Photographic Mapping of the Solar Spectrum 1864–1900,Part II

For this work in Baltimore see, in particular, the articles in the Astrophysical journal , xi (1900) by Jewell Lewis E. : “Spectroscopic notes: Absolute wave-lengths, spectroscopic determinations of motions in the line of sight, and other related subjects”, pp. 234–40, “Photographic notes”, pp. 240–3, and “The use of the lines of titanium for comparison spectra and their prominence in the chromosphere”, pp. 243–4, as well as Section 6 of the present article.

Vogel Wilhelm Hermann , “New photographic spectroscopical observations”, Photographic news , xviii (1874), 153. See also Vogel , Practische Spectralanalyse irdischer Stoffe (ref. 62); Eder , History of photography (ref. 4), chaps. 64–66; Klein Henry O. , The applications of collodion emulsion to three-colour photography, process work, isochromatic photography and spectrographic work (London, 1910) for the rapid progress made in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. On Vogel H. W. , see Heineck Friedrich , Hermann Wilhelm Vogel (Leipzig, 1984).

Vogel , Practische Spectralanalyse irdischer Stoffe 2nd edn (ref. 62), 153–4; see also Vogel , ibid. , for his recommendation for all interested persons to join one of the photographic societies “to protect him from quackery”.

Such as, for instance, the Philadelphia photographer , i (1864) or the Photographic news , i (1858). For a list of the most important journals and their years of appearance, see Harrison Jerome W. , “Contributions to the bibliography of photography”, Photographic news , class II, periodicals, xxx (1886), 9–10, 65–66, 113–15, 242–3, 274–5, 361–3, 436–8, 749, 779–80; xxxi (1887), 214–15, 270, 284, 365–6; xxxii (1888), 53–54, 75–76, 107–8, 154, 210–11, 347, 423–4, especially pp. 53–54; and Johnson William S. , Nineteenth-century photography: An annotated bibliography, 1839–1879 (London, 1990), pp. xiii–xv. For a list of late nineteenth-century photographic societies see Welling , Collector's guide to nineteenth-century photographs (ref. 21), 143–73.

See Dieke Sally H. , “Abney, William de Wiveleslie”, Dictionary of scientific biography , i (1970), 21–22, p. 21; Abney's process was based on a mixture of freshly beaten egg whites, liquid ammonia, pyrogallic acid and bitter ale added to ordinary collodion. Since beer could be substituted for the ale and dried albumen for the eggwhite when fresh eggs were unavailable, the process also came to be known as the beer albumen process.

de Wiveleslie Abney William , “Photography at the least refrangible end of the spectrum”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , xxxviii (1878), 348–51, p. 350 (also in The photographic journal , ii (1878), 80–85); more detailed but not much clearer explanations of Abney's procedures and his idiosyncratic atomic model are given in his article “On the photographic method of mapping the least refrangible end of the solar spectrum”, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society , clxxi (1880), 653–67 and Plates 30–32, and together with Festing E. R. , “On the influence of the atomic grouping in the molecules of the organic bodies on their absorption in the infrared region of the spectrum”, ibid. , clxxii (1881), 887–918.

For other early efforts in infrared photography see, e.g., Waterhouse James , “Photographs on glass of the solar spectrum showing the extreme red rays”, Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 1874/75 (1875), 198–200; Waterhouse J. , “Photographs of the red end of the spectrum”, British journal of photography , xxxvi (1889), 685–6, who worked with dry collodiobromide of silver plates stained with aniline and alizarine blue (C₁₇H₉NO₄), obtaining up to λ 8,400; in the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences : Pickering William H. , “Photography of the infra-red region of the solar spectrum”, xx (1884/85), 474–7, and Burbank J. C. B. , “Photography of the last refrangible portion of the solar spectrum”, xxiii (1887), 301–4 (Burbank worked with special preparations of quinoline blue (cyanin) and sulphate of quinine, obtaining up to λ 9,900).

