Accession No
3464
Brief Description
two-prism brass table spectroscope, by John Browning, English, 1875
Origin
England
Maker
Browning, John
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1875
Latest Date
1875
Inscription Date
Material
glass; metal (brass); wood
Dimensions
box height 465mm; breadth 240mm; depth 233mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Peter Delehar, London, England.
Inscription
Description Notes
Two-prism brass table spectroscope, by John Browning, English, 1875.
Two prism brass spectroscope with 2 spare hollow prisms (for liquids) all in a wooden case with a lock top handle and a drawer at the bottom with a brass knob.
Condition: good.
References
Events
Description
Spectroscope
In 1814 Joseph von Fraunhofer noticed that the sun’s spectrum, when dispersed by a glass prism, is crossed by hundreds of fine dark lines. These lines could be used to determine the chemical composition of the sun, stars and many other substances by spectral analysis. The first photograph of the spectrum of a star (Vega) was made by Henry Draper using a spectroscope in 1872.
There are various different forms of spectroscope, but all use a slit and collimator to make a parallel beam of light, a prism for dispersing different wavelengths and a telescope to observe the dispersed spectrum.
18/10/2002
Created by: Saffron Clackson on 18/10/2002
FM:44810
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