Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- Obituary Notice
- 1876: Note on Certain Formulæ in the Calculus of Operations. (In a letter to Prof. Tait)
- 1876: An Experiment on Electro-Magnetic Rotation
- 1887: On the Foci of Lines seen through a Crystalline Plate
- 1877: On Certain Movements of Radiometers
- 1878: On the Question of a Theoretical Limit to the Apertures of Microscopic Objectives
- 1878: On an Easy and at the same time Accurate Method of Determining the Ratio of the Dispersions of Glasses intended for Objectives
- 1879: On a Method of detecting Inequalities of unknown periods in a series of Observations. (Note appended to a paper by Prof. B. Stewart and W. Dodgson)
- 1880: Description of the Card Supporter for Sunshine Recorders adopted at the Meteorological Office
- 1881: On a Simple Mode of Eliminating Errors of Adjustment in Delicate Observations of Compared Spectra
- 1881: Discussion of the Results of some Experiments with Whirled Anemometers
- 1878: On the Determination of the Constants of the Cup Anemometer by Experiments with a Whirling Machine
- 1881: Note on the Reduction of Mr Crookes's Experiments on the Decrement of the Arc of Vibration of a Mica Plate oscillating within a Bulb containing more or less Rarefied Gas
- 1882: On the Cause of the Light Border frequently noticed in Photographs just outside the Outline of a Dark Body seen against the Sky: with some Introductory Remarks on Phosphorescence
- 1882: Extracts from Reports of the Committee on Solar Physics
- 1882: Memorandum for the use of Observers with Professor Balfour Stewart's Actinometer, prepared by Professor G. G. Stokes, Sec.R.S., and adopted by the Committee on Solar Physics
- 1883: On the Highest Wave of Uniform Propagation. (Preliminary notice)
- 1880: On the Maximum Wave of Uniform Propagation, being a Second Supplement to a Paper on the Theory of Oscillatory Waves. (Not before published)
- 1891: Note on the Theory of the Solitary Wave
- 1895: The Outskirts of the Solitary Wave
- 1885: On a remarkable Phenomenon of Crystalline Reflection
- 1886: The Coefficient of Viscosity of Air
- 1889: Note on the Determination of Arbitrary Constants which appear as Multipliers of Semi-convergent Series
- 1891: On a Graphical Representation of the Results of Dr Alder Wright's Experiments on Ternary Alloys
- 1891: On an Optical Proof of the Existence of Suspended Matter in Flames
- 1891: On the Reactions occurring in Flames
- 1891: The Influence of Surface-Loading on the Flexure of Beams
- 1892: On the best Methods of Recording the direct Intensity of Solar Radiation
- 1896: On the Nature of the Röntgen Rays
- 1897: On the Nature of the Röntgen Rays (Wilde Lecture)
- 1898: Mathematical Proof of the Identity of the Stream Lines obtained by means of a Viscous Film with those of a Perfect Fluid moving in Two Dimensions
- 1902: On the Discontinuity of Arbitrary Constants that appear as Multipliers of Semi-Convergent Series
- 1886: On the Methods of Chemical Fractionation
- 1903: The Ultra-Violet Spectrum of Radium
- APPENDIX (Mathematical Tripos and Smith's Prize questions)
- INDEX
1897: On the Nature of the Röntgen Rays (Wilde Lecture)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 June 2011
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- Obituary Notice
- 1876: Note on Certain Formulæ in the Calculus of Operations. (In a letter to Prof. Tait)
- 1876: An Experiment on Electro-Magnetic Rotation
- 1887: On the Foci of Lines seen through a Crystalline Plate
- 1877: On Certain Movements of Radiometers
- 1878: On the Question of a Theoretical Limit to the Apertures of Microscopic Objectives
- 1878: On an Easy and at the same time Accurate Method of Determining the Ratio of the Dispersions of Glasses intended for Objectives
- 1879: On a Method of detecting Inequalities of unknown periods in a series of Observations. (Note appended to a paper by Prof. B. Stewart and W. Dodgson)
- 1880: Description of the Card Supporter for Sunshine Recorders adopted at the Meteorological Office
