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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Copy letter, from Sir John Herschel to James Thomas Walker, dated at Collingwood

Reference number: HS/18/16

Date: 10 December 1864

Description

Copy of a letter. Received Indian survey chart. John Frederick William Herschel's son John wrote of higher-order ellipsoidal triangles with sides based on geodesical triangles. John Frederick William Herschel objects that these violate principle of diagonal bracing. Proposes different triangles and names sites in India as apexes. Received G. B. Airy's paper on reduction.

Reference number
HS/18/16
Earliest possible date
10 December 1864
Page extent
4 pages
Format
Manuscript
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Creator name

John Frederick William Herschel

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Citation

John Frederick William Herschel, Copy letter, from Sir John Herschel to James Thomas Walker, dated at Collingwood, 10 December 1864, HS/18/16, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/hs_18_16/copy-letter-from-sir-john-herschel-to-james-thomas-walker-dated-at-collingwood, accessed on 05 March 2026

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  • Herschel Letters

    This collection of nearly 10,900 letters, drafts, copies and notes is the largest repository of scientific correspondence from and to Sir John Herschel, leading figure of Victorian science.

    Dates: 1807 - 1875

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