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From ancient times, humans have tried to understand the workings of the world around them. The roots of modern physical science go back to the very earliest mechanical devices such as levers and rollers, the mixing of paints and dyes, and the importance of the heavenly bodies in early religious observance and navigation. The physical sciences as we know them today began to emerge as independent academic subjects during the early modern period, in the work of Newton and other 'natural philosophers', and numerous sub-disciplines developed during the centuries that followed. This part of the Cambridge Library Collection is devoted to landmark publications in this area which will be of interest to historians of science concerned with individual scientists, particular discoveries, and advances in scientific method, or with the establishment and development of scientific institutions around the world.

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137 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Physical Sciences

Page 2 of 7

Faraday as a Discoverer
  • John Tyndall
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • First published in 1868, soon after the death of Michael Faraday (1791–1867), this short work assesses the discoveries made by a humble bookbinder who became one of the foremost scientific investigators of the nineteenth century. Eminently qualified, John Tyndall (1820–93), who received Faraday's support in taking up the professorship of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution in 1853, gives an informed appraisal of a remarkable scientific career. The protégé of Sir Humphry Davy, Faraday went on to carry out pioneering work in the fields of electromagnetism, diamagnetism and electrolysis. Tyndall focuses here on Faraday's research, describing his influences and how he approached his investigations, although insights into his character are also incorporated: 'Underneath his sweetness and gentleness was the heat of a volcano.' Also reissued in this series are The Life and Letters of Faraday (1870), compiled by Henry Bence Jones, and John Hall Gladstone's Michael Faraday (1872).

Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat
  • A Series of Memoirs Published in the 'Philosophical Transactions' and 'Philosophical Magazine', with Additions
  • John Tyndall
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    13 February 2014
  • Professor of natural philosophy for the Royal Institution between 1853 and 1887, the physicist John Tyndall (1820–93) passionately sought to share scientific understanding with the Victorian public. Reissued here is the collected research he contributed to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society and other journals. Published in 1872, it complements Tyndall's Heat Considered as a Mode of Motion (1863), which is also reissued in this series. Here each memoir is preceded by a short summary, explaining what he discovered and his reasons for embarking on the investigations in question. Accompanying the detailed descriptions of experimental methods are illustrations of the scientific apparatus used. Tyndall also shows how his work built upon previous research, acknowledging the insights of distinguished scientists such as William Herschel and Macedonio Melloni. In particular, he discusses at length his academic debates with Heinrich Gustav Magnus.

Sound
  • A Course of Eight Lectures Delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain
  • John Tyndall
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • Professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution between 1853 and 1887, the British physicist and mountaineer John Tyndall (1820–93) passionately sought to share scientific understanding with the Victorian public. A lucid and highly regarded communicator, he lectured on such topics as heat, light, magnetism and electricity. In this collection of eight lectures, first published in 1867, Tyndall explains numerous acoustic phenomena for a non-specialist audience. Emphasising the practical nature of scientific enquiry, he describes experiments throughout and includes many illustrations of laboratory equipment. The lectures discuss the general properties of sound, how it travels, how noise and music differ, how gas flames can produce musical notes, and much more. Several of Tyndall's other publications, from his work on radiant heat to his exploration of alpine glaciers, are also reissued in this series.

Heat Considered as a Mode of Motion
  • Being a Course of Twelve Lectures Delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in the Season of 1862
  • John Tyndall
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    13 February 2014
    First published in:
    1863
  • Professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution between 1853 and 1887, the physicist and mountaineer John Tyndall (1820–93) passionately sought to share scientific understanding with the Victorian public. A lucid and highly regarded communicator, he lectured on such topics as heat, light, magnetism and electricity. In this collection of twelve lectures, first published in 1863, Tyndall discusses the general properties of heat and its associated physical processes, such as convection, conduction and radiation. He presents concepts so that they are intelligible to non-specialists, and helpful illustrations of laboratory equipment accompany his descriptions of experiments and phenomena. Throughout, he explains the research and discoveries of renowned scientists, including Sir Humphry Davy, Julius von Mayer, James Prescott Joule, and Hermann von Helmholtz. Several of Tyndall's other publications, from his lectures on sound to his exploration of alpine glaciers, are also reissued in this series.

