Skip to content

Please be aware that some material may contain words, descriptions or illustrations which will not reflect current scientific understanding and may be considered in today's context inaccurate, unethical, offensive or distressing.

The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Unpublished paper, 'On the general forms of the symmetrical properties of plane triangles' by Thomas Dobson

Reference number: AP/44/3

Date: July 1861

Description

Dobson presents a 'general, simple, and uniform' method for deducing the symmetrical properties of plane triangles, which involves referring the symmetrical points connected with a triangle to an indefinite plane, and establishing by an elementary process certain general formulae, each of which can be made to yield several cognate plane properties when different definite positions are assigned to the plane of reference.

Annotations in pencil throughout. Includes one geometrical figure in the text. Marked on front as 'Archives Feb 20 [18]62'.

Subject: Mathematics / Geometry

Received 3 December 1861. Read 9 January 1862. Communicated by E A [Edward Augustus] Inglefield.

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 11 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society as 'On the general forms of the symmetrical properties of plane triangles'.

Reference number
AP/44/3
Earliest possible date
July 1861
Physical description
Ink and graphite pencil on paper
Page extent
15 pages
Format
Drawing
Manuscript

Creator name

Thomas Dobson

Use this record

IIIF manifest

View​ IIIF ​ manifest Opens in new tab

Open in Mirador viewer Opens in new tab

Export this record

Download PDF Opens in new tab

Citation

Thomas Dobson, Unpublished paper, 'On the general forms of the symmetrical properties of plane triangles' by Thomas Dobson, July 1861, AP/44/3, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_44_3/unpublished-paper-on-the-general-forms-of-the-symmetrical-properties-of-plane-triangles-by-thomas-dobson, accessed on 17 January 2025

Link to this record

https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_44_3/unpublished-paper-on-the-general-forms-of-the-symmetrical-properties-of-plane-triangles-by-thomas-dobson

Embed this record

<iframe src="https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/embed/items/ap_44_3/unpublished-paper-on-the-general-forms-of-the-symmetrical-properties-of-plane-triangles-by-thomas-dobson" title="Unpublished paper, 'On the general forms of the symmetrical properties of plane triangles' by Thomas Dobson" allow="fullscreen" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="500px"></iframe>

Related Publications

Hierarchy

This item is part of:

Related Fellows

Explore the collection

  • 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.

    View collection