- A very full account of Lichtenberg's life up to the year 1775 is contained in: Deneke Otto Lichtenberg erzählt sein Leben Munich 1944 This is the primary source for most of the biographical details mentioned in the text. A recent intellectual biography, which is worthy of special mention, is Franz H. Mautner, Lichtenberg: Geschichte seines Geistes (Berlin, 1968).
- In von Selle Götz Die Matrikel der Georg-August-Universität zu Göttingen Hildesheim and Leipzig 1937 1734–1837 one finds that 203 students enrolled for the first semester in 1763 as compared with 15 and 47 for 1761 and 1762 respectively.
- Full details of these visits are to be found in: Mare Margaret L. Quarrell W.H. Lichtenberg's Visits to England as described in his Letters and Diaries Oxford 1938
- Lichtenberg had previously written two reports—on an earthquake and on the 1769 transit of Venus—which appeared in the Göttingische Anzeigen von gelechrten Sachen 1767 401 403 and for 1769 (pp. 665–667) respectively.
- More details concerning Lichtenberg's geodetic work are to be found in Hahn Paul Georg Christoph Lichtenberg und die exakten Wissenschaften Göttingen 1927 16 20
- Lichtenberg , G.C. 1776 . Observationes Astronomicae per Annum 1772. Et 1773. Ad Situm Hannoverae, Osnabrugi et Stadae Determinandum Institutae . Novi Commentarii Societatis Regiae Scientiarum Gottingensis , 7 : 210 – 232 .
- Günther , Siegmund . 1889 . G. C. Lichtenberg und die Geophysik . Abhandlung der K.K. Geographischen Gesellschaft in Wien , 1 : 119 – 135 . tabulates the two independent sets of results on p. 123 of his article. Note that the longitudes are based upon the Paris meridian. 8m 31s must be added to the times quoted in this table if the Greenwich meridian were chosen as the standard of reference.
- Mayer , T. 1752 . Altitudo Poli Gottingensis . Commentarii Societatis Regiae Scientiarum Gottingensis , 1 : 446 – 448 .
- Mayer , T. 1753 . Nova Methodus perficiendi instrumenta geometrica. Et novum instrumentum goniometricum . Commentarii Societatis Regiae Scientiarum Gottingensis , 2 : 325 – 336 .
- Translated from Hahn Georg Christoph Lichtenberg und die exakten Wissenschaften Göttingen 1927 19 19
- Mayer describes this principle in Hahn Paul Georg Christoph Lichtenberg und die exakten Wissenschaften Cöttingen 1927 16 20 See also Eric G. Forbes ‘Tobias Mayer's New Astrolabe (1759): its Principles and Construction’, Ann. Sci., 1971, 27, 109–116.
- This is referred to in: Betr den Ankauf der Kupferstiche behuf einer Monds Charte von der verwitweten Profess: Mayern, 1763 Mayer's Personalakte Dekanate u. Universität-Archiv Göttingen Number 4/Vb 18
- Short abstracts of these lectures are contained in Göttingische Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen 1769 665 667 for these years
- P.M. from Lichtenberg to some Hanoverian government official, dated 2 March 1773 Betr den Ankauf der Kupferstiche behuf einer Monds Charte von der verwitweten Profess: Mayern, 1763 Mayer's Personalakte Dekanate u. Universität-Archiv Göttingen 28 28 Number 4/Vb 18 Lichtenberg gives a somewhat distorted account of these circumstances to Johann Heinrich Lambert in a letter from Stade dated 14 September 1773, where he says that he had been asked three months ago (viz. in June) to submit a written notice on the subject in question. See Johann Bernoulli, Johann Heinrich Lamberts deutscher gelehrter Briefwechsel, Berlin, 1782, vol. ii, pp. 457–458.
- It is hard to say just when Lichtenberg received, this assurance. He may have already been introduced to Maskelyne during his first visit to England in 1770, and since the latter had by then finished editing Mayer's ‘new improved,’ solar and lunar tables (cf. Verzeichniss der Handschriften im Preussischen Staate Berlin 1894 this would have been a natural topic for conversation. On the other hand, Mayer's eldest son—also christened Johann Tobias—had brought the matter to Maskelyne's attention in 1772 through a friend of a friend, and directly by writing to him himself (C. Bernoulli, loc. cit., foot-note 14, pp. 438–439; 444; and 448–449).