The Science of Mechanics
  • A Critical and Historical Exposition of its Principles
  • Ernst Mach
  • Translated by Thomas J. McCormack
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    24 October 2013
  • Ernst Mach (1838–1916), the first scientist to study objects moving faster than the speed of sound, propounded a scientific philosophy which called for a strict adherence to observable data. He maintained that the sole purpose of scientific study is to provide the simplest possible description of detectable phenomena. In this work, first published in German in 1883 and here translated in 1893 by Thomas J. McCormack (1865–1932) from the 1888 second edition, Mach begins with a historical discussion of mechanical principles. He then proceeds to a critique of Newton's concept of 'absolute' space and time, reflecting Mach's rejection of theoretical concepts in the absence of definitive evidence. Although historically controversial, Mach's ideas and attitudes informed philosophers as influential as Russell and Wittgenstein, and his insistence upon a 'relative' idea of space and time provided much of the philosophical basis for Einstein's theory of general relativity decades later.

Sundials and Roses of Yesterday
  • Garden Delights Which Are Here Displayed in Every Truth and Are Moreover Regarded as Emblems
  • Alice Morse Earle
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    19 September 2013
  • The American social historian and antiquarian Alice Morse Earle (1851–1911) published this lavishly illustrated book, among the last of her works, in 1902. By this time she had developed a distinctive style of historical writing which made innovative use of material evidence in its focus on the details of everyday life. She was particularly interested in family and society in colonial America, and her views about the importance of ancestry were reflected in her membership of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her fascination for beautiful things found lively expression in this learned and charming exploration of two 'garden delights'. Drawing readily on folklore, literature and anecdote, Earle brings to life her history of sundials and roses in Europe and America, touching on practical, aesthetic and symbolic aspects.

Bibliographia zoologiae et geologiae
  • A General Catalogue of All Books, Tracts, and Memoirs on Zoology and Geology
  • Volume 4
  • Louis Agassiz
  • Edited by H. E. Strickland
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    04 July 2013
  • Born in Switzerland, Louis Agassiz (1807–73) distinguished himself as one of the most capable and industrious naturalists of the nineteenth century, working in fields as diverse as ichthyology and glaciology. In the late 1840s, he moved to North America, where he became a professor of zoology at Harvard and established the Museum of Comparative Zoology. His extensive bibliography of all known works relating to zoology and geology, which he had compiled for private use, was revised and substantially expanded by the English naturalist Hugh Edwin Strickland (1811–53) and published by the Ray Society in four volumes between 1848 and 1854. As such, it stands as the fullest record of the existing scientific literature just prior to the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species. Volume 4 (1854), completed by Sir William Jardine (1800–74) after the death of Strickland, concludes the list of works, arranged alphabetically by author, ranging here from Naccari to Zwinger.

History and Root of the Principle of the Conservation of Energy
  • Ernst Mach
  • Translated by Philip E. B. Jourdain
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    13 February 2014
  • The Austrian scientist Ernst Mach (1838–1916) carried out work of importance in several fields of enquiry, including physics, physiology and psychology. In this short work, first published in German in 1872 and translated here into English in 1911 by Philip E. B. Jourdain (1879–1919) from the 1909 second edition, Mach discusses the formulation of one of science's most fundamental theories. He provides his interpretation of the principle of the conservation of energy, claiming its foundations are not in mechanical physics. Mach's 1868 work on the definition of mass - one of his most significant contributions to mechanics - has been incorporated here. His perspective on the topic as a whole remains relevant to those interested in the history of science and the theory of knowledge. Also reissued in this series in English translation are Mach's The Science of Mechanics (1893) and Popular Scientific Lectures (1895).

Conversations on Natural Philosophy
  • In Which the Elements of that Science Are Familiarly Explained and Adapted to the Comprehension of Young Pupils
  • Jane Haldimand Marcet
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • An author of educational works intended especially for young women, Jane Haldimand Marcet (1769–1858) sought to combat the notion that technical topics were unsuitable for female students. Inspired by conversations with the famous scientists she entertained, she wrote textbooks in the lively form of discussions between a teacher and her two female pupils. Published anonymously at first, they found broad popularity: Michael Faraday, as a young bookbinder's apprentice, credited Marcet with introducing him to electrochemistry. The present work, an introduction to physics, astronomy and the properties of matter, sound and light, was Marcet's first, though it remained unpublished until 1819. Her other works include Conversations on Chemistry (1805), Conversations on Political Economy (1816) and Conversations on Vegetable Physiology (1829), all of which are reissued in this series. Never professing to be original, Marcet's work is noted nonetheless for its thoroughness and clear presentation of concepts.

