Crookes's radiometers: a train of thought manifest

Wess, Jane

Crookes's radiometers: a train of thought manifest

Resource type

Journal article

Creator (person)

Wess, Jane

Date published

December 20, 2010

Abstract

The Royal Society is to exhibit its collection of original radiometers by William Crookes in the 350th anniversary re-display, thus providing an opportune moment to study the instruments in some detail. This paper attempts to trace Crookes's line of enquiry as described in a series of papers in , linking the individual objects with the particular experiments in which they participated. From these accounts of painstaking technical endeavours, involving the construction of these exquisite objects, we gain an insight into the challenges, both physical and intellectual, posed by the exploration of new extremes of sensitivity and pressure. The radiometer's charm has been lasting, and Crookes's legacy is to allow us to follow a train of thought through a series of beautiful artefacts.