Talk:Edme Mariotte

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Mariotte's law: Correction: 1676 → 1679

The article's "Discovery" section states that Edme Mariotte independently discovered Boyle's law of gases in 1676. This date, 1676, is cited in a number of sources, but it's wrong. The correct date is 1679.

The evidence for the 1679 date is:

Mariotte's essay De la nature de l'air was reviewed by the French Royal Academy of Sciences in 1679. See: (Anon.) (1733) "Sur la nature de l'air," Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, 1 : 270-278. On the upper margin of each page, the date "1679" appears quite clearly.

Mariotte's essay De la nature de l'air was also reviewed in the Journal des Sçavans (later: Journal des Savants) on 20 November 1679. See: (Anon.) (20 November 1679) "Essais de physique, … ," Journal des Sçavans, pp. 265-269.

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) also states that Mariotte's essay De la nature de l'air was published in 1679. See: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), vol. 9.

In neither the Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences nor the Journal des Sçavans does the reviewer state that Mariotte had published anything on the subject previously. Indeed, I reviewed the accounts of both journals for the year 1676 and I found nothing in either mentioning any research by Mariotte on the subject of air.

Additional, very strong evidence that Mariotte did not write his essay De la nature de l'air in 1676 is provided by two other sources:

In September 1677, Mariotte wrote a letter to Gottfried Leibniz in which he discussed his experiments with air in mercury barometers. Here he does not mention his essay De la nature de l'air ; nevertheless, he does mention the relation between the volume of air in a mercury barometer and its pressure. From p. 219: After explaining that when air in the barometer tube doubles its volume, its pressure is halved, "On a trouvé le mesme en d'autres proportions, … " (One found the same in other proportions, … ). That is, the same relation between the pressure and the volume of the confined air holds proportionately for other initial volumes, and he then gives an example in which, when the confined air expands four-fold, its pressure drops to a quarter of its initial value. This is Boyle's / Mariotte's law. See: Heinz-Jürgen Hess, ed., Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe. Dritte Reihe : Mathematischer Naturwissenschaftlicher und Technischer Briefwechsel, Zweiter Band : 1676-1679 [Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: Collected Writings and Letters. Third series: Mathematical, scientific and technical correspondence, 2nd volume: 1676-1679] (Berlin, D.D.R.: Akademie Verlag Berlin, 1987), pp. 218-220.

In 1678, Mariotte published his Essai de Logique. On pages 183-194, he poses (p. 184) and solves the problem of determining how much air must be introduced into a mercury barometer in order to reduce the height of the mercury in the barometer by a given amount. Again, nowhere does he mention his essai De la nature de l'air as he solves this problem — even though he again presents Boyle's / Mariotte's law. From p. 191: " … on conclura le verité de ce principe d'experience; sçavoir que l'air se condense à proportion des poids dont il est chargé, … " ( … one will conclude the truth of this experimental principle; to know that air is condensed in proportion to the weight with which it is loaded … ). See: Edme Mariotte, Essai de Logique … (Paris, France: Estienne Michallet, 1678).

Further investigation into the possible source of the error revealed:

The Biographie Universelle (1820) gives the date of Mariotte's De la nature de l'air as 1679. See: Joseph Fr. Michaud and ‎Louis Gabriel Michaud, ed.s, Biographie Universelle … vol. 27, (Paris, France: L. G. Michaud, 1820), p. 174. From p. 174: "Son Discours sur l'air, qui parut en 1679, renferme une suite d'expériences intéressantes, alor absolument neuves." (His Discourse on air, which was published in 1679, contained a series of interesting experiments, at that time absolutely new.)
However, the Nouvelle biographie universelle (1860) gives the date of Mariotte's De la nature de l'air as 1676. See: Hoefer, ed., Nouvelle biographie universelle … vol. 23, (Paris, France: Didot Frères, Fils et Cie., 1860), p. 800.

It is the date of 1676 that was listed in the Nouvelle biographie universelle (1860) which seems to have been the source of the error. See, for example:

Footnote on p. 76 of: George F. Rodwell (August 13, 1864) "On the supposed nature of air prior to the discovery of oxygen [continued]," The Chemical News, 10 (245) : 74-77.
Footnote on p. iv of the Preface in: P. G. Tait, Sketch of thermodynamics (Edinburgh, Scotland: Edmonston and Douglas, 1868).

VexorAbVikipædia (talk) 01:47, 14 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

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