Accession No
4508
Brief Description
direct vision spectroscope, by Nachet, French, 1880 (c)
Origin
France
Maker
Nachet
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1880
Latest Date
1880
Inscription Date
Material
metal; brass; bakelite; glass
Dimensions
height 258mm; length 98mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Perret Antiquites in 1990.
Inscription
‘Nachet’ (spectroscope tube)
‘CHAIRE DE PHARMACIE
Invent. Spec. No 99’ (paper label on stand)
Description Notes
Brass spectroscope on brass stand supported by three black bakelite feet. Slit with brass jaws, width adjustable by knurled ring. Brass barrel with screw-in eyepiece. Slit on long push-fit draw tube. Knurled ring on stand to allow rotation of spectroscope.
Paper label on stand and two labels on base.
Condition good; complete
References
Events
Description
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. Direct vision spectroscopes consist of a series of prisms of different refractive indices arranged to produce dispersion of light without deviation.
18/10/2002
Created by: Saffron Clackson on 18/10/2002
FM:40539
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