12.2019820 Manseau "premier télescope Newton"

On 31 Mar, 2020 By rosenfel@chass....

catalogue number: 12.2019820;
name of artifact: reproduction of the reflector by Isaac Newton & John Wickens 1671-1672 (aka “Isaac Newton’s third telescope”), now in the collections of the Royal Society;
date of production: 1987;
materials of manufacture: optical glass, copper alloy, iron, steel, wood, paint;
maker: Réal & Lorenzo Manseau, Drummondville, QC (signed in the wood base; also bears a latter label: “ATELIER DU SAGITTAIRE ENG/Réal Manseau/Drummondville 2011”);
provenance: purchased from Réal Manseau;
condition: good condition; the nesting tubes of the OTA are loose, and require removable shims;
notes: the instrument this is patterned on is not Newton’s “original reflector telescope”—that instrument doesn’t survive—rather it is a reflector by Isaac Newton (1642-1726/1727) & John Wickens 1671–1672 (aka “Isaac Newton’s third telescope”), now in the collections of the Royal Society. The Manseau copy is, on the whole, a closer reproduction to the Royal Society original than is DTM 2.2019326. The maker’s decision to use copper-alloy for the primary provides a reasonable facsimile of mass of the original speculum primary, but a poor facsimile from the standpoint of optical performance. This artifact was exhibited at the Heureka: Nationale Forschungsausstellung 1991, Zürich 1991 May 10-October 27;
comparanda: original: London, Royal Society of London, Collections, MO/1; copies: London, Science Museum, 1924-209, made by F.L. Agate in 1924; Greenwich, Royal Museums Greenwich, ZBA4994, 1984, RGO Workshop
literature:
- Isaac Newton, “An Accompt of a New Catadioptrical Telescope Invented by Mr. Newton, Fellow of the R. Society, and Professor of the Mathematiques in the University of Cambridge”, Philosophical Transactions 7, 81 (1672 December 31), 4004-4010;
- Isaac Newton, “Mr. Newton's Letter to the Publisher of march 26, 1672, Containing Some More Suggestions About His New Telescope, and a Table of Apertures and Charges for the Several Lengths of That Instrument”, Philosophical Transactions 7, 82 (1672), 4032-4034;
- Isaac Newton, “An Extract of Another Letter of the Same to the Publisher, Dated March 30, 1672, by Way of Answer to Some Objections, Made by an Ingenious French Philosopher to the New Reflecting Telescope”, Philosophical Transactions 7, 82 (1672), 4034-4035;
- Isaac Newton, “Mr. Isaac Newton's Considerations Upon Part of a Letter of Monsieur de Bercé Printed in the Eight French Memoire, Concerning the Catadioptrical Telescope, Pretended to be Improved and Refined by Mr. Cassegrain”, Philosophical Transactions 7, 83 (1672), 4056-4059;
- Isaac Newton, Opticks: or, a Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light... (London: Sam. Smith & Benj. Walford, 1704), pp. 79-80, pl. V;
- A.A. Mills & P.J. Turvey, “Examination of the Reflecting Telescope Attributed to Sir Isaac Newton in the Possession of the Royal Society”, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 33, 2 (1979 March), 133-155;
- A.D.C. Simpson, “Newton's Telescope and the Cataloguing of the Royal Society's Repository”, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 38, 2 (1984 March), 187-214;
- A. Rupert Hall, “John Collins on Newton's Telescope”, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 49, 1 (1995 July), 71-78;
- A. Rupert Hall & A.D.C. Simpson, “An Account of the Royal Society’s Newton Telescope”, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 50, 1 (1996 January), 1-11;
- Anna Marie Roos, “A Speculum of Chymical Practice: Isaac Newton, Martin Lister (1639-1712), and the Making of Telescopic Mirrors”, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 64 (2010), 105-120;