Description
Physics - Benzenberg, Johann Friedrich. Experiments on the law of gravity, on the resistance of air and on the rotation of the earth, together with the history of all earlier experiments from Galileo to Guglielmini. With engraved title with vignette and 8 (2 folded) copper plates. Dortmund, Gebr. Mallinckrodt, 1804. XII, 542 p., 1 leaf. 20.5 x 12.5 cm. Contemporary paperback with old handwritten label on spine (rubbed and bumped). First edition of one of the major works of the versatile Rhenish physicist. Poggendorff I, 145 - NDB II, 60 - Benzenberg (1777-1846) conducted his experiments in the tower of St. Michael's Church in Hamburg and in the shaft of the coal mine in Schlebusch. In doing so, he provided proof that the earth rotates, as the physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton had already pointed out in 1679. But he wanted to be on the safe side and sent his results to the astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers. He in turn called in the famous mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. The latter developed a theory about the movement of heavy bodies on the rotating earth. His calculations resulted in an easterly deviation of 8.7 millimetres: confirmation of the experiments in the Michel. - One of the copper plates shows an exterior view of St. Michael's Church in Hamburg, the others mainly show instruments. - Plates 2 to 8 are printed on bluish paper. - Some spotting, the frontispiece with a tear in the margin, the first few quires with a vertical crease. VAT: *
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Physics - Benzenberg, Johann Friedrich. Experiments on the law of gravity, on the resistance of air and on the rotation of the earth, together with the history of all earlier experiments from Galileo to Guglielmini. With engraved title with vignette and 8 (2 folded) copper plates. Dortmund, Gebr. Mallinckrodt, 1804. XII, 542 p., 1 leaf. 20.5 x 12.5 cm. Contemporary paperback with old handwritten label on spine (rubbed and bumped). First edition of one of the major works of the versatile Rhenish physicist. Poggendorff I, 145 - NDB II, 60 - Benzenberg (1777-1846) conducted his experiments in the tower of St. Michael's Church in Hamburg and in the shaft of the coal mine in Schlebusch. In doing so, he provided proof that the earth rotates, as the physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton had already pointed out in 1679. But he wanted to be on the safe side and sent his results to the astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers. He in turn called in the famous mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. The latter developed a theory about the movement of heavy bodies on the rotating earth. His calculations resulted in an easterly deviation of 8.7 millimetres: confirmation of the experiments in the Michel. - One of the copper plates shows an exterior view of St. Michael's Church in Hamburg, the others mainly show instruments. - Plates 2 to 8 are printed on bluish paper. - Some spotting, the frontispiece with a tear in the margin, the first few quires with a vertical crease. VAT: *