According to Fehrenbach Charles , “Twentieth-century instrumentation”, in Gingerich Owen (ed.), The general history of astronomy , iv: Astrophysics and 20th-century astronomy to 1950 , Part A (Cambridge, 1984), 166–85, p. 167, where he notes that beyond this limit thermal noise in the emulsion prevents further extensions of the spectral sensitivity.

Kayser Heinrich , Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben , reprint of 1936 typescript, ed. by Dörries Matthias Hentschel Klaus (Munich, 1996), p. 215 of original typescript.

See Frederick William Herschel John , “The action of the solar spectrum upon certain compounds of silver”, Photographic news , ii (1859), 229–30, p. 229: “it made all the difference in the world which solution was laid on over the other” (orig. emphasis suppressed).

[ Crookes William ], “The solar spectrum”, Photographic news , ii (1859), 253–4, 266–7 (comment on Herschel, ibid. 267 (emphasis orig). Crookes's hypothetical reason for this systematic discrepancy is differences in exposure times and intensity.

See the papers by Schumann Victor : “Ueber Erythrosinsilberplatten”, Photographische Mittheilungen , xxvi (1889), 240–4, “Über die Photographie der Lichtstrahlen kleinster Wellenlänge”, Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften , (2a) Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Klasse (1893), 415–75, 625–94, and “Ueber ein verbessertes Verfahren zur Herstellung ultraviolett-empfindlicher Platten”, Annalen der Physik , 4th ser., v (1901), 349–74; cf. also Lyman Theodore , Spectroscopy of the extreme ultra-violet (Monographs on Physics, 4; New York and London, 1914), and Tousey R. , “The extreme ultraviolet — past and future”, Applied optics , i (1962), 679–94, pp. 679–80.

For the original map, see Rowland , Photographic map of the solar spectrum (ref. 53). On the theory of this instrument see, e.g., Rowland , “On concave gratings for optical purposes” (ref. 72), Ames Sweetman Joseph , “The concave grating in theory and practice”, Johns Hopkins University circulars , viii (1889), no. 73, 69–73 and plate; Glazebrook , Physical optics 6th edn (ref. 72), 203–5; and Preston Thomas , The theory of light 1st edn (London and New York, 1890), 194–6. On the research practice with this device see the publications by Hentschel Klaus : “The discovery of the redshift of solar Fraunhofer lines by Rowland and Jewell in Baltimore around 1890”, Historical studies in the physical sciences , xxii (1993), 219–77, and Zum Zusammenspiel von Instrument, Experiment und Theorie: Die Rotverschiebung im Sonnenspektrum und verwandte spektrale Verschiebungseffekte, von 1880 bis 1960 (Hamburg, 1998), chaps. 2–3.

According to a separate undated two-page advertisement sheet among the Rowland papers, The Johns Hopkins University Archive, ms. 6, ser. 4, Box 35, Rowland at the time estimated that the error due to accidental displacement of the scale “at no parts exceeds 1/50,000 of the whole”; in Rowland Augustus Henri , “On the relative wave-lengths of the lines of the solar spectrum”, American journal of science , 3rd ser., xxxiii (1887), 182–90, p. 183, he claims a probable error of relative determinations of 1/500,000 and “at least ten times the accuracy of any other determination”. Cf., e.g., Huggins , “Celestial spectroscopy” (ref. 18), 71, and Hentschel , “The discovery of the redshift…” (ref. 94), 270–2, for evidence that this precision was dramatically overestimated.

Rowland , “On the relative wave-lengths” (ref. 95).

Ibid. ; slightly abbreviated versions of this text also appeared in scientific journals such as, e.g., The observatory , ix (1886), 203; cf. also Pickering, “Comparison of maps of the ultra-violet spectrum” (ref. 53), and Section 3 of the present article, for a comparison with the ultraviolet part of Rowland's map with those by Draper and Cornu: See Draper , “On diffraction-spectrum photography” (ref. 34) and Cornu , “Sur le spectre normale du soleil…” (ref. 53).

