Object Details
- Description
- A heliostat throws sunlight where it might be needed, whether for photography or scientific observations. This example resembles the Foucault heliostat made by the Société Genevoise. A tag on the base reads: “PRESENTED TO COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY BY ERNEST KEMPTON ADAMS.” Ernest Kempton Adams was a graduate of Columbia University. Following his untimely death in 1904, his father donated his large collection of scientific and engineering instruments to Columbia, as well as $50,000 to support physical research.
- Ref: Société Genevoise, Illustrated Price List of Physical and Mechanical Instruments (Geneva, 1900), pp. 85-86.
- "Adams's Gift to Columbia," New York Times (March 24, 1905), p. 9.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Columbia University
- ca 1900
- ID Number
- PH.335221
- catalog number
- 335221
- accession number
- 315390
- Object Name
- Heliostat
- Measurements
- overall: 21 in x 23 in x 20 in; 53.34 cm x 58.42 cm x 50.8 cm
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
- Science & Mathematics
- Optics
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_1167129
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a9-f8f6-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
