The instruments of expeditionary science and the reworking of nineteenth-century magnetic experiment
During the mid-nineteenth century, British naval expeditions navigated the world as part of the most extensive scientific undertaking of the age. Between 1839 and the early 1850s, the British government orchestrated a global surveying of the Earth's magnetic phenomena: this was a philosophical...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsnr.2022.0002 2024-09-15T17:47:40+00:00 The instruments of expeditionary science and the reworking of nineteenth-century magnetic experiment Gillin, Edward J. Leverhulme Trust 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2022.0002 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsnr.2022.0002 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsnr.2022.0002 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Notes and Records: the Royal Society Journal of the History of Science volume 76, issue 3, page 565-592 ISSN 0035-9149 1743-0178 journal-article 2022 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2022.0002 2024-07-29T04:23:15Z During the mid-nineteenth century, British naval expeditions navigated the world as part of the most extensive scientific undertaking of the age. Between 1839 and the early 1850s, the British government orchestrated a global surveying of the Earth's magnetic phenomena: this was a philosophical enterprise of unprecedented state support and geographical extent. But to conduct this investigation relied on the use of immensely delicate instruments, known as ‘dipping needles’. The most celebrated of these were those of Robert Were Fox, designed and built in Cornwall. Yet these devices were difficult to physically maintain and ensuring accuracy throughout a magnetic experiment was challenging. In 2020, Crosbie Smith and I took an original Fox dipping needle on a voyage from Falmouth to Cape Town, retracing the routes of survey expeditions, including James Clark Ross's 1839–43 Antarctic venture. The article offers an account of our experiences, combined with historical reports of the instrument's past performances. It explores the instrumental challenges involved in nineteenth-century global experimental investigation. The great problem for the British magnetic survey was of coordinating standardized experimental measurements over vast expanses of space and time. As this article argues, this was very much a question of instrumental management, both of dipping needles and of human performers. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic The Royal Society Notes and Records: the Royal Society Journal of the History of Science 76 3 565 592 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
During the mid-nineteenth century, British naval expeditions navigated the world as part of the most extensive scientific undertaking of the age. Between 1839 and the early 1850s, the British government orchestrated a global surveying of the Earth's magnetic phenomena: this was a philosophical enterprise of unprecedented state support and geographical extent. But to conduct this investigation relied on the use of immensely delicate instruments, known as ‘dipping needles’. The most celebrated of these were those of Robert Were Fox, designed and built in Cornwall. Yet these devices were difficult to physically maintain and ensuring accuracy throughout a magnetic experiment was challenging. In 2020, Crosbie Smith and I took an original Fox dipping needle on a voyage from Falmouth to Cape Town, retracing the routes of survey expeditions, including James Clark Ross's 1839–43 Antarctic venture. The article offers an account of our experiences, combined with historical reports of the instrument's past performances. It explores the instrumental challenges involved in nineteenth-century global experimental investigation. The great problem for the British magnetic survey was of coordinating standardized experimental measurements over vast expanses of space and time. As this article argues, this was very much a question of instrumental management, both of dipping needles and of human performers. |
author2 |
Leverhulme Trust |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gillin, Edward J. |
spellingShingle |
Gillin, Edward J. The instruments of expeditionary science and the reworking of nineteenth-century magnetic experiment |
author_facet |
Gillin, Edward J. |
author_sort |
Gillin, Edward J. |
title |
The instruments of expeditionary science and the reworking of nineteenth-century magnetic experiment |
title_short |
The instruments of expeditionary science and the reworking of nineteenth-century magnetic experiment |
title_full |
The instruments of expeditionary science and the reworking of nineteenth-century magnetic experiment |
title_fullStr |
The instruments of expeditionary science and the reworking of nineteenth-century magnetic experiment |
title_full_unstemmed |
The instruments of expeditionary science and the reworking of nineteenth-century magnetic experiment |
title_sort |
instruments of expeditionary science and the reworking of nineteenth-century magnetic experiment |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2022.0002 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsnr.2022.0002 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsnr.2022.0002 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_source |
Notes and Records: the Royal Society Journal of the History of Science volume 76, issue 3, page 565-592 ISSN 0035-9149 1743-0178 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2022.0002 |
container_title |
Notes and Records: the Royal Society Journal of the History of Science |
container_volume |
76 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
565 |
op_container_end_page |
592 |
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1810497138463866880 |