Rowland Augustus Henri , Photographie map of the normal solar spectrum, made with the concave grating. 2nd series (Baltimore, 1888). For an advertisement, see The Johns Hopkins University circulars , 1889, nos. 73, 80; and Rowland H. A. , “Photographic map of the normal solar spectrum”, American journal of science , xxxvii (1889), 240–1.

One archive with both series among its holdings is The Johns Hopkins University Archive; another is the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

See the documentation in Hentschel , “The discovery of the redshift…” (ref. 94), as well as, e.g., Wood R. W. to George Russell Harrison, January 1949, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Archive, Mc60, Box 2, folder Wood: “Jewell had been Rowland's assistant since 1887 (about), partly concerned with the operation of the [ruling] machine, I think, but chiefly with the photography of the solar spectrum and measurements of λs”. Cf. also William Frederick Meggers to Jewell L. E. , 8 January 1919 (carbon copy in Meggers papers, American Institute of Physics, Box 1): “I understand that you did the major portion of the work in preparing Rowland's Table.”.

See the laboratory notebooks among the Rowland papers in the Archive of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, ms. 6, ser. 4, Box 25, which document the work not of Rowland himself, but of his assistant Jewell, whose notes on emulsion tests for the recording of spectra have been preserved (see the notebook entries for 9 January 1883, 24 and 26 April (no year), 19 December 1889).

See Jewell , “Photographic notes” (ref. 82), 241–2, for the details on his developer which was widely used by other spectroscopists (such as, e.g., Uhler Scudder Horace Wood Williams Robert , Atlas of absorption spectra (Carnegie Institution of Washington publ. no. 71; Washington, D.C., 1907), 6); hydro-kinone (as it was also spelled) as a substitute for the ordinary alkaline developers was first suggested in William de Wiveleslie Abney, “A new developer [hydroquinone]”, Photographic news , xxiv (1880), 345–6.

See the advertisement of the second series as printed, e.g., in The Johns Hopkins University circulars (ref. 98).

Ibid. .

Ibid. .

See Rowland , “Photographic map of the normal solar spectrum” (ref. 98), 240.

Papers Rowland , The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, ms. 6, ser. 2, Box 15 (also in the handwriting of his assistant Lewis E. Jewell).

See Pickering E. C. to Murray N. , the publication agent of The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 21 July 1888, in Harvard University Archive, UAV 630.14, Box A8, no. 183 and 19 February 1889, no. 493 in which a bill for $18 for the first set is mentioned, with a 10% reduction for subscribers to the old 1886 edition; see Rowland , “Photographic map of the normal solar spectrum” (ref. 98), 240, and also p. 241 there for the two extra plates of the B and D lines, each 3 × 2 feet in size, suitable for framing, as well as Pickering to Gibbs, 12 July 1886, Harvard University Archive, UAV 630.14, Box A6, no. 459.

See Turner H. F. N. , “Frank McClean”, Proceedings of the Royal Society , lxxviii (1904), pp. xix–xxiii, esp. p. xx; H. P. H., “McClean, Frank”, Dictionary of national biography , suppl., ii (1939), 505–6, p. 505; and Turner Hall Herbert , “Frank McClean”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , lxv (1905), 338–42, p. 340: “he always worked alone, never employing an assistant of any kind…. He not only took all the original negatives himself, but made all the enlarged reproductions of the early work, for distribution. It was only in later years and with obvious reluctance, that he yielded to pressure and enlisted the services of a firm of professional photographers to make these reproductions”.

McClean even continued the former numbering, labelling his plates VII to XIII, counting from the section containing D towards the violet: See McClean Frank , “Photographs of the red end of the solar spectrum from the line (D) to the line (A) in seven sections”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , xlix (1889), 122–3 and Plate VII, p. 122.

Ibid. 123.

Ibid. 123 and Plate 7, misleadingly labelled “The A group of the solar spectrum. Photographed by F. McClean”, thus ignoring Wesley's W. H. lithographic work, and mentioning only the printing company Stanford E. in London.

See McClean Frank , “Parallel photographs of the sun, of iron, and of iridium, from the line (H) to near the line (D), in six sections”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , xlix (1889), 386–9.

See above, ref. 109.

