Jonathan Homer Lane

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Jonathan Homer Lane (born August 9, 1819 in Geneseo , New York , † May 3, 1880 in Washington, DC ) was an American astrophysicist and inventor .

Life

Lane came from a farming family and received much of his early education from his parents. From 1839 on he attended Phillips' Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire . In 1846 he completed his subsequent studies in mathematics at Yale University .

After brief activities as a teacher and with the Coast Survey (a predecessor of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ), he accepted a position in the patent office in 1848, where he remained until 1857 as a principal examiner. After quitting there for political reasons, he opened a patent attorney's office in Washington and pursued this activity for a few years. During this time he began to build devices, including an electrical machine that was able to determine the real roots of polynomials, and an optical telegraph. He was also interested in the mathematical relationships between induction, but probably never finished his experiments.

In 1860 Lane moved to Pennsylvania, where new oil fields were opened in Venange County and thus better earning opportunities existed than in Washington. In 1866 he returned to devote himself to science, initially together with his long-time friend Joseph Henry . He worked experimentally with absolute temperature zero and in 1870 with the mercury column for the Office of Weights and Measures, for which he had worked since 1869. In the same year his research on the temperature of the sun and its internal structure appeared. These investigations into the thermodynamic structure of a self-gravitating gas ball should make him the founder of the theory of star evolution, together with Robert Emden he is the namesake of the Lane-Emden equation . Their solutions provide the temperature and density curve in such a simplified star model and also allow the star radius to be calculated, at which the thermodynamic pressure and gravity are in balance.

At the same time Lane dealt with the effects of tidal forces and the coefficient of linear expansion of the British Standard Yard.

His contemporaries saw him as a slow, conscientious person who used to express himself carefully and mathematically precisely. He remained single all his life.

In 1872 Lane was elected to the National Academy of Sciences .

The lunar crater Lane (9 ° 30′S 132 ° 00′E / 9.5 ° S 132.0 ° E) bears his name.

Publications

  • On the law of electric conduction in metals. - At the. Jour. Sci., 1846 (2), I, 230-241.
  • Notice of a novel mode of discharging a Leyden battery, with an explanation of its theory. - At the. Jour. Sci., 1849 (2), VII, 418-419.
  • On the law of the induction of an electrical current upon itself and of electrical discharges in straight wires. - Proc. At the. Assoc. Adv. Sci. Charleston, 1850, III, 359-361.
  • On the law of the induction of an electric current upon itself when developed in a straight prismatic conductor, and of discharges of machine electricity through straight wires. - At the. Jour. Sci., 1851 (2), XI, 17-35.
  • A visual method of effecting a precise automatic comparison of time between distant stations. - At the. Jour. Sci., 1860 (2), XXIX, 43-49.
  • On a mode of employing instantaneous photography as a means for the accurate determination of the path and velocity of a shooting star, with a view to the determination of its orbit. - At the. Jour. Sci., 1860 (2), XX, '42-45. - Jour. Photogr. Soc, 1860, VI, 302-304.
  • On the physical constitution of the sun (title only). Report Nat. Acad. Sci., Washington, April 15, 1869.
  • Report to Mr. Hilgard of observations on the total solar eclipse as observed at Des Moines, Iowa, August 7, 1869 (dated August 28, 1869). - Coast Survey Rep., 1869, 42, 167-169.
  • On observations of the eclipse of the sun made at Des Moines, Iowa, August 7, 1869. A report, dated August 28, 1869, to the Superintendent of yie United States Naval Observatory. Published in Astr. & Met. Obs. US Naval Observatory, 1867, append. II, 165-173.
  • On the theoretical temperature of the sun, under the hypothesis of a gaseous mass maintaining its volume by its internal heat and depending on the laws of gases as known to terrestrial experiments. - At the. Jour. Sci., 1870 (2), L, 57-74.
  • Description of a new form of mercurial horizon, in which the vibrations are speedily extinguished. - Proc. At the. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Troy, 1870, XIX, 59-61.
  • Report to Professor Benjamin Peirce, superintendent, on observations of the total solar eclipse observed at Catania, Sicily, on December 21, 1870. - Coast Survey Rep., 1870, 120-125.
  • Description of a new form of mercurial horizon [invented for the use of the Office of Weights and Measures, in the report of which its uses will be mentioned, but the description of the apparatus is given in the report of the Coast Survey]. - Coast Survey Report, 1871, II, 181-192.
  • On the determination of the volume of a sphere (title only). - Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., New York, October 30, 1873.
  • On the coefficient of expansion of the British standard yard, bar bronze No. 11, being a new discussion of the experiment of Sheepshanks and of Clarke. - Report C. and G. Survey, 1877, 148, 155-166.

(This is chapter XV of the report of JE Hilgard on the comparison of American and British standard yards, dated July 10, 1880, Append. XII, C. and G-. Survey Report, 1877.)

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Memoir by Jonathan Homer Lane by Cleveland Abbe
  2. ↑ Report of the Superintendent of the US Coast Survey Showing the Progress of the Survey During the Year 1871 ( Memento of the original dated June 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / docs.lib.noaa.gov
  3. ^ Lane, JH, "On the Theoretical Temperature of the Sun," 1870, American Journal of Science.
  4. ^ "On the Means of Measuring the Tidal Change in the Direction of the Plumb-line and the Tidal Deflection of the Earth's Crust", 1874, not published, see Abbe's memoir
  5. ^ "Coefficient of Expansion of the British Standard Yard," Report of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1877, 148, 155-166
personal data
SURNAME Lane, Jonathan Homer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astrophysicist and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH Geneseo , New York
DATE OF DEATH May 3, 1880
Place of death Washington, DC