[Letter to George F. Fitzgerald from Thomas Preston],

[Letter to George F. Fitzgerald from Thomas Preston],

GFF 11/39

Handwritten letter from Thomas Preston to George F. Fitzgerald, dated 13 January 1897. Preston writes from Grand Central, Belfast. He “hunted” for Fievez’s paper in the Royal Dublin Society Archives and found it. This theory was criticised by Zeeman in Philosophy magazine. Preston believes that Fievez achieved a magnetic effect in 1885 on a larger scale than Zeeman or his “continental” friends in 1897. He compares it to the experiments of Oliver Lodge. Zeeman credits Hendrik Albertus Lorentz for his work on electro-magnetic theory that has laid a foundation for the polarisation in the Continental experiments. Preston thinks that Zeeman deserves honours for his work, but that Fievez should be recognised for first observing and describing “a clear and explicit statement of what he observed.” The Continental scientists followed this and observed the
polarisation described by Lorenz. 4pp.

RDS Library & Archives GFF collection of letters

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RDS Science Archive

Manuscript

English

1870-1901