Coulomb and the evolution of physics and engineering in eighteenth-century France : C. Stewart Gillmor. 328 pages, diagrams, 6 x 9 in. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1972. Price $13.50 (approx. £5·15).
✍ Scribed by Raymond J. Seeger
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1973
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 207 KB
- Volume
- 295
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0016-0032
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
inventions. His accomplishments show what could be achieved without a college education. Thomson was a very active correspondent, exchanging letters with many distinguished persons in a number of fields. This book is a selection from his scientific correspondence. The letters are arranged in accordance with the alphabetic order of the surnames of Thomson's correspondents. A brief but informative biography of each correspondent precedes his letters to and from Thomson. Allusions in the letters to various scientific developments, historical events and third persons are explained by the editors, whose remarks are printed in bold face to set them apart from the text of the letters themselves. While the editors have done their work with commendable zeal, now and then they have left a rough spot. For instance, on p. 342 they refer to "the Professor and Malcolm", who is mentioned here for the first time. Only later (pp. 512-513) does the puzzled reader learn that Malcolm is one of Elihu Thomson's sons. In writing to an Englishman about voltage, Thomson stated that "our standard is 110 or less than half yours" (not "years", as on p. 152, line 4) ; and A History of Industrial Chemistry was written by Frank Sherwood Taylor (p. 551).