Historical Anecdotes on Solar Variability

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Historical Anecdotes on Solar Variability
Climate Change
It is never easy living with someone elses
star! --Lewis Carroll (with apologies)
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A Modern Major General
In our present ignorance of the physical agency
by which periodical magnetic variations are
produced, the possibility of discovery of some
cosmical connection which may throw light on a
subject yet so obscure, should not be altogether
overlooked.
Maj. Gen. Edward Sabine 14.X.1788 26.V.1883
Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 142, 103-24, 1852
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That Cosmical Connection
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General Stanleys Song Premiered in New York
London, December 31st, 1879
I am the very model of a modern Major-General,
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I know the kings of England, and I quote the
fights historical From Marathon to Waterloo, in
order categorical I'm very well acquainted,
too, with matters mathematical, I understand
equations, both the simple and quadratical,
About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o'
news, With many cheerful facts about the square
of the hypotenuse. I'm very good at integral and
differential calculus I know the scientific
names of beings animalculous In short, in
matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, I am the
very model of a modern Major-General.
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Mr. William W. Hubbells Solar Magnetic Engine
I suppose the sun or centre of the system to be
possessed of the magnetic principles of
attraction and repulsionto imitate the planetsI
have one, two, three, eighteen, or fiftymagnets
vested with attractive and repulsive powers.
Scientific American 5(48), 1-3, 1850
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Mr. Charles Chambers, Esq.
If the sun were a magnet of sufficient power to
exert a sensible attraction upon a small magnet
at the distance of earth, it would have a real
influence on the earth by inducing magnetism in
its soft iron, and an apparent one due to the
direct action of the sun upon the magnets used
for measuring the earths variations of force.
As the earth rotates upon its axis, producing a
varying relation, as to position, of the place of
observation with respect to the sun, a diurnal
variation will thus be produced in the forces
which act upon the magnetometers, which should
follow the simple law, x A sin(ha), x being
the deviation of the magnetic from its normal
position, h the hour angle of the sun Proc.
R. Soc. Lond. 12, 567, 1863
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Dr. Bigelow, I presume
Frank Hagar Bigelow 28.VIII.1851 2.III.1924
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Impacts on Earth
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The Plot Thickens
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Beyond Comprehension
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Living With My Own Star, Now
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The Critics Weigh In
I have all along been puzzled by the obscurity
of his statements and the fact that I was unable
to gain any intelligent ideas of his methods.
There was a certain satisfaction in finding that
others had met with no better success M.
Science 3, 866, 1896
In conclusion, let it be said that the writer
has had occasion to examine irrational writing
before, but has never encountered such froth
until now. The more excusable nonsense, and often
the more evident, is that which is built, it may
be with care, upon false conceptions but these
papers of Prof. Bigelows are devoid of all
conceptions, and at best they are mere
pretension. W.S. Franklin, Science 3, 807-11,
1896
It is to be hoped that some competent person
will have the patience to examine the material
and let the world know whether there is anything
in it. The Meteorological Magazine 59, 166-7,
1924
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Perhaps, A Variable Star?
Langleys invention of the bolometer, and his
pioneer work in the construction of the flying
machine, are achievements sufficiently great to
ensure a reputation which will outweigh the
recollection of defects due to an exaggerated
consciousness of dignity, accompanied by a marked
inability to see the humorous side of things.
Sir Arthur Schuster, Nature 115, 199, 1925.
Samuel Pierpont Langley 22.VIII.1834 27.II.1906
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The Man of La Mancha
Charles Greeley Abbot 31.V.1872 17.XII.1973
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The Impossible Dream?
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Wait! All is not Lost
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Sun-Weather-Business Cycles
Carlos García-Mata 23.V.1905 19.X.1982
Some time ago, Mr. Moe, of the Guggenheim
Foundation sent a young Argentinean Mr. Mata to
see me. Mr. Mata believes that business activity
is a correlate of solar activity and with a good
deal of ingenuity he has established some rather
high correlations between past records of these
two types of fluctuation phenomena. Edwin B.
Wilson, BAMS 16, 81, 1935
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Business Cycles
William Stanley Jevons 1.IX.1835 13.VIII.1882
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Sun-Weather-Climate Cycles
Henry Agard Wallace 7.X.1888 18.XI.1965
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Wrong, Again!
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More On Cyclic Behaviors
Economists who foster the sun-spot theory of ups
and downs of the business cycle were criticized
yesterday by Dr. Harlow Shapley, director of the
Harvard College Observatory, with the assertion
that they had not enough factual material on
which to base such a theory. He added that the
positiveness of some of the sun-spot theorists
makes one think that one day they will say
Wall-Street makes the sun-spots. New York
Times, 13.V.1938
Donald Howard Menzel 11.IV.1901
14.XII.1976 Harlow Shapley 2.XI.1885 20.X.1972
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Corona-graphic Cycles
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Alls Well That Ends Well
Bernard Lyot 27.II.1897 1.IV.1952 John
Wainright Evans, Jr. 14.V.1909 31.X.1999 Walter
Orr Roberts 20.VIII.1915 12.III.1990