- The precise references to these respective abstracts are Göttingische Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen 1762 377 379 ibid., 1758, pp. 1385–1389; and ibid., 1759, pp. 314–316.
- 1773 . Von der hann. Regierung mit der Herausgabe nachgelassener Schriften Tob. Mayer's betraut . Scient. , : 100 – 100 . Nr. 2 in Akademie der Wissenschaften, Göttingen (cf. loc. cit., foot-note 12).
- Lichtenberg to Lambert, Stade, 14 September 1773 (cf. Bernoulli Betr den Ankauf der Kupferstiche behuf einer Monds Charte von der verwitweten Profess: Mayern, 1763 Mayer's Personalakte Dekanate u. Universität-Archiv Göttingen 458 458 in Number 4/Vb 18,
- Lichtenberg to Dieterich; Stade, 28 June, 1773, in Leitzmann A. Schuddekopf C. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg: Briefe Hildesheim 1966 i 142 142 Cf. letter 78,
- Lichtenberg to Kaltenhofer; Stade, 23 August, 1773 Leitzmann A. Schuddekopf C. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg: Briefe Hildesheim 1966 Letter 87, p. 162. In later years, however, Lichtenberg was to state a clear preference for the excellent copper ongraving made from the same drawing by Georg Heinrich Tischbein for Johann Hieronymus Schroter's Selenotopographische Fragmente, Lilienthal, 1797. Cf. Lichtenberg to Schröter; Göttingen, 21 April 1791. Ibid., vol. iii. Letter 589, p. 23.
- Lichtenberg to Kaltenhofer; Stade, 14 June 1773 Leitzmann A. Schuddekopf C. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg: Briefe Hildesheim 1966 i 135 135 Letter 74,
- The abstracts of these two treatises are contained in Göttingische Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen for 1755 1045 1046 and ibid., 1760, pp. 75–76 respectively. Lichtenberg announces this intention in his letter to Lambert (cf. ref. 18).
- Mayer , T. 1753 . Novae tabulae motuum solis et lunae . Commentarii Societatis Regiae Scientiarum Gottingensis , 2 : 383 – 430 .
- Maskelyne , Nevil , ed. 1770 . Tabulae motuum solis et lunae novae et correctae: auctore Tobia Mayer: quibus accedit methodus longitudinum promota, eodem auctore London
- The still unpublished Theoria magnetis (1760), together with its sequel Nova Theoria declinationis et inclinationis acus magneticae (1762), are classified jointly as Mayer 1518 in the Verzeichniss der Handschriften im Preussischen Staate Berlin 1894 154 158 which is the official index of Mayer's manuscripts. Cf.
- Mayer , T. 1756 . Versuch einer Erklärung des Erdbebens . Hannoverischen nützlichen Sammlungen , : 290 – 296 . This article is not listed in J. C. Poggendorf, Biographisch-Literarisches Handworterbuch, 1863, vol. ii, p. 91, along with the rest of Mayer's published works. An abstract of Mayer's explanation appears in loc. cit., foot-note 4, pp. 314–316.
- The relevant extract, dated 24 October 1786, is to be found under the more general heading Vorschläge zu Themen der mathematischen Hauptpreisschrift, u.s.w. Scient. 182 182 in (cf. loc. cit., foot-note 12). Lichtenberg remarks, inter alia, that Mayer's explanation was either intended as a joke, or must certainly be regarded as being one.
