Accession No
2090
Brief Description
portable direct-vision spectroscope, by John Browning, English, 1880 (c)
Origin
England; London; 63 Strand
Maker
Browning, John
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1880
Latest Date
1880
Inscription Date
Material
metal; brass; glass
Dimensions
minimum length 90mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Donated by an individual on 28/8/1975
Inscription
John Browning
63. Strand. London (tube)
Description Notes
Portable direct-vision spectroscope, by John Browning, English, c. 1880.
‘Browning’s New Miniature Spectroscope, with Micrometer’. Small direct vision spectroscope. Brass. Slit adjustable by milled ring. Sliding-focus eye-end with screw-in eyepiece. Eye-end also carries subsidiary tube with photographed micrometer scale on glass (sliding focus), reflected into field of view by prism. Covers for slit and subsidiary tube.
Leather cloth lined box.
Good condition
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:40383
Images (Click to view full size):
