Direct Vision Spectroscope
date: label: date made
content: late 1860s
name: label: maker
content: Hofmann, Jean Georges
notes: label: Description
content: Brass direct-vision spectroscope with a five-prism assembly. The center section of the tube is covered with brown leather. The “J. G. Hofmann / Rue de Buci, 3, Paris.” inscription refers to a German instrument maker who worked in Paris, and who specialized in instruments of this sort.
label: Description
content: A note in the box reads: “This Spectroscope belongs to my friend L. M. Rutherfurd Esq. who lent it to me when he was about to go abroad in 1872. To be returned to Mr. R_ T. P. . . .” Lewis M. Rutherfurd was an American lawyer who made early and important contributions to astrophysics. He showed several items at the Universal Exposition held in Paris in 1867, and may have met Hofmann at that time.
label: Description
content: The “R.T.P.” inscription probably refers to Robert Treat Paine (1803-1885), a Boston lawyer greatly interested in astronomy and meteorology.
label: Description
content: Ref. D.J. Warner, “Direct Vision Spectroscopes,” <i>Rittenhouse</i>7 (1993): 40-48.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: France: Île-de-France, Paris
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Optics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Richard O'Neill
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1979.1180.01
label: catalog number
content: 1979.1180.01
label: accession number
content: 1979.1180
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Direct Vision Spectroscope
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: box: 12 1/2 in; 31.75 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall in case: 1 1/2 in x 12 1/2 in x 1 3/4 in; 3.81 cm x 31.75 cm x 4.445 cm