Everything about Philosophical Magazine totally explained
The
Philosophical Magazine is arguably the world’s oldest commercially published
scientific journal. Initiated by
Richard Taylor in
1798 and published continuously by
Taylor & Francis ever since, it was the journal of choice for such luminaries as Faraday, Joule, Maxwell, J.J. Thomson, Rayleigh and Rutherford. Indeed, the development of
science over more than 200 years can be comprehensively traced in its pages.
Early history
The name of the journal dates from a period when ‘natural philosophy’ embraced all aspects of science:
physics,
chemistry,
astronomy,
medicine,
botany,
biology and
geology, in addition to natural phenomena of many kinds, for instance
earthquakes,
volcanic eruptions,
lightning strikes and
aurora. The very first paper published in the journal carried the title ‘Account of Mr Cartright’s Patent Steam Engine’. Other articles in the first volume include ‘Methods of discovering whether Wine has been adulterated with any Metals prejudicial to Health’ and ‘Description of the Apparatus used by Lavoisier to produce Water from its component Parts, Oxygen and Hydrogen’.
19th Century
Early in the nineteenth century, classic papers by
Humphry Davy,
Michael Faraday and
James Prescott Joule enlivened the journal’s pages, and in the
1860s,
James Clerk Maxwell contributed several long articles, culminating in a paper containing the deduction that light is an
electromagnetic wave or, as he put it himself, ‘We can scarcely avoid the inference that light consists in transverse undulations of the same medium which is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena’. The famous experimental paper of
Albert A. Michelson and
Edward Morley was published in
1887 and this was followed ten years later by
J.J. Thomson’s article ‘Cathode Rays’ – essentially the discovery of the
electron.
In
1814, the Philosophical Magazine merged with the Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and the Arts, otherwise known as
Nicholson's Journal, to form The Philosophical Magazine and Journal. Further mergers with the Annals of Philosophy and The Edinburgh Journal of Science led to the retitling of the journal in
1840, to "The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science"! In
1949, the title reverted to The Philosophical Magazine, for ease of reference.
20th Century
In the early part of the
20th century,
Ernest Rutherford was a frequent contributor. He once told a friend to ‘watch out for the next issue of Philosophical Magazine; it's highly radioactive!’ Aside from his work on understanding
radioactivity, Rutherford proposed the experiments of
Hans Geiger and
Ernest Marsden that verified his nuclear model of the
atom and led to
Niels Bohr’s famous paper on planetary electrons, which was published in the journal in
1913. Another classic contribution from Rutherford was entitled ‘Collision of α Particles with Light Atoms. IV. An Anomalous Effect in Nitrogen’ – an article describing no less than the first artificial
transmutation of an
element.
In
1978 the journal was divided into two independent parts, Philosophical Magazine A and Philosophical Magazine B. Part A published papers on
structure, defects and mechanical properties while Part B focussed on
statistical mechanics,
electronic,
optical and
magnetic properties.
The Journal today
Since the middle of the
20th Century, “Phil Mag”, as the journal is affectionately known, has focussed on
condensed matter physics and published significant papers on
dislocations,
mechanical properties of
solids,
amorphous semiconductors and
glasses. As subject area evolved and it became more difficult to classify research into distinct areas, it was no longer considered necessary to publish the journal in two parts, so in 2003 parts A and B were re-merged. In its current form, 36 issues of
Philosophical Magazine are published each year, supplemented by 12 issues of
Philosophical Magazine Letters.
Editors
Philosophical Magazine has a tradition of appointing distinguished and world-renowned
Editors with eminent scientists such as
John Tyndall,
J.J. Thomson,
Sir Nevill Mott and
William Lawrence Bragg previously occupying this role. The journal is currently edited by Lindsay Greer of the
University of Cambridge and Peter Riseborough of
Temple University,
Philadelphia.
Philosophical Magazine Letters
In
1987, the sister journal
Philosophical Magazine Letters was launched with the aim of rapidly publishing short communications on all aspects of
condensed matter physics. Phil Mag Letters is edited by E.A. Davis, who is also General and Co-ordinating Editor for both parts of the journal.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Philosophical Magazine'.
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