Skip to main content
RDS Digital Archive
Search using this query type:

Search only these record types:


Advanced Search (Items only)

  • Collections
  • Exhibitions
  • Blog Series
    • RDS Celebrates 100 Years at its Ballsbridge Headquarters
    • Dublin Horse Show Collection
    • From Dublin to the Nile: Lawrence E. Steele's Life and Legacy
    • The Letters of George Francis Fitzgerald
    • John Tyndall: The "Xcentric" Irish Scientist
    • Signatures and Sonatas: An Exploration of the RDS Concert Archive
    • Ads, Articles and Aristocrats: The Dublin Horse Show Annuals
  • RDS Foundation Timeline
  • Online Catalogue
  • Privacy
  • Guide to Searching
  • ← Previous Item
  • Next Item →

[Letter to George F. Fitzgerald from Sir Oliver Lodge],

Title

[Letter to George F. Fitzgerald from Sir Oliver Lodge],

Creator

Lodge, Oliver, Sir, 1851-1940

Date

1879

Identifier

GFF 2/12

Subject

Maxwell, James Clerk, 1831-1879.
Stoney, G. Johnstone 1826-1911.
Science

Description

Handwritten letter from Sir Oliver Lodge, 17 Parkhurst Road, Liverpool, to George F. Fitzgerald, dated 9 November 1879. Lodge expresses his gratitude for Fitzgerald's comments on his book. He mentions a negative review he received and notes his sadness at the passing of James Clerk Maxwell. 2pp.

Transcription:
"My dear Fitzgerald,
I am very much obliged to you for your kind criticisms on my little book. I like having the defects pointed out because then they can be corrected in a future edition. What you say about fig 49 and the pump values is quite true. I would have been better to draw the valve with that only I feared it would not be too clear. The siphon explanation is also I perceive a little hazy though it is the one I usually give to a junior class. I shall think it out more carefully in future. As to compounding ref. with acc. I am not prepared to acknowledge the incorrectness of this at the moment. But I will keep myself open on this point. It had never struck me as [questionable?] before. I am very glad that you and Mr Stoney like the book on the whole. I took a good deal of trouble with it. The review in Nature last week cut it up rather viciously but his criticisms are not fair nor true ones at all. They are mostly nonsense. How frightfully sad it is about Maxwell. It feels like a personal loss. Utterly irreparable.
Yours very truly,
Oliver Lodge"

Source

RDS Library & Archives GFF collection of letters

Contributor

Fitzgerald, George Francis, 1851-1901. Correspondent

Rights

Copyright RDS Library & Archives. Publication, transmission or display is prohibited without formal written approval of the RDS Library & Archives.

Relation

RDS Science Archive

Format

Manuscript

Language

English

Type

Text

Coverage

1870-1901

Collection

George Francis Fitzgerald Letters

Citation

Lodge, Oliver, Sir, 1851-1940, “[Letter to George F. Fitzgerald from Sir Oliver Lodge],,” RDS Digital Archive, accessed July 10, 2025, https://digitalarchive.rds.ie/items/show/1274.

Output Formats

  • atom
  • dcmes-xml
  • json
  • omeka-xml

Proudly powered by Omeka.