A German physicist’s travels in Great Britain Julius Plücker’s visits from 1853 to 1866 (Q6557158)

The author is born in Wuppertal and Julius Plücker (1801--1868) is born in Elberfeld, now a part of Wuppertal. The author is an outstanding Plücker specialist, he has published in 2016 a very detailed analysis of ``Julius Plücker, Familie and Studienjahre'' in [Sudhoffs Arch. 100, No. 1, 52--82 (2016; Zbl 1355.01032)], and is now working on a voluminous biography of Plücker. In 1835, Plücker became professor of mathematics at the University of Bonn, and in 1847 he was appointed substitute of the chair in physics, it was only in 1856 that he officially became professor of physics. He was rector of the University of Bonn for two times, 1844/45 and 1855/56. \N\NIn 1835, Plücker travelled to Great Britain for the first time, he visited among others Humphrey Lloyd in Dublin and David Brewster in Edinburgh. In September 1837, Plücker married Antonie Altstädten (1813--1880) (p. 150). The letters by Plücker to his wife are provided by the NRC-Archive (= Archive of the National Research Council of Canada, Ottowa, Plücker Collection, six volumes (p. 149, Note 27)). During a further travel to Great Britain in 1846, Plücker met for the first time Michael Faraday: ``a meeting that resulted in a decade-long collaboration'' (p. 150). In 1855, Faraday recommended Julius Plücker so that he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (p. 143). And in 1866, it was Charles Wheatstone who propagated Plücker to be honoured with the Copley medal. Though Plücker's English was not excellent, Great Britain became his favourite country, where he had many friends with whom he corresponded, he was invited for example by Faraday, Wheatstone and so on, he attended several meetings of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) and the Royal Society. Plücker also had English friends who visited him in Bonn, as for example Charles Wheatstone in 1854. Though Plücker was invited to visit the BAAS meeting in Dundee in 1867, he did not travel anymore, he died shortly afterwards in 1868. \N\NPlücker's numerous travels to Great Britain and Paris during the years 1853 to 1862 are very well documented in his letters to his wife Antonie. Similar to Hans Christian Oersted's letters to his wife Gitte (the famous travel letters were published in 2011), also Plücker corresponded in detail with his wife. There are numerous letters to his wife, where Plücker described all the events and occasions which happened. His wife Antonie was indeed familiar with all his friends and their investigations. But the author did not only present an edition of these letters, he commented all the details and also mentioned the political, cultural and personal situations, to present a better understanding of these letters, which were not known until now. Indeed, the edition of new sources enriches the history of science and as well history in general. So this article under review enlarges our knowledge about Plücker considerably.