See McClean Frank , Comparative photographic spectra of the high sun and low sun from (H) to (A) (London, 1890); Comparative photographic spectra of the sun and metals 2nd ser. (London, 1891); and Thollon Louis , “Nouveau dessin du spectre solaire”, Annales de l'Observatoire de Nice , iii (1890), pp. A1-A112 and “Atlas: Spectre solaire de M. Thollon” with 17 plates. Cf. also Pickering's C. E. order to McClean in Tunbridge Wells, England, 16 December 1890, Harvard University Archive, UAV 680.14, Box A10, no. 667.

McClean Frank , “Comparative photographic spectra of the sun and the metals. Series I and II”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , lii (1891), 22–23, p. 23.

On Higgs , see the obituaries in The daily post & mercury , Liverpool, Saturday, 19 December 1914, and in The Liverpool echo of the same date, as well as the unpublished master's thesis submitted to the University of Liverpool in 1996 by Laurie Brock, The life and works of George Higgs.

According to Perry S. J. , “The photographic solar spectrum”, British journal of photography , xxxv (1888), 387–8, p. 388, this set of spectral photographs (a copy given to the Royal Astronomical Society) consists of four maps, three 12 inches long, and the fourth not more than 7.76 inches, with an average dispersion of approx. 10Å/cm.

Higgs George , “On the bisulphite compounds of alizarin-blue and cœrulin as sensitizers for rays of low refrangibility”, Proceedings of the Royal Society , xlix (1891), 345–6.

Perry S. J. , “Further progress in spectroscopic photography”, British journal of photography , xxxvi (1889), 52–53, p. 53; likewise Huggins, “Celestial spectroscopy” (ref. 18), 71, praises the “technical beauty” of Higgs's photographs.

Perry , “The photographic solar spectrum” (ref. 118), 388.

Ibid. Cf. also Ranyard A. C. , “On some recent advances in the mapping of the solar spectrum”, Knowledge [London], 1 Sept. 1890, 21.

See, e.g., Glazebrook , Physical optics 6th edn (ref. 72), 207–8; Hentschel , “The discovery of the redshift…” (ref. 94); and Hentschel , Zum Zusammenspiel von Instrument, Experiment und Theorie … (ref. 94), chap. 2 on the difference between Rowland's and Higgs's mountings, the latter more commonly known as a Paschen mounting. According to Prof. Bowden Alan (University of Liverpool), Higgs's Rowland-type grating is now in the Physical Science Collection and is on display in the Space Gallery.

See Higgs George , A photographic atlas of the normal solar spectrum (Liverpool, 1894), 1st series in the photographic negatives' original size in 15 parts, 2nd series in two-fold enlargement in 45 parts, and a 3rd series in four-fold enlargement. In the following, I refer to the last, a copy of which I saw at the Wolbach Library of the Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass.; a copy of the second is kept in the Houghton Library at Harvard.

See, e.g., Higgs G. to Henry Crew, 5 January 1894 (American Institute of Physics, Crew correspondence), where he mentions the regular price of 8, 3, and 1 guineas for the four-fold, two-fold, and one-to-one enlargements of his negatives, and expresses his inclination to grant Crew a 20% reduction for his order.

Higgs George , Descriptive supplement (Liverpool, 1897)), 1 (suppl. to Higgs G. , The photographic normal solar spectrum (consecutive wavelength edition) (Liverpool, 1896)); cf. e.g., Higgs , “On the bisulphite compounds of alizarin-blue…” (ref. 119), 345 on a photograph of the second order around 3,300 Å coincident with the red end of the first order.

Higgs , Descriptive supplement 1; cf. also the brief description of Higgs's consecutive wavelength edition (ref. 126) in Astrophysical journal , vii (1898), 86–89, p. 86.

See Rowland Augustus Henri , Photographic map of the B and D lines and carbon bands of the solar spectrum (Baltimore, 1889), with 6 plates, for his detailed photographic map of these regions, which however contains no comment on its interpretation; and Ames , “The concave grating in theory and practice” (ref. 94). See Deslandres Henri , “Spectre du pôle négatif de l'azote: Loi générale de répartition des raies dans les spectres de bandes”, Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des Sciences , ciii (1886), 375–9, for evidence that Rowland tried unsuccessfully to fit a quadratic formula to the series.

