Accession No
3102
Brief Description
prism train, three prisms, from spectrograph, by Adam Hilger, English, c. 1890
Origin
England; London
Maker
Adam Hilger
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1890
Latest Date
1890
Inscription Date
Material
glass; metal (brass)
Dimensions
triangle side 134mm; height 80mm holder length 135mm; breadth 150mm; height 95mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Transferred from Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, 12/1983. Transferred from Solar Physics Observatory, South Kensington to Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge in 1913.
Inscription
Description Notes
Prism train, 3 prisms, from spectrograph by Hilger, c. 1890.
Three 60˚ glass prisms, black on 3 sides and number in paint: ‘1’; ‘2’; ‘3’. 3 brass mounts similarly numbered and marked:
1. ‘S &A.D. [Science and Art Dept]
AST.LAB [Astrophysics]
LAB
59
S.P.O. [Solar Physics Observatory]
28H.’
2. ‘RCSc [Royal College of Science]
DS & A
AST LAB
59
SPO 28.’
3. as for no. 1 but 281 at end.
Condition
References
Events
Description
Prism
A prism consists of a translucent piece of glass or crystal, usually triangular in cross section, which is used to separate light into a spectrum of its separate colours.
The instrument works because different wavelengths of light are refracted (bent) by different amounts as they enter and leave the prism; the shorter wavelengths (towards the blue end of the spectrum) are refracted by the greatest amount, and the longer wavelengths (towards the red end) are refracted the least. This spreads out normal white light, which is a mixture of all the different colours, into its constituent parts and produces the rainbow effect of a spectrum.
18/10/2002
Created by: Saffron Clackson on 18/10/2002
FM:43413
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