Lives of the electricians

Chapter 16: FOOTNOTES:

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About This Book

A series of biographical sketches chronicles three major figures in electrical science, following their origins, formative studies, experimental discoveries, and the practical devices that resulted. One profile traces investigations into magnetism, radiant heat, atmospheric phenomena and public lectures; another details the conception and development of telegraphic apparatus, visual and measuring instruments, and early cable experiments; the final sketch follows an inventor who moved from art to devise a recording telegraph and relay. An introductory essay outlines the author’s aim to render technical ideas accessible and to link individual careers with wider technological change.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] The accuracy of Wheatstone’s experiment has been generally accepted; but, as Faraday said in 1838, “the velocity of discharge through the same wire may be greatly varied by circumstances.... If the two ends of the wire in Professor Wheatstone’s experiment were immediately connected with two large insulated metallic surfaces exposed to the air ... then the middle spark would be more retarded; and if these two plates were the inner and outer coating of a large jar, or a Leyden battery, then the retardation of that spark would be still greater.”