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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Unpublished paper, 'On the nature and origin of the Aurora Borealis' by the Reverend Geo [George] Fisher

Reference number: AP/18/9

Date: May 1834

Description

Fisher shares his personal observations on the Aurora Borealis [Northern Lights]. He suggests that 'the Aurora is chiefly developed at the edge or margin of the Frozen Sea [Arctic Ocean]' and that evaporation and the dissolution of ice into the atmosphere is a possible cause of the Aurora Borealis.

Subject: Astronomy / Magnetism

Received 28 May 1834 by John George Children. Note on back by Children reads 'archives - July 17th 1834'.

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 3 of Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [later Proceedings of the Royal Society] as 'On the nature and origin of the Aurora Borealis'.

Reference number
AP/18/9
Earliest possible date
May 1834
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
12 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator name

George Fisher

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Citation

George Fisher, Unpublished paper, 'On the nature and origin of the Aurora Borealis' by the Reverend Geo [George] Fisher, May 1834, AP/18/9, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_18_9/unpublished-paper-on-the-nature-and-origin-of-the-aurora-borealis-by-the-reverend-geo-george-fisher, accessed on 09 December 2025

Link to this record

https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_18_9/unpublished-paper-on-the-nature-and-origin-of-the-aurora-borealis-by-the-reverend-geo-george-fisher

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  • Archived Papers

    The 'Archived Papers' collection is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.

    Dates: 1768 - 1989

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