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Samuel Tolver Preston

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Samuel Tolver Preston (8 July 1844 – 1917) was an English engineer and physicist.

His parents were Daniel Bloom Preston (born 1807) and Mary Susannah Tolver. Preston was educated as a Telegraph-engineer. He went to Munich where he attained his Ph.D in 1894 with Ludwig Boltzmann. After that, he worked as a teacher.

He is known for his works (1875–1894) on the kinetic theory of gases and his attempts to combine this theory with Le Sage's theory of gravitation. In his book Physics of the Ether (1875), he postulated that, if matter is subdivided into "ether particles", they would travel at the speed of light and represent an enormous amount of energy. In this way, one grain of matter would contain energy equal to 1000 million foot-tons.

Preston also seemed to be the first (1885) to recognize the redundancy of Michael Faraday's explanation of electromagnetic induction. Einstein recognized a similar problem in his paper On the electrodynamics of moving bodies (1905, i.e. special relativity).

In 1876 he corresponded with James Clerk Maxwell and alluded to the work of John James Waterston. In 1880 he corresponded with Charles Robert Darwin.

Publications

  • Physics of the ether; 1875
  • On some dynamical conditions applicable to LeSage’s theory of gravitation (1877); Phil. Mag., fifth ser. Vol. 4 (1877), pp. 206–213, 364-375; Vol. 5 (1878), pp. 117–127, 297-311
  • Mode of the Propagation of Sound, and the Physical Condition Determining its Velocity on the Basis of the Kinetic Theory of Gases; (1877)
  • Temperature Equilibrium in the Universe in Relation to the Kinetic Theory; Nature 20, 1879, p. 28
  • On the Possibility of Accounting for the Continuance of Recurring Changes in the Universe, consistently with the Tendency to Temperature-Equilibrium; Philosophical Magazine 8, 1879, p. 152/163.
  • On the possibility of explaining the continuance of life in the Universe Consistent with the Tendency to Temperature-equilibrium; Nature 19, 1879, p. 460/462
  • On Method in Causal Research; in: Philosophical magazine, ix (1880), S. 356–367
  • A Question regarding one of the Physical Premises upon which the Finality of Universal Change is based; Philosophical Magazine 10, 1880, p. 338/342.
  • Science and sectarian religion; in: S. T. Preston, Original essays; London, 1884, S. 19–51.
  • Ueber das gegenseitige Verhältniss einiger zur dynamischen Erklärung der Gravitation aufgestellten Hypothesen; Inauguraldissertation von 1894, München, Phil. Fak.
  • Comparative Review of some Dynamical Theories of Gravitation; Philosophical Magazine 1895, Vol. 35, p. 145ff.
  • On Certain Questions connected with Astronomical Physics; Philosophical Magazine 1906, Vol. 12, p. 560ff.
  • On Certain Questions connected with Astronomical Physics, Part II; Philosophical Magazine 1907, Vol. 14, p. 265ff.
  • On some Physical Relations affecting Matter in Diverse Stages of Subdivision; Philosophical Magazine 1908, Vol. 16, p. 345ff.

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ Frederick Burkhardt; James A. Secord (2021). The Correspondence of Charles Darwin: Volume 28, 1880. Cambridge University Press. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-108-87943-9. Extract of page 61
  2. ^ Tolver Paterson, Samuel (1875). Physics of the ether. London, New York: E. and S. F. Spon. p. 117. 165. To give an idea, first, of the enormous intensity of the store of energy attainable by means of that extensive state of subdivision of matter which renders a high normal speed practicable, it may be computed that a quantity of matter representing a total mass of only one grain, and possessing the normal velocity of the ether particles (that of a wave of light), encloses a store of energy represented by upwaids of one thousand millions of foot-tons, or the mass of one single grain contains an energy not less than that possessed by a mass of forty thousand tons, moving at the speed of a cannon ball (1200 feet per second); or otherwise, a quantity of matter representing a mass of one grain endued with the velocity of the ether particles, encloses an amount of energy which, if entirely utilized, would be competent to project a weight of one hundred thousand tons to a height of nearly two miles (1.9 miles).
    (Note: One foot-ton = 2,240 foot-pounds (3,040 joules))
  3. Miller, A.I. (1981), Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. Emergence (1905) and early interpretation (1905–1911), Reading: Addison–Wesley, pp. 156, ISBN 0-201-04679-2

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