Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.15707

    Experiment of air compression

    Date
    15 August 1673
    Creator
    Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723, Dutch) , Naturalist
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Manuscript page number
    p5
    Material
    Dimensions
    height (page): 304mm
    width (page): 201mm
    Description
    Drawing in the left margin of the letter over the whole height of the paper.

    Letter from Antoni van Leeuwenhoek to Henry Oldenburg.
    Van Leeuwenhoek has sealed of the top of this glass pipe and, since he is convinced that air cannot be compressed, he hypothesises that when water is pushed upwards (by pressing on C), air permeates through the glass.
    Object history
    For the English translation of Leeuwenhoek's letter, see A. Leeuwenhoek, 'Touching the compression of air', Phil. Trans. vol 9, no. 102 (1674), pp. 21-23, figs 1-2.
    Related fellows
    Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723, Dutch) , Naturalist
    Henry Oldenburg (1612 - 1677, German) , Scientific correspondent
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > Netherlands
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