An Account of Experiments to Determine the Figure of the Earth by Means of the Pendulum Vibrating Seconds in Different Latitudes
  • As Well As on Various Other Subjects of Philosophical Inquiry
  • Edward Sabine
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    06 February 2014
    First published in:
    1825
  • As early as the seventeenth century, scientists realised that a pendulum swings more slowly at the equator than it would at the North Pole. Newton predicted that gravity increased with latitude, and that the Earth could not be perfectly spherical. Although various experiments were undertaken to determine the exact degree of this ellipticity, none proved successful until physicist Edward Sabine (1788–1883) embarked on a series of expeditions across the world. Based on pendulum measurements from a wide range of latitudes, from Jamaica to Spitsbergen, his results were very different to mathematical predictions, and far more accurate; Charles Babbage would even complain that they were too good to be true. In this account, which first appeared in 1825, Sabine explains his methodology and presents his findings. His book opens a fascinating window into nineteenth-century geodesy for students in the history of science.

Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air
  • The Second Edition, Corrected
  • Volume 1
  • Joseph Priestley
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    05 September 2013
  • By the late eighteenth century, scientists had discovered certain types of gas, such as 'fixed air' (carbon dioxide), but their composition was little understood. Relatively few investigations into gases had taken place, and so the polymath Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) was able to make major breakthroughs in the field using a range of experimental techniques. While living near a brewery, he found that it was possible to outline the shape of the gas above fermenting beer with smoke, and that fire would burn with varying strength depending on the composition of the air. This three-volume collection first appeared between 1774 and 1777. Primarily an account of Priestley's early experiments, with details of apparatus including candles and live mice, Volume 1 is reissued here in its corrected 1775 second edition and also incorporates a brief history of the field of inquiry.

Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air
  • The Second Edition
  • Volume 2
  • Joseph Priestley
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    05 September 2013
  • By the late eighteenth century, scientists had discovered certain types of gas, such as 'fixed air' (carbon dioxide), but their composition was little understood. Relatively few investigations into gases had taken place, and so the polymath Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) was able to make major breakthroughs in the field using a range of experimental techniques. While living near a brewery, he found that it was possible to outline the shape of the gas above fermenting beer with smoke, and that fire would burn with varying strength depending on the composition of the air. This three-volume collection first appeared between 1774 and 1777. Following the international interest and new discoveries prompted by the publication of its predecessor, Volume 2 - reissued here in its corrected 1776 second edition - includes accounts of further experiments, Priestley's paper on the conducting power of charcoal, and, most significantly, notes on what he calls 'dephlogisticated air' (oxygen).

Space and Geometry in the Light of Physiological, Psychological and Physical Inquiry
  • Ernst Mach
  • Translated by Thomas J. McCormack
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • The Austrian scientist Ernst Mach (1838–1916) carried out work of importance in many fields of enquiry, including physics, physiology, psychology and philosophy. Published in this English translation of 1906, these essays examine geometry from three different perspectives. Mach argues that, as our ideas about space are created by the senses and how we experience our environment, researchers must not consider the subject from a mathematical standpoint alone. In the first essay, he explains how humans generate spatial concepts. Next, he discusses the psychology of geometry, its empirical origins, and its development. In the final piece, he writes from the viewpoint of a physicist, outlining how various mathematicians, such as Carl Friedrich Gauss and Bernhard Riemann, have contributed to our geometrical understanding. Also reissued in this series in English translation are Mach's The Science of Mechanics (1893) and Popular Scientific Lectures (1895).

Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air
  • Volume 3
  • Joseph Priestley
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    05 September 2013
  • By the late eighteenth century, scientists had discovered certain types of gas, such as 'fixed air' (carbon dioxide), but their composition was little understood. Relatively few investigations into gases had taken place, and so the polymath Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) was able to make major breakthroughs in the field using a range of experimental techniques. While living near a brewery, he found that it was possible to outline the shape of the gas above fermenting beer with smoke, and that fire would burn with varying strength depending on the composition of the air. This three-volume collection first appeared between 1774 and 1777. Priestley acknowledges that Volume 3 (1777) would more greatly interest those with technical training in the physical sciences as compared with general scholars. It also highlights some new and important inferences, notably on the function of blood in respiration.

Joint Scientific Papers of James Prescott Joule
  • Volume 2
  • James Prescott Joule
  • Published online:
    05 August 2014
    Print publication:
    30 June 2011
    First published in:
    1887
  • Sir James Prescott Joule (1818–1889) became one of the most significant physicists of the nineteenth century, although his original interest in science was as a hobby and for practical business purposes. The son of a brewer, he began studying heat while investigating how to increase the efficiency of electric motors. His discovery of the relationship between heat and energy contributed to the discovery of the conservation of energy and the first law of thermodynamics. Volume 2 of his collected papers, published in 1887, contains those which he co-authored with other noted physicists, such as Scoresby, Playfair and William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin. Because he was based in Manchester, and was not an academic, Joule's work was at first ignored by the scientific establishment, but Thomson's approval helped him gain acceptance. His joint work with Thomson on thermodynamics was fundamental to the development of significant areas of twentieth-century physics.

