associate Member ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
French Academy ◽  
Seminal Work ◽  
National Medical ◽  
Medical Academy ◽  
The University ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Alexander Fleming

The founder of physiology studies in the Balkans and the pioneer of research on hypothermia, Ivan Djaja (Jean Giaja) was born 1884 in L’Havre. Giaja gained his PhD at the Sorbonne in 1909. In 1910 he established the first Chair of Physiology in the Balkans and organized the first Serbian Institute for Physiology at the School of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade. He led this Institute for more than 40 subsequent years. His most notable papers were in the field of thermoregulation and bioenergetics. Djaja became member of the Serbian and Croatian academies of science and doctor honoris causa of Sorbonne. In 1952 for the seminal work on the behavior of deep cooled warm blooded animals he became associate member of the National Medical Academy in Paris. In 1955 the French Academy of Sciences elected him as associate member in place of deceased Sir Alexander Fleming. Djaja died in 1957 during a congress held in his honor. He left more than 200 scientific and other papers and the golden DaVincian credo “Nulla dies sine experimento”. His legacy was continued by several generations of researchers, the most prominent among them being Stefan Gelineo, Radoslav Andjus and Vojislav Petrović.

scholarly journals Listy Władysława Taczanowskiego do Aleksandra Straucha w zbiorach Rosyjskiej Akademii Nauk – interesujący przyczynek historii zoologii w XIX wieku

2021 ◽  
pp. 161-186
Author(s):  
Piotr Daszkiewicz ◽  
Dominika Mierzwa-Szymkowiak
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Zoological Museum ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
Russian Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Interesting Contribution ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Zoology ◽  
Imperial Academy ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

Letters from Władysław Taczanowski to Alexander Strauch in the Russian Academy of Sciences Collections. An Interesting Contribution to the History of Zoology in the Nineteenth Century The article presents the Polish translation and analysis of the letters from Władysław Taczanowski (1819–1890) to Aleksander Strauch (1832–1893). The correspondence is stored in the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg and comprises 29 letters written between 1870 and 1889. The main theme of these letters is specimens of reptiles and amphibians sent to Warsaw by Polish naturalists, such as Benedykt Dybowski from Siberia, Konstanty Jelski from French Guiana and Peru, Jan Kalinowski from Korea, as well as specimens brought by Taczanowski from Algeria. Strauch determined the species and used them in his publications. This correspondence is also a valuable testimony of the exchange of specimens between the Warsaw Zoological Cabinet and the Zoological Museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. In return for herpetological specimens, the Warsaw collection received numerous fish specimens from the Russian Empire and a collection of birds from Mikołaj Przewalski’s expedition to Central Asia. The content of the letters allows a better understanding of the functioning of natural history museography but also the organization of shipments, preparation, determination, and exchange of specimens. They are a valuable document of the history of nineteenth-century scientific museography.

On the water barometer erected in the hall of the Royal Society

1837 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 134-136
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Present Situation ◽  
Atmospheric Tides ◽  
Steam Boiler ◽  
Periodic Oscillations ◽  
French Academy ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
History Of ◽  
Additional Support ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

The author having long considered that a good series of observa­tions with a water barometer would be of great value as throwing light upon the theory of atmospheric tides, of the horary and other periodic oscillations of the barometer, and of the tension of vapourat different temperatures, was desirous of learning whether any such series of observations had ever been made. But he could meet with none having any pretensions to accuracy ; for neither those of Otto Guericke, in whose hands the water barometer was merely a philo­sophical toy, nor the cursory notices of the experiments of Mariotte upon this subject contained in the History of the French Academy of Sciences, can be considered as having any such claim. The difficul­ties which opposed the construction of a perfect instrument of this kind long appeared to be insurmountable; but the author at length proposed a plan for this purpose, which, having been approved of by the late Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society, was ordered by the President and Council to be carried into execution. The author then enters fully into the details of the methods he em­ployed for constructing the whole of the apparatus, and for placing in its present situation in the centre of the winding staircase con­ducting to the apartments of the Royal Society. The tube was very skilfully made by Messrs. Pellattand Co. at the Falcon Glass-house. It was 40 feet long, and one inch in diameter at its lower end; and so nearly cylindrical, throughout its whole extent, as to diminish only by two tenths of an inch at its upper end. A second tube of the same dimensions was also made as a provision in reserve against any accident happening to the first. These tubes were both securely lodged in a square case by means of proper supports. A small ther­mometer with a platina scale, was introduced into the upper end of the tube. An external collar of glass was united to that end by heat­ing it. This was done with a view of giving it additional support, and of preventing it from slipping. This end of the tube was then drawn out into a fine tube ready for sealing with the blowpipe; and a small stopcock was fitted on to it. The cistern of the barometer was formed by a small copper steam boiler, 18 inches long, 11 wide, and 10 deep, capable of being closed by a cock, and having at the bottom a small receptacle for holding the lower end of the tube, so as to allow of the water in the cistern being withdrawn, without dis­ turbing that contained in the tube.

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