Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 2.3
John William Strutt Lord Rayleigh (1842
e
1919), from Popular Science Monthly, Volume 25, 1884.
closely resemble those she developed in the late 19
th
century and the sewing buttons she used
to measure surface tension later became the du Nuoy ring (Chapter 3). In 1891 she gathered
her results together and sent an unsolicited letter to Lord Rayleigh, one of the most famous
scientists of his time. Despite her total lack of credentials, Lord Reyleigh realized the novelty
of her work, and with his help, she got her paper published in Nature within 2 months (1891)
[8]
. It is hard to imagine that someone with no position or formal education could dabble in
her kitchen and have a first scientific paper immediately published in the prestigious journal
Nature! Miss Pockels' methodology was so superior to Rayleigh's that he subsequently adop-
ted her procedure. During her 'career' she published 14 articles over 35 years. She also
repeated the Franklin experiment in 1892 and obtained a molecular size for triolein of 13
˚
. Her science career faded with World War I and the post war problems in Germany. Her
life finally ended much as it began, as a homemaker in 1935.
The first description of Ms Pockels' experiments was in the form of a letter from her to
Lord Rayleigh dated January 10, 1891. This letter was later included in the journal Nature,
published on March 12, 1891. The following quote describes what would decades later be
known as a 'Langmuit Trough', although it was first invented by Agnes Pockels.
'A rectangular tin trough, 70 cm long, 5 cm wide, 2 cm high, is filled with water to the brim, and a strip of
tin about 1 ½ cm wide laid across it perpendicular to its length, so that the underside of the strip is in contact
with the surface of the water, and divides it into two halves. By shifting this partition to the right or left, the
surface on either side can be lengthened or shortened in any proportion, and the amount of the displacement
may be read off on a scale held along the front of the trough.'
