Letter to George F. Fitzgerald from Sir Oliver Lodge
Title
Letter to George F. Fitzgerald from Sir Oliver Lodge
Creator
Date
Identifier
GFF 2/62
Description
Handwritten letter from Sir Oliver Lodge, 2 Grove Park Liverpool, to George F. Fitzgerald, dated 20 January 1896. Lodge discusses an experiment involving cathode rays and various materials. 2pp.
Transcription:
"M d Φ
I shall hope to send you some prints of the results we get tomorrow. Also perhaps one or two of Rontgen's results just [l?] me and Schuster, whose assistant came over today to see our arrangements, as he had not managed it yet. I think I must abandon the cathode rays idea because photographing a magnet on wire gauze the lines come out straight instead of [diagram]. The rays were going ⊥ to paper and if cathode rays they would be deflected between the poles. If it is anything etherised it's tremendously important and will probably tell us μ and κ. The bones are not quite opaque, nor are metals, but they are more opaque than liquids and flesh. Aluminium is very transparent. Steel is very opaque. Other metals between. Quartz more transparent than [?]. Just the minute Rontgen has sent me his paper (I asked him to). I see he is strong on the differences between his radiation "X radiation" and cathode rays. It seems to start from the green phosphorescence on [?] when bombarded by cathode rays,"
Transcription:
"M d Φ
I shall hope to send you some prints of the results we get tomorrow. Also perhaps one or two of Rontgen's results just [l?] me and Schuster, whose assistant came over today to see our arrangements, as he had not managed it yet. I think I must abandon the cathode rays idea because photographing a magnet on wire gauze the lines come out straight instead of [diagram]. The rays were going ⊥ to paper and if cathode rays they would be deflected between the poles. If it is anything etherised it's tremendously important and will probably tell us μ and κ. The bones are not quite opaque, nor are metals, but they are more opaque than liquids and flesh. Aluminium is very transparent. Steel is very opaque. Other metals between. Quartz more transparent than [?]. Just the minute Rontgen has sent me his paper (I asked him to). I see he is strong on the differences between his radiation "X radiation" and cathode rays. It seems to start from the green phosphorescence on [?] when bombarded by cathode rays,"
Source
RDS Library & Archives GFF collection of letters
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
Coverage
1870-1901
Collection
Citation
Lodge, Oliver, Sir, 1851-1940, “Letter to George F. Fitzgerald from Sir Oliver Lodge,” RDS Digital Archive, accessed July 18, 2025, https://digitalarchive.rds.ie/items/show/1322.