3-34-1. Norman Lockyer to H. Poincaré

Monday — Jany 26th [1892]

Nature — Publishing Office: Bedford Street, Strand, London

My dear Sir,

I have had a translation made of your admirable article on non-Euclidean Geometry & I shall be obliged if you will kindly look it over before it appears.11endnote: 1 Poincaré (1892), translated by W. J. L., and published on 25.02.1892. Lockyer most likely asked his wife, Winifred James Lockyer, to translate Poincaré’s essay. Mrs. Lockyer had previously translated from the French Amédée Guillemin’s popular treatise The Applications of Physical Forces (1877). Poincaré’s essay originally appeared in the Revue générale des sciences pures et appliquées (Poincaré 1891). It advanced his conventionalist philosophy of geometry, according to which geometry is an abstract science, and the geometry of physical space is less a matter of experiment than of convenience. For an overview, see (Walter 2008, 2009).

I am sorry to say that Sylvester is far from well.22endnote: 2 J. J. Sylvester; for his correspondence with Poincaré, see Nabonnand et al., Volume 4.

Very sincerely yours,

J. Norman Lockyer

ALS 1p. Private collection, Paris 75017.

Time-stamp: " 4.05.2019 00:12"

Notes

  • 1 Poincaré (1892), translated by W. J. L., and published on 25.02.1892. Lockyer most likely asked his wife, Winifred James Lockyer, to translate Poincaré’s essay. Mrs. Lockyer had previously translated from the French Amédée Guillemin’s popular treatise The Applications of Physical Forces (1877). Poincaré’s essay originally appeared in the Revue générale des sciences pures et appliquées (Poincaré 1891). It advanced his conventionalist philosophy of geometry, according to which geometry is an abstract science, and the geometry of physical space is less a matter of experiment than of convenience. For an overview, see (Walter 2008, 2009).
  • 2 J. J. Sylvester; for his correspondence with Poincaré, see Nabonnand et al., Volume 4.

References