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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Unpublished paper and statement, 'An enquiry concerning the source of the light which is manifested in the combustion of inflammable bodies' by Benjamin [Thompson] Count of Rumford

Reference number: AP/8/20

Date: 1812

Description

Rumford details his experiments on the cause of the light which appears when inflammable bodies are burned, testing various theories on the source of the light and seeking to prove own his theory that light is a vibration or undulation rather than a substance. Followed by a statement by Rumford regarding the originality of his work.

Subject: Physics / Thermodynamics

This paper was published posthumously in a Rumford anthology edited by Sanborn C Brown: Brown, Sanborn C, editor. Collected Works of Count Rumford. Vol 4, Belknap Press of Harvard UP, 1970, pp 229-250.

Reference number
AP/8/20
Earliest possible date
1812
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
42 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator name

Benjamin Thompson

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Citation

Benjamin Thompson, Unpublished paper and statement, 'An enquiry concerning the source of the light which is manifested in the combustion of inflammable bodies' by Benjamin [Thompson] Count of Rumford, 1812, AP/8/20, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_8_20/unpublished-paper-and-statement-an-enquiry-concerning-the-source-of-the-light-which-is-manifested-in-the-combustion-of-inflammable-bodies-by-benjamin-thompson-count-of-rumford, accessed on 18 March 2025

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https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_8_20/unpublished-paper-and-statement-an-enquiry-concerning-the-source-of-the-light-which-is-manifested-in-the-combustion-of-inflammable-bodies-by-benjamin-thompson-count-of-rumford

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is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.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