Diagrams
Date
25 April 1656
Creator
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p2
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 185mm
width (page): 149mm
width (page): 149mm
Subject
Description
This is a little-known work on optics by Johannes Hudde (1628-1704) called Specilla Circularia and dated 1656.
Its provenance is unclear, but it may be related to the interest among the members of the Royal Society and its correspondents in lenses and their optical properties.
For example, in a letter to Henry Oldenburg from 21 June 1677, Leibniz mentions visiting Hudde at Amsterdam in November 1676; Hudde claimed that he could 'describe a curve that is analytical or conforming to some constant equation which shall trace the profile of the face of some known individual'. (The Correspondence of Henry Oldenburg, ed. by Hall and Hall, vol. 13, pp. 303-14.)
There is a neat copy of these diagrams at Cl.P/2/5/008a.
Its provenance is unclear, but it may be related to the interest among the members of the Royal Society and its correspondents in lenses and their optical properties.
For example, in a letter to Henry Oldenburg from 21 June 1677, Leibniz mentions visiting Hudde at Amsterdam in November 1676; Hudde claimed that he could 'describe a curve that is analytical or conforming to some constant equation which shall trace the profile of the face of some known individual'. (The Correspondence of Henry Oldenburg, ed. by Hall and Hall, vol. 13, pp. 303-14.)
There is a neat copy of these diagrams at Cl.P/2/5/008a.
Transcription
p. 1: Specilla Circularia, sive Quomodo per solas figuras circularos fieri possint omnis generis specilla, tam Microscopia quam Telescopiacum eundem effectum habentia, aut saltem quam proxime accedentem ad eorum, quae Ellipticas aut Hyperbolicas figuras fieri possent.
Transcribed by the Making Visible project
Transcribed by the Making Visible project
Object history
The tract is by Johannes Hudde (1628-1704), and a printed version is available at: https://www.kb.nl/themas/boekgeschiedenis/specilla-circularia-johannes-hudde-over-telescopen.
Associated place