Jamin Apparatus

Date: 1879-1882
Maker: Jules Duboscq
Place: France: Île-de-France, Paris
Dimensions: overall: 20 in; 50.8 cm; overall: 20 1/8 in x 8 3/8 in x 7 3/8 in; 51.1175 cm x 21.2725 cm x 18.7325 cm
Museum: National Museum of American History
Credit line: United States Military Academy

Jules Jamin (1818-1886) was a professor at the l’École Polytechnique in Paris known for his early and important work with physical optics. This apparatus, which was depicted and discussed in his text of 1866, shows the angle at which light passes through birefringent prisms. It consists of counter-rotating brass disks on a brass stand; the cylinders that would hold the prisms have been lost. The “J. & A. Duboscq à Paris” inscription refers to Jules Duboscq and his nephew Albert, who worked in partnership between 1879 and 1882.

Ref: J. Jamin, Course de Physique de l’École Polytechnique (Paris, 1866), vol. 3, p. 572.

Ph. Pellin, Instruments d’Optique et de Précision (Paris, [1909]), vol. 4, p. 29.

The museum's own record (Smithsonian, National Museum of American History)

Jamin Apparatus

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