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Concept
Peter Barlow (mathematician)
Summary
Peter Barlow (13 October 1776 – 1 March 1862) was an English mathematician and physicist.
In 1801, Barlow was appointed assistant mathematics master at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and retained this post until 1847. He contributed articles on mathematics to The Ladies' Diary as well as publishing books such as:
An Elementary Investigation of the Theory of Numbers (1811);
A New Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary (1814); and
New Mathematical Tables (1814).
The latter became known as Barlow's Tables and gives squares, cubes, square roots, cube roots, and reciprocals of all integer numbers from 1 to 10,000. These tables were regularly reprinted until 1965, when computers rendered them obsolete. He contributed to Rees's Cyclopædia articles on Algebra, Analysis, Geometry and Strength of Materials. Barlow also contributed largely to the Encyclopædia Metropolitana.
In collaboration (1827–1832) with optician George Dollond, Barlow built an achromatic lens that utilized liquid carbon disulfide. (Achromatic lenses were important optical elements of improved telescopes.) In 1833, Barlow built an achromatic doublet lens of joined flint glass and crown glass. A derivative of this design, named a Barlow lens, is widely used in modern astronomy and photography as an optical element to increase both achromatism and magnification.
In 1823, he was made a fellow of the Royal Society. Two years later, he received its Copley Medal for his work on correcting the deviation in ship compasses caused by the presence of iron in the hull. Some of his magnetic research was done in collaboration with Samuel Hunter Christie. He conducted early experimental and observational studies on the origins of terrestrial magnetism. He is credited with the eponymous Barlow's wheel (an early homopolar electric motor) and with Barlow's law (an incorrect formula of electrical conductance).
Barlow investigated a suggestion made by André-Marie Ampère in 1820 that an electromagnetic telegraph could be made by deflecting a compass needle with an electric current.
Official source
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