Henry Augustus Rowland

thumb|Henry Augustus Rowland Henry Augustus Rowland (November 27, 1848 – April 16, 1901) was an American physicist and outstanding scientific instrument maker, noted for his diffraction gratings and his applications of them to astronomical spectroscopy. He was awarded in 1883 the Rumford Prize, in 1890 the Henry Draper Medal, and in 1895 the Matteucci Medal. Rowland served for two academic years from 1899 to 1901 as president of the American Physical Society. Quotes To all matter we attribute two properties, gravitation and inertia. Without these two matter cannot exist. Newton's law of universal gravitation The greatest of the natural laws states that the power of gravitational attraction is proportional to the mass of the body. This law of Newton, almost neglected in the thoughts of physicists, undoubtedly has vast import of the very deepest meaning. Shall it mean that all matter is finally constructed of uniform and similar primordial atoms or can we find some other explanation? The Highest Aim of the Physicist; address delivered as president of the American Physical Society, at its meeting in New York, October 28, 1899 The Physical Papers of Henry Augustus Rowland Johns Hopkins Press 1902 https://books.google.com/books?id=180EAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA671 668–678 (quote from p. 671; reprint of December 8, 1899 article: The Highest Aim of the Physicist Science 10 258 825–833 https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.10.258.825) A Plea for Pure Science (1883) Faraday, the great discoverer of the principle on which all machines for electric lighting, Railway electrification electric railways, and the Electric power transmission transmission of power, must rest, died a poor man, although others and the whole world have been enriched by his discoveries; and such must be the fate of the followers in his footsteps for some time to come.But there will be those in the future who will study nature from pure love, and for them higher prizes than any yet obtained are waiting. We have but yet commenced our pursuit of science, and stand upon the threshold wondering what there is within. A Plea for Pure Science The Physical Papers of Henry Augustus Rowland 593–613 The Physical Papers of Henry Augustus Rowland Baltimore Johns Hopkins Press 1902 https://books.google.com/books?id=180EAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA596 (quote from p. 596; reprint of article published in 1883: A plea for pure science Science 2 29 242-250) The whole universe is before us to study. The greatest labor of the greatest minds has only given us a few pearls; and yet the limitless ocean, with its hidden depths filled with diamonds and precious stones, is before us. The Cosmogony#Scientific cosmogenesis problem of the universe is yet unsolved, and the mystery involved in one single atom yet eludes us. The field of research only opens wider and wider as we advance, and our minds are lost in wonder and astonishment at the grandeur and beauty unfolded before us. p. 613 External links Category:1848 births Category:1901 deaths Category:Academics from the United States Category:Johns Hopkins University faculty Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:People from Pennsylvania Category:Physicists from the United States