Re: Historic Scientific Instruments (Attn: Allan Adler)

Nomen Nescio <nobody@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

I don't know why I bother posting this, but here goes:

I too have things I don't know why I bother posting. The most recent one
is a pair of postings I sent to sci.physics and a single variant to
sci.stat.math dealing with the treatment of data on thermionic emission in
the book of Melissinos, "Experiments in Modern Physics". I refrained from
posting it here since it is physics, not chemistry. On the other hand, it has
to do with 40 year old data obtained using an old General Electric FP-400
tube, which was specially designed for this kind of experiment. Among its
interesting features are a pure tungsten filament of precisely specified
dimensions and a hole in the anode so one can get a clear view of the
center of the filament for temperature measurements by optical methods.
I could be mistaken but I think that Langmuir may have used this tube.

My problem is with Table 3.1 of the book of Melissinos and posted enough
information that people can check the computation of the values of I_0
from I_s. I have a further problem with the derivation of Table 3.1 from
Fig.3.14, which I could not display; so, people are also invited to
look at the book and check that point, which I also asked about in
my respective postings.

If anyone feels up to dealing with these question, please reply to my
postings on sci.physics or sci.stat.math. So far, there have been no
replies. It's a little demoralizing to have to ask for help with what
is, in effect, just arithmetic with a pocket calculator. But I would
find it reassuring to have a second opinion, no matter how elementary
the issues really are. The first posting to sci.physics mentions Table 3.1
of Melissinos in the subject line and has a typo in it which I corrected
in a follow up and provided additional necessary information. The posting
to sci.stat.math has a subject line containing the phrase
40 year old data

http://www.chemheritage.org/pubs/magazine/index.html
Chemical Heritage Magazine
Spring 2008, Vol 26, No 1.
Revolutionary Instruments
By Horton A. Johnson

In 1788, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and Jacques-Louis
David were introduced during a sitting for the illustrious
scientist's portrait. The two men would go very separate
ways in the political revolution that followed, but the

Actually, Lavoisier and his head would go separate ways in the
political revolution that followed.

rencontre yielded an immense canvas still regarded as one
of the greatest portraits of the 18th century. [...]

AA: You can get Chem Heritage at a lot of decent public
libraries as well as university libraries. And I think
you should try to visit the CHF museum in Philly or any
other sci instrument museum close to wherever you are and
talk to the staff members. I think that THEY would want
to talk to YOU!

I am pretty sure they would not want to talk to me, since I really
have nothing useful to say. I'm full of ignorant questions and have
no training in history of science or of scientific instruments. I'm
not very good at science itself either. I just like the subjects and
do what little I can to study them.

Although we have different opinions about whether the museum staff members
would want to talk to me, these opinions can be subjected to a scientific
test as soon as we can figure out an objective measure of how badly they
would want to talk to me. This is something economists do all the time to
measure demand. For example, would the museum staff be willing to hire me as
a consultant at $500/hr, plus expenses, to be able to talk to me? If not, we
can try other figures until we have obtained a scientific measure.

My guess is that, not only would they not want to talk to me at any price,
but they have no idea who I am.
--
Ignorantly,
Allan Adler <ara@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT CSAIL. My actions and
* comments do not reflect in any way on MIT. Also, I am nowhere near Boston.
.

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