Discussion of the Observed Deviations of the Compass in several Ships, Wood-built and Iron-built: with a General Table for facilitating the examination of Compass Deviations, Vol. 146, Received Sptember 14, 1855, Read November 22, 1855, Published 31 December 1856 [Extract]

London: The Royal Society, 1856. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION EXTRACT. This Airy paper contains the results of examination of the compass in two iron-built ships, and a general theory of the effect of the transient induced magnetism of iron in disturbing the direction of the compass-needle. Other than small tear at the inner margin of the first page, near fine condition.

Airy was an English mathematician and astronomer as well as Lucasian professor at Cambridge and Astronomer Royal. Among “his many achievements include work on planetary orbits, measuring the mean density of the Earth, a method of solution of two-dimensional problems in solid mechanics and, in his role as Astronomer Royal, establishing Greenwich as the location of the prime meridian” (Wikipedia). Airy’s discovery of a new inequality in the motions of Venus and the earth is in some respects his most remarkable achievement. Item #1276

Price: $25.00

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