- Quoted by Stern J.P. Lichtenberg: a Doctrine of Scattered Occasions reconstructed from his Aphorisms and Reflections Indiana 1959 49 49
- Cf. the still unpublished letter from Lichtenberg to Schernhagen; Stade, 28 September 1773, in the former's Nachlass (Kasten I) in the Göttingen University library; and the letter for Lichtenberg to Dietrich Leitzmann A. Schuddekopf C. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg: Briefe Hildesheim 1966 i 177 177 Letter 95 written at about the same time
- The abstracts of those two lectures appear in Göttingische Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen 1755 1045 1046 (cf. ref. 22), and ibid., 1758, pp. 1385–1389 respectively
- Mare , Margaret L. and Quarrell , W. H. 1938 . Lichtenberg's Visits to England as described in his Letters and Diaries 52 – 52 . Oxford
- This supposition is strengthened by the fact that in a postscript to his letter of 24 January 1775 to Ernst Gottfried Baldinger, Lichtenberg remarks that he had sent the preface to [Christian Gottlob] Heyne—a well-known classical scholar who was also a professor at Göttingen—who had altered only a single word on the second page (cf. Mare Margaret L. Quarrell W. H. Lichtenberg's Visits to England as described in his Letters and Diaries Oxford 1938 70 70
- Delambre , J. 1827 . Histoire de l'Astronomie au Dix-Huitiems Siècle 447 – 447 . Paris
- See Forbes Eric G. Tobias Mayer's Theory of Colour-Mixing and its application to Artistic Reproductions Ann. Sci. 1970 26 26 loc. cit. 95–114
- Stern Lichtenberg: a Doctrine of Scattered Occasions reconstructed from his Aphorisms and Reflections Indiana 1959 79 79
- Lichtenberg , Ludwig Christian and Kues , Friedrich , eds. 1806 . Lichtenbergs physikalische und mathematische Schriften Vol. iv , 145 – 146 . Göttingen quote Lichtenberg's sceptical statement: ‘Alle mathematischen Gesetze, die wir in der Natur finden, sind mir trotz ihrer Schönheit immer verdächtig. Sie freuen mich nicht. Sie sind bloss Hülfsmittel. In der Nahe ist Alles nicht wahr’.
- Halley , Edmond . 1718 . Considerations on the Change of the Latitudes of some of the principal fixt Stars . Phil. Trans. , 30 : 736 – 738 .
- Herschel , William . 1783 . On the proper Motion of the Sun and Solar System; with an account of several Changes that have happened among the fixed stars since the Time of Mr. Flamstead . Phil. Trans. , 123 : 274 – 283 . xxiii
- Lanlande On the proper Motion of the Sun and Solar System; with an account of several Changes that have happened among the fixed stars since the Time of Mr. Flamstead Phil. Trans. 1783 123 685 685 xxiii Mayer's values for the proper motions of two of these stars (β and ε Cygni) referred only to a 44-year interval. Lalande's values are linear extrapolations of these figures for a 50-year interval, which thus made them directly comparable with the figures for the other ten stars.
- Lichtenberg to Dieterich; Kew, 30 October, 1774 Leitzmann A. Schuddekopf C. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg: Briefe Hildesheim 1966 i Letter 111, p. 200. The quote is taken from the English translation of this letter in op. cit., foot-note 3, p. 60.
- Lichtenberg to [Christian Gottlob] Heyne; London, 16 March 1775 Mare Margaret L. Guarrell W.H. Lichtenbergis Vists to England as described in his letters and Diaries Oxford 1938 85 85
- Lichtenberg to Schernhagen; Kew, 16 October 1775 Leitzmann A. Schuddekopf C. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg: Briefe Hildesheim 1966 i 234 234 Letter 121
- Lichtenberg to Dieterich; London, 13 October 1775 Leitzmann A. Schuddekopf C. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg: Briefe Hildesheim 1966 232 232 Letter 120
- See, for example Przibram Karl Lichtenberg als Physiker (150 Jahre Lichtenbergische Figuren) Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau 1927 15 423 425 A detailed account of these electrical figures in the light of modern atomic physics is given by the same author in: Hans Geiger and Karl Scheel, Handbuch der Physik, Berlin, 1928, vol. xiv.
- J. C. P. Erxleben (1744–1777), who had been appointed Ordinary Professor of Physics at Göttingen in 1775, had written works on chemistry and natural history as well as a popular physics text-book entitled Anfangsgründe der Naturlehre Göttingen 1772
- Immediately after Erxleben's death, his five weekly lectures were taken over by Kaestner. By the summer of 1778, Lichtenberg was giving two of these on selected topics, and by the winter semester 1781–1782 he had assumed complete control of the course. Cf. Hahn Georg Christoph Lichtenberg und die exakten Wissenschaften Göttingen 1927 44 44
- Gamauf , Gottlieb . 1808 . Lichtenbergs Vorlesungen über Erxlebens Anfangsgründe der Naturlehre, Wien-Triest
- Grenzmann , W. 1949 . G. Chr. Lichtenbergs Gesammelte Werke Vol. 2 , 303 – 320 . Frankfurt-am-Main Another important bibliographical source is: Albert Schneider, G. C. Lichtenberg (Nancy, 1954),
Annals of Science
Volume 28, 1972 - Issue 1