April 19, 2012

Picture library captures Royal Society’s rich history

The Royal Society has launched an online archive of fascinating images, including flying fish and the death mask of Isaac Newton

The Royal Society: Study of a flying fish from De historia piscium libri quatuor — Study of a flying fish from Historia Piscium (“a History of Fishes”) by Francis Willughby and John Ray (1686). The Royal Society nearly bankrupted itself publishing this lavishly illustrated book, making it unable to deliver its promise to publish Isaac Newton’s masterpiece Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (“Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy”) Photograph: Richard Valencia/The Royal Society

The Royal Society: Study of a hammerhead shark — Study of a hammerhead shark, with the handwritten annotation ‘The Ballance Fish' from Historia Piscium by Francis Willughby and John Ray Photograph: Richard Valencia/The Royal Society

Royal Society: launching online picture library — An illustration by John Hawkesworth recording the first sighting of a kangaroo (or wallaby) by Lieutenant James Cook and the sailors of the Endeavour expedition in June 1770: 'it was of a light mouse colour, and in size and shape very much resembling a greyhound' Photograph: Royal Society

Royal Society: launching online picture library — The tattooed face of Otegoowgoow, 'son of a New Zealand chief', from A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas, in His Majesty's Ship, The Endeavour, by Sydney Parkinson (1773). Lieutenant James Cook's party encountered Otegoowgoow in late November 1769 in the Bay of Islands. A shot fired from Endeavour wounded the New Zealander in the thigh Photograph: Royal Society

The Royal Society: A series of sketches and caricatures — Caricatures and doodles on a blotter used at a Transit of Venus Committee meeting at the Royal Society in 1882. Individuals identified include (left to right): Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, third Marquess of Salisbury, prime minister; George Carey Foster, chemist and physicist; Alexander William Williamson, chemist; Sir William Henry Mahoney Christie, astronomer; Warren de la Rue, chemist and astronomer; Thomas Henry Huxley, biologist; John Ball, glaciologist; Sir George Gabriel Stokes, physicist; and William Grylls Adams, scientist Photograph: richard valencia/The Royal Society

The Royal Society: De humani corporis fabrica — Illustration from De Humani Corporis Fabrica by Andreas Vesalius, first published in 1543 Photograph: richard valencia/The Royal Society

The Royal Society: Study of two triliths (posts and lintel) at Stonehenge — Photographic study of two triliths (posts and lintel) at Stonehenge by the surveyor Colonel Sir Henry James (1803-1877). A Victorian gentleman carrying an umbrella and notebook poses in front of the stones to indicate scale, while a soldier from the Royal Engineers stands with one hand upon the post Photograph: The Royal Society

The Royal Society: Design for the waterwheel and conduit for Scrooby mill — Design for a waterwheel and conduit for Scrooby Mill near Doncaster by the civil engineer John Smeaton (1724-1792) Photograph: Richard Valencia/The Royal Society

The Royal Society: James Gillray — An experimental lecture at the Royal Institution of Great Britain by the caricaturist James Gillray (1757-1815) Photograph: richard valencia/The Royal Society

The Royal Society: Michael Faraday, by John Watkins — Studio portrait of Michael Faraday by John Watkins (1823-1874) Photograph: The Royal Society

The Royal Society: Single lens microscope, replica of an instrument by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek — Replica of a single-lens microscope made by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723). Despite having a single lens, van Leeuwenhoek's microscopes could magnify up to 250 times. He used them to investigate the structure of muscles and plants, and the shapes of crystals in grains of sand. He was the first to describe the microscopic organisms that live in water Photograph: The Royal Society

Royal Society: launching online picture library — Illustrations from Hooke's Micrographia showing the surface of frozen urine (Fig. 1); snowflakes (Figs. 2 and 3); shapes made by ice forming on water (Figs. 4 and 5); and furrows in ice flakes (Fig. 6) Photograph: Royal Society

The Royal Society: a microscopic view of an ant from Robert Hooke — A microscopic view of an ant from Robert Hooke's Micrographia: Or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon (1665) Photograph: richard valencia/The Royal Society

The Royal Society: Full face view of the death mask of Isaac Newton — Death mask of Isaac Newton Photograph: Richard Valencia/The Royal Society

Royal Society: launching online picture library — Illustration from De Viribus Electricitatis in Motu Musculari Commentaries by Luigi Aloisio showing Galvani's experiments on the effect of electricity on dissected animals in the 1780s and 1790s. The effect was first noticed in frogs’ legs Photograph: Royal Society

Royal Society: launching online picture library — Photograph of a 48-inch reflecting telescope, designed by Thomas Grubb, in Dublin. A workman plays the role of astronomer in the picture. After testing the telescope was sent to the Melbourne Observatory in Australia, where it became operational in 1869 Photograph: Royal Society

The Royal Society: Depiction of the lunar landscape 'at sunset' — Illustration from Sun, Moon and Stars: Astronomy for Beginners by Agnes Giberne (1910), an astronomical textbook for children Photograph: The Royal Society

Royal Society: launching online picture library — A 17th century botanical study of knap-weed and cornflower plants from a series of watercolours of English grasses and wild flowers by Richard Waller Photograph: Royal Society

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