Higgs George , “On the geometrical constructions of the oxygen absorption lines grade A, grade B, and α of the solar spectrum”, Proceedings of the Royal Society , liv (1893/94), 202–8, p. 202; an explicit link between Higgs's and Alexander Herschel's plots 10 years earlier is made in Herschel A. S. , “Some notes on the late Prof. Piazzi Smyth's work in spectroscopy”, Nature , lxii (1900), 161–5, p. 164; cf. also Brand John C. D. , Lines of light: The sources of dispersive spectroscopy, 1800–1930 (Amsterdam, 1995), 178–80.

For the traditional historiography see, e.g., McGucken , Nineteenth-century spectroscopy … (ref. 6), and Maier , The role of spectroscopy in the acceptance … (ref. 6). For more on the interplay of representational techniques and research practice see Hentschel , Mapping the spectrum … (ref. 54).

See, e.g., Hale George E. Pickering Charles E. , 21 September 1897, Harvard University Archive, UAV 630.17.7, Box 2, for a similar discussion of this issue between Hale, Arthur Schuster, and Carl Runge who “will here represent the ‘series’ men, who are the strongest objectors to our present arrangement”.

See Higgs , “On the geometrical constructions of the oxygen absorption lines…” (ref. 129), 202 and Higgs , The photographic normal solar spectrum (ref. 126), Plate 89.

See Rowland , Photographic map of the B and D lines … (ref. 128); Deslandres , “Spectre du pôle négatif de l'azote…” (ref. 128); Fortrat R. , “Structure des bandes telluriques dû à l'oxygène”, Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des Sciences , cliv (1912), 869–72; and Brand J. , Lines of light … (ref. 129), 178, for today's explanation of the fine structure of the atmospheric band.

Hale George E. Higgs G. , 28 October 1902 (American Institute of Physics, Hale correspondence): “Some time ago Prof. Langley kindly offered to lend me a battery [of rock salt prisms] for the purpose but I was unable to accept the offer. And as they frequently require refacing, it might be preferable to do that part of the work at Washington.”.

Hale George E. Higgs G. , 17 January 1903 (American Institute of Physics, Hale correspondence), cf. also the letters of 21 January, 4 February, and 6 August 1903 for further efforts by Hale Pickering E. C. Langley S. P. , and others to secure funds for Higgs. According to Brock, Life (ref. 117), 96, between 1889 and 1894 Higgs secured four £50 awards from the Government Grant Committee of the Royal Society for the production of his spectrum maps.

See, e.g., Higgs's letter to Henry Crew of 26 November 1906 (American Institute of Physics, Crew correspondence) in reply to another order: “I have been so extremely busy with my ordinary work that a great number of prints are now spoiling for want of toning and I shall have to make the model in overtime as I made the other, so I am afraid it will take a long time.”.

See St John Edward Charles , “Some results of the revision of the Rowland table”, Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific , xl (1928), 270–1; and Moore C. E. Minnaert M. G. J. Houtgast J. , The solar spectrum 2935 Å to 8770 Å: Second version of Rowland's preliminary table of solar spectrum wavelengths (Washington, D.C., 1966).

See, e.g., Hentschel , “The discovery of the redshift…” (ref. 94), or George Sweetman in Norton Wise (ed.) The values of precision (Princeton, 1995), 283–310.

Trowbridge Sabine , “Wave-lengths of metallic spectra in the ultra violet” (ref. 70), 291–2; cf., e.g., Lockyer J. N. Pickering C. E. , 3 May 1887, Harvard University Archive, UAV 680.17.8: “I have now made a numerous mass of observations on the coincidence of metallic lines with photographs of the solar spectrum from F to K. These I am about to reduce, using Rowland's map as a base”.

