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Description

Powell aims to examine the experimental evidence adduced in a recent paper by Lord Brougham (see PT/37/11), without at all entering on the question of the peculiar theory therein proposed, solely with the view of inquiring how far the actual new facts adduced, when simply stated and divested of the peculiar theoretical language in which they are delivered, do or do not militate against the undulatory theory. Powell describes how he had devoted a portion of the summer to a careful repetition of all the chief experiments described in Brougham's paper, some of which, however, he had been unable to reproduce the results described.

Subject: Optics

Received 1 December 1851.

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 6 of Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [later Proceedings of the Royal Society] as 'Remarks on certain points in experiments on the diffraction of light'.

Reference number
AP/33/22
Earliest possible date
1851
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
12 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator name

Baden Powell

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Citation

Baden Powell, Unpublished paper, 'Remarks on certain points in experiments on the diffraction of light' by Baden Powell, 1851, AP/33/22, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_33_22/unpublished-paper-remarks-on-certain-points-in-experiments-on-the-diffraction-of-light-by-baden-powell, accessed on 07 February 2025

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  • Archived Papers

    Dates: 1768-1989

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is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.

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