Opera Omnia is the collected works, published posthumously in 1574, of the Italian poet and scientist Girolamo Fracastoro. The book is part of the collection of Silvanus P. Thompson purchased in 1917 by the IET. Thompson was an avid collector... Continue Reading →
Ella Mulliri is our guest blogger this month. She worked with us in the IET Library and Archives over the summer and brings her knowledge of composition and music generally to looking at the pamphlet collection of Silvanus P. Thompson.... Continue Reading →
‘The science of the judgments of the stars’: an early manuscript from the IET’s rare book collection
By Anne Locker, Library and Archives Manager The Hand List of the Library of Magnetic and Electrical Books in the Possession of Silvanus Phillips Thompson is the earliest record we have of the S P Thompson Library, acquired by the... Continue Reading →
By Anne Locker What connects meteorology, the siege of Paris and the first air mail deliveries? A book in the IET Library’s S P Thompson Study Collection, Thunder and Lightning by Wilfrid de Fonvielle. Thunder and Lightning (1868) The original... Continue Reading →
By Anne Locker The electrical engineer and physicist Silvanus Phillips Thompson had an impressive and varied professional career. He became a professor at the University of Bristol in 1878 in his late twenties. He was the first Principal of Finsbury... Continue Reading →
Isolario, Book of Islands, is the best-known work of Venetian cartographer and miniaturist Benedetto Bordone. It was originally printed in Venice in 1528 by Nicolo Zappino, but the edition held by the IET is from a later printing in 1534.... Continue Reading →
By Anne Locker The development of electricity for medical therapy and devices dates back to the beginnings of the science of electromagnetism and the beginnings of modern medicine. In 1791, Luigi Galvani discovered the role electricity plays in the body... Continue Reading →
With the arts gaining importance in the teaching of STEM subjects (now abbreviated to STEAM) it is prudent to remember that historically visual art worked alongside and complimented many scientific compositions. The teaching of the arts in STEM subjects has... Continue Reading →
The physicist and bibliophile Silvanus P Thompson is better known for his work on electric motors and the early history of electromagnetism. His library, now held at the IET, shows his interest in all areas of physics, especially optics... Continue Reading →
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