Nobili astatic galvanometer
date: label: date made
content: ca 1835
label: date made
content: ca 1865
name: label: associated person
content: Nobili, Leopoldo
label: maker
content: Ruhmkorff, Heinrich Daniel
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: A galvanometer with a glass cover and a copper plate above coil. Brass base and frame with indicator needle suspended. Glass cover has a hole in top to allow access to adjustment screw. Nameplate "Ruhmkorff a Paris". Two binding posts.
label: Description (Brief)
content: In 1825, Leopoldo Nobili (1784-1835), an Italian physicist, introduced a sensitive astatic galvanometer that could detect relatively small electric currents, and that was soon popular with scientists around the world. The Smithsonian purchased this example for use by Joseph Henry, the founding Secretary of the Institution. The "Ruhmkorff a Paris" inscription refers to Heinrich Daniel Ruhmkorff (1803-1877), a German instrument maker who established a shop in Paris in 1855. Reference: Leopoldo Nobili, Leopoldo, "Sur un nouveau galvanomètre présenté à l'Académie des Sciences," Bibliothèque Universelle 29 (1825): 119–125.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: Exhibition
content: Lighting a Revolution
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Smithsonian Institution Instrument Room
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.314741
label: catalog number
content: 314741
label: accession number
content: 210894
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Galvanometer, Astatic
label: Object Name
content: galvanometer
label: Other Terms
content: Galvanometer, Astatic; Measuring Devices
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 in x 8 in x 8 in; 27.94 cm x 20.32 cm x 20.32 cm