Radiometers as buttonholes: the extraordinary material legacy of William Crookes

View Radiometers as buttonholes: the extraordinary material legacy of William Crookes

Presenter: Jane Weiss

Published: December 2012

Age: 14-19 and upwards

Views: 1787 views

Tags: radiometer crookes

Type: Lectures

Source/institution: Royal Society


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William Crookes was a physicist, chemist, entrepreneur and spiritualist.  Being a consummate experimenter he designed precision instruments of great delicacy, in particular exquisite glass vacuum tubes. The radiometer, when first exhibited in 1875, took the scientific world by storm, and became his trade mark. Other artefacts in the  Science Museum collection include a spiral model of the periodic table of elements, sun spectacles, and a portrait of his medium Florence Cook. His train of thought has been recorded not only through his scientific papers but through the development of his beautiful instruments.Dr Jane Wess, Science Museum, London