A search has been made for archive material associated with John Milne as part of this initiative. After his return to England in 1895 after 20 years in Japan, John Milne operated a seismograph station and conducted many other seismological experiments at his home, Shide Hill House, and elsewhere on the Isle of Wight. After his death in 1913, Milne's assistants managed the Shide observatory until 1918, and in 1919 operations were finally transferred to Oxford University under the supervision of Prof. H.H. Turner. Milne's property was auctioned in September 1919, and his library was eventually housed in the Science Museum, London. Much of Milne's photographic and paper material has found its way into various collections on the Isle of Wight. Some photographic slides are held in the NSA. Several finds of considerable scientific and historical interest were made amongst the material examined.
A report has been made on these surviving archives (Lovell, J.H., 1999. A Catalogue of Archive Material associated with John Milne, F.R.S. British Geological Survey, Global Seismology Series, Technical Report WL/99/14), available for download from the NSA reports page. It is presented as a guide to researchers, in the hope of stimulating interest in Milne and finding hitherto unknown material. Further information on Milne's work and influence on seismology is given in the reports WL/99/17 - Scientific Visitors to John Milne's Observatory at Shide, Isle of Wight, and WL/99/13 - Historical Seismological Observatories in the British Isles (pre-1970) VERSION 3, both also dowloadable.
WL/99/14 |
A Catalogue of
Archive Material associated with John Milne, F.R.S. |
Lovell, J.H., (1999) |
A search has been
made for archive material associated with John Milne. His archives are
dispersed throughout the UK, and have been augmented by additional collections from
later workers. A catalogue has been made of these surviving
archives. |
WL/99/17 |
Scientific Visitors
to John Milne's Observatory at Shide, Isle of Wight . |
Lovell, J.H., (1999) |
John Milne’s Visitors’ Book is a record
of about 2000 visitors received at his observatory at Shide, Isle of
Wight between 1895 and 1919, and by the Oxford Observatory until
1931 (Milne’s work was transferred there in 1919). An abstract has been
prepared of those visitors with known and probable scientific associations, and of
several other notable visitors. |