Versuch einer Theorie der electrischen und optischen Erscheinungen in bewegten Körpern
  • Hendrik Antoon Lorentz
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013
    First published in:
    1895
  • The Dutch physicist Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1853–1928) was educated at the University of Leiden, where he later became a Professor of Theoretical Physics. A leading figure in his field, he established the basic mathematical principles that were later used by Albert Einstein for his theory of relativity. Lorentz and his colleague Pieter Zeeman won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1902 for their researches into the influence of magnetism upon radiation phenomena (the Zeeman effect). In 1905 Lorentz was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, which awarded him the Rumford and Copley Medals. Contributing to the discussion of the theory of a luminiferous ether - soon to be superseded by special relativity - this work, first published in 1895, looks at electromagnetic phenomena (the propagation of light) in relation to moving bodies and optics.

Bibliographia zoologiae et geologiae
  • A General Catalogue of All Books, Tracts, and Memoirs on Zoology and Geology
  • Volume 1
  • Louis Agassiz
  • Edited by H. E. Strickland
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    04 July 2013
  • Born in Switzerland, Louis Agassiz (1807–73) distinguished himself as one of the most capable and industrious naturalists of the nineteenth century, working in fields as diverse as ichthyology and glaciology. In the late 1840s, he moved to North America, where he became a professor of zoology at Harvard and established the Museum of Comparative Zoology. His extensive bibliography of all known works relating to zoology and geology, which he had compiled for private use, was revised and substantially expanded by the English naturalist Hugh Edwin Strickland (1811–53) and published by the Ray Society in four volumes between 1848 and 1854. As such, it stands as the fullest record of the existing scientific literature just prior to the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species. Volume 1 (1848) provides a global list of all relevant periodicals before beginning the principal list of works, arranged alphabetically by author, ranging here from Aalborg to Bywater.

Bibliographia zoologiae et geologiae
  • A General Catalogue of All Books, Tracts, and Memoirs on Zoology and Geology
  • Volume 2
  • Louis Agassiz
  • Edited by H. E. Strickland
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    04 July 2013
  • Born in Switzerland, Louis Agassiz (1807–73) distinguished himself as one of the most capable and industrious naturalists of the nineteenth century, working in fields as diverse as ichthyology and glaciology. In the late 1840s, he moved to North America, where he became a professor of zoology at Harvard and established the Museum of Comparative Zoology. His extensive bibliography of all known works relating to zoology and geology, which he had compiled for private use, was revised and substantially expanded by the English naturalist Hugh Edwin Strickland (1811–53) and published by the Ray Society in four volumes between 1848 and 1854. As such, it stands as the fullest record of the existing scientific literature just prior to the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species. Volume 2 (1850) continues the list of works, arranged alphabetically by author, ranging here from Cabanis to Fyfe.

An Elementary Treatise on Electricity
  • James Clerk Maxwell
  • Edited by William Garnett
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    30 June 2011
    First published in:
    1881
  • James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879), first Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cambridge, made major contributions to many areas of theoretical physics and mathematics, not least his discoveries in the fields of electromagnetism and of the kinetic theory of gases, which have been regarded as laying the foundations of all modern physics. This work of 1881 was edited from Maxwell's notes by a colleague, William Garnett, and had formed the basis of his lectures. Several of the articles included in the present work were also included in his two-volume Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (1873), also reissued in this series. The preface indicates that the two works were aimed at somewhat different audiences, the larger work assuming a greater knowledge of higher mathematics. Maxwell had also modified some of his methodology, and hoped to encourage the reader to develop an understanding of concepts relating to electricity.

Experimental Researches in Electricity
  • Volume 2
  • Michael Faraday
  • Published online:
    05 October 2013
    Print publication:
    11 October 2012
    First published in:
    1844
  • Originally apprenticed to a bookbinder, Michael Faraday (1791–1867) began to attend Sir Humphrey Davy's chemistry lectures purely out of interest. Although he soon recognised that science would be his vocation, there was no defined career path to follow, and when he applied to Davy for work he was gently told to 'attend to the bookbinding'. It was only after a laboratory explosion in which Davy partially lost his sight that Faraday was taken on as his amanuensis. From this difficult beginning stemmed perhaps the most famous scientific career of the nineteenth century. This three-volume collection of Faraday's papers provides a comprehensive record of a key branch of his work. Volume 2, first published in 1844, includes essays on the illusions caused by lightning, the chemistry of a voltaic pile, and his defence against accusations that the idea behind his electromagnetic motor was stolen from another physicist.

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