Leslie, Sir John (1766-1832)

Contains five letters - Bordeaux, 3/9/1814, Edinburgh, 27/10/1821, 15/4/1822, 6/10/1823, London, 17/8/1825, addressed to D.F.J. Arago (1786-1853), a French astronomer. They relate to the Polarisation of light - his travels through France, Switzerland and Italy. Also contains three other letters: one to Michael Faraday (1791-1867), Leith 1/11/1823, relating to the death of Mr Stodart; one to Mr Sheriff (a painter), no date given; and one to Captain Bain, Coates, 16/10/1830.

1814-1830

1 File

The majority of the items were purchased from Desgranges, Paris, June 1930 (acc.67390); the letter to Faraday was purchased from Stevens, London, March 1931 (acc.56477). Acquisition details for the last two items are unknown.

Sir John Leslie was a mathematician and natural philosopher, born in Largo, Fifeshire. He was educated at the universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh. He researched heat transfer and was the first to create artificial ice using an air pump (1810). He published several papers, most notably one entitled "Experimental inquiry in to the nature and properties of heat" in 1804.