- 1881: On a Simple Mode of Eliminating Errors of Adjustment in Delicate Observations of Compared Spectra
- 1881: Discussion of the Results of some Experiments with Whirled Anemometers
- 1878: On the Determination of the Constants of the Cup Anemometer by Experiments with a Whirling Machine
- 1881: Note on the Reduction of Mr Crookes's Experiments on the Decrement of the Arc of Vibration of a Mica Plate oscillating within a Bulb containing more or less Rarefied Gas
- 1882: On the Cause of the Light Border frequently noticed in Photographs just outside the Outline of a Dark Body seen against the Sky: with some Introductory Remarks on Phosphorescence
- 1882: Extracts from Reports of the Committee on Solar Physics
- 1882: Memorandum for the use of Observers with Professor Balfour Stewart's Actinometer, prepared by Professor G. G. Stokes, Sec.R.S., and adopted by the Committee on Solar Physics
- 1883: On the Highest Wave of Uniform Propagation. (Preliminary notice)
- 1880: On the Maximum Wave of Uniform Propagation, being a Second Supplement to a Paper on the Theory of Oscillatory Waves. (Not before published)
- 1891: Note on the Theory of the Solitary Wave
- 1895: The Outskirts of the Solitary Wave
- 1885: On a remarkable Phenomenon of Crystalline Reflection
- 1886: The Coefficient of Viscosity of Air
- 1889: Note on the Determination of Arbitrary Constants which appear as Multipliers of Semi-convergent Series
- 1891: On a Graphical Representation of the Results of Dr Alder Wright's Experiments on Ternary Alloys
- 1891: On an Optical Proof of the Existence of Suspended Matter in Flames
- 1891: On the Reactions occurring in Flames
- 1891: The Influence of Surface-Loading on the Flexure of Beams
- 1892: On the best Methods of Recording the direct Intensity of Solar Radiation
- 1896: On the Nature of the Röntgen Rays
- 1897: On the Nature of the Röntgen Rays (Wilde Lecture)
- 1898: Mathematical Proof of the Identity of the Stream Lines obtained by means of a Viscous Film with those of a Perfect Fluid moving in Two Dimensions
- 1902: On the Discontinuity of Arbitrary Constants that appear as Multipliers of Semi-Convergent Series
- 1886: On the Methods of Chemical Fractionation
- 1903: The Ultra-Violet Spectrum of Radium
- APPENDIX (Mathematical Tripos and Smith's Prize questions)
- INDEX
Summary
Ever since the remarkable discovery of Professor Röntgen was published, the subject has attracted a great deal of attention in all civilised countries, and numbers of physicists have worked experimentally, endeavouring to make out the laws of these rays, to determine their nature if possible, and to arrange for their application. I am sorry to say that I have not myself worked experimentally at the subject; and that being the case, there is a certain amount of presumption perhaps in my venturing to lecture on it. Still, I have followed pretty well what has been done by others, and the subject borders very closely on one to which I have paid considerable attention; that is, the subject of light.
In Röntgen's original paper he stated that it was shown experimentally that the seat of these remarkable rays was the place where the so-called cathodic rays fall on the opposite wall of the highly-exhausted tube in which they are produced. I will not stop to describe what is meant by cathodic rays. It would take me too much away from my subject, and I may assume, I think, that the audience I am now addressing know what is meant by that term. This statement of Röntgen's was not, I think, universally accepted. Some experimentalists set themselves to investigate the point by observing the positions of the shadows cast by bodies subjected to the discharge of the Röntgen rays–to investigate, I say, the place within the tube from which the rays appeared to come.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Mathematical and Physical Papers , pp. 256 - 277Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1905