According to the prospectus published as a separate leaflet in 1886 and preserved in The Johns Hopkins University Archives, ms. 6, ser. 4, Box 35 (first series), and according to the advertisement of 1889 (ref. 98) as well as The American catalogue of books for the years 1884–90, referring to the year 1889 and the supplier Nicholas Murray (second series).

Kayser H. Hertz H. , 1 December 1890, Deutsches Museum, Munich, autograph no. 2954.

On Kayser's research in collaboration with the applied mathematician Carl Runge, see Richenhagen Gottfried , Carl Runge (1896–1927): Von der reinen Mathematik zur Numerik (Göttingen, 1985) and the editorial introduction to Kayser , Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben (ref. 90).

Kayser , op. cit. (ref. 141).

See Kayser Heinrich Runge Carl , “Über die Spektren der Elemente”, Abhandlungen der Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin , supplements: I, no. 3 (1888), 1–93; II, no. 1 (1889), 1–145; III, no. 1 (1890), 1–66; IV, no. 1 (1891), 1–72; V, no. 3 (1892), 1–28; VI, no. 3 (1893), 1–20; particularly suppl. I, for their atlas of the iron spectrum which covers the wavelength range 6,600–2,240 Å, and compare the latter with the plates in Eder Maria Josef Valenta Eduard , Beiträge zur Photochemie und Spectralanalyse (Vienna, 1904), and Buisson Henri Fabry Charles , “Spectre du fer”, Annales de la Faculté des Sciences, Marseille , xvii (1908), 3–11 and Plates I-VII (covering the wavelength region 6,680–2,350 Å, reproduced in phototype).

See on the following Henry Crew's publications: Note on the magnesium band (Chicago, 1895), Photographic map of the normal spectrum of the zinc arc (Evanston, Ill., 1896), and Photographic map of the normal spectrum of the aluminium arc (Evanston, Ill., 1903); and for the method used, see Crew H. Tatnall Robert H. , “On a new method for mapping the spectra of metals”, Philosophical magazine , 5th ser., xxxviii (1894), 379–86.

Cf. the correspondence between Crew H. Brashear J. A. , September-November 1892 (American Institute of Physics, Crew correspondence), for the concave grating and other instrumentation obtained via John A. Brashear's Astronomical and Physical Instrument Works in Allegheny, Pennsylvania.

Two are located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Archives; my sincere thanks to Mrs Fran O'Donnell for finding these two sets.

See Ångström Jonas Anders , Recherches sur le spectre solaire , text volume and atlas with six plates (Uppsala, 1868; Berlin, 1869); Cornu Alfred , Sur le spectre normal du soleil, partie ultraviolette (Paris, 1881); and Thollon , “Atlas…” (ref. 115), which was the last major effort to produce a lithographic map of a considerable portion of the solar spectrum. Cf. Hentschel, Mapping the spectrum … (ref. 54).

For instance, a copy of the Rowland atlas is to this day the only available map of the solar spectrum at the Hainberg solar tower, the principal training site for astrophysicists at Göttingen University. On the use of spectrum representations for teaching purposes, see Hentschel, ibid. .

The most important publication in this respect was the photometric atlas of the solar spectrum by Minnaert M. G. J. Mulders G. F. W. Houtgast J. , Photometric atlas of the solar spectrum from λ 3612 to λ 8771 with an appendix from λ 3332 to λ 3637 (Amsterdam, 1940).

For details of the history of photometrical methods see, e.g., Hearnshaw J. B. , The measurement of starlight: Two centuries of astronomical photometry (Cambridge, 1996); on the concomitant change in theoretical astrophysics, for which quantum mechanics offered an avenue to understanding not only line positions, but also line profiles see, e.g., Unsöld Albrecht , Physik der Sternatmosphären, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Sonne 1st edn (Berlin, 1938), 2nd edn (1955); DeVorkin David Kenat Ralph , “Quantum physics and the stars”, Journal for the history of astronomy , xiv (1983), 102–32, 180–222; xxi (1990), 157–86; and Hufbauer Karl , Exploring the Sun: Solar science since Galileo (Baltimore and London, 1991), 96–98.