Norremberg Polariscope
date: label: date made
content: around 1870
label: date made
content: between 1845 and 1862
notes: label: Description
content: Johann Gottlieb Christian Nörremberg (1787-1862) was a German professor of physics who visited Paris in 1830, met scientists interested in polarization, and designed a fairly simple device for studying the phenomena. Nörremberg’s device was described at a scientific meeting in Paris in May 1833. An example made by J. B. F. Soleil was lauded in 1834. And the form, though with many minor variations, soon became a standard piece of apparatus used in laboratories and lecture rooms around the world.
label: Description
content: This example has circular mirror at the bottom. The vertical brass rods at either side hold a magnifying lens, an unsilvered rectangular glass mirror moveable about a horizontal axis, a moveable glass stage, and a Nichol prism analyzer at the top. The square wooden base has a drawer to hold extra parts. It was probably made around 1870 when the University of Santa Clara, in California, purchased a lot of scientific equipment. The “J. Duboscq à Paris” inscription is that of Jules Duboscq (1816-1886), an important optical instrument maker who had apprenticed with Soleil.
label: Description
content: Ref: “M. Hachette présente l’appareil de polarization que M. Nörremberg, professeur de physique, a imaginé, et qu’il a communiqué à plusieurs savans pendant le séjour qu’il fit à Paris en juillet 1830,” <i>Nouveau Bulletin des Sciences par la Société Philomatique</i> (May 4, 1833): 86-87.
label: Description
content: <i>Notice des Produits de l’Industrie Française</i> (Paris, 1834), pp. 61-62.
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
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: University of Santa Clara
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.325976
label: catalog number
content: 325976
label: accession number
content: 256489
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Norremberg polariscope
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 in; 33.02 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; polariscope: 19 1/8 in x 7 3/8 in x 7 1/4 in; 48.5775 cm x 18.7325 cm x 18.415 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; parts in box: 1 5/8 in x 7 in x 4 5/8 in; 4.1275 cm x 17.78 cm x 11.7475 cm