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

Diagrams, apparatus and graphs of magnetic rotation by [Charles Babbage]

Reference number: PT/73/12/17

Date: 1826

Description

Plate 19, figures 1-5 with an additional struck-out draft of figure 2. Figure 1 shows an apparatus constructed by Babbage to study magnetic revolution. Figures 2-4 show graphs of magnetic rotation. Figure 5 shows a needle made of thin sheet brass. An ink inscription next to the draft of figure 2 reads 'Query whether this figure is to stand or not'. An inscription in the middle of the page in red ink reads 'All the red ink lines are to be dotted over'. Inscribed with publication and plate details. Not signed. Royal Society stamp verso. Watermarked 'Smith 1819'.

Subject: Physics

Published in Philosophical Transactions as part of paper titled 'On electrical and magnetic rotations' by Charles Babbage.

Read to the Royal Society on 15 June 1826.

Reference number
PT/73/12/17
Earliest possible date
1826
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
1 page
Format
Diagram

Creator name

Charles Babbage

View page for Charles Babbage

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

Charles Babbage, Diagrams, apparatus and graphs of magnetic rotation by [Charles Babbage], 1826, PT/73/12/17, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/pt_73_12_17/diagrams-apparatus-and-graphs-of-magnetic-rotation-by-charles-babbage, accessed on 15 September 2026

Link to this record

https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/pt_73_12_17/diagrams-apparatus-and-graphs-of-magnetic-rotation-by-charles-babbage

Embed this record

<iframe src="https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/embed/items/pt_73_12_17/diagrams-apparatus-and-graphs-of-magnetic-rotation-by-charles-babbage" title="Diagrams, apparatus and graphs of magnetic rotation by [Charles Babbage]" allow="fullscreen" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="500px"></iframe>

Related Publications

Related Records

Hierarchy

This item is part of:

Related Fellows

Explore the collection

  • Philosophical Transactions

    The 'Philosophical Transactions' collection comprises manuscript versions of papers published in The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, the world’s first and longest continuously running journal dedicated to science.

    Dates: 1802 - 1865

    View collection