Constructing Space for Science at the Royal Institution of Great Britain

Those who have worked in the Royal Institution of Great Britain have, since its foundation in 1799, made significant contributions to scientific knowledge, to its practical application, and to its communication to a wide variety of audiences. Such work cannot be carried out in an architectural vacuum, and in this paper we examine how the buildings of the Royal Institution, 20 and 21 Albemarle Street in central London, have shaped the work undertaken within its walls and how, on a number of occasions, the buildings have been reconfigured to take account of the evolving needs of scientific research and communication. This paper is based on the Conservation Plan of the Royal Institution that we wrote during 2003. The Conservation Plan did not examine the land owned by the Royal Institution to the north (i.e., 22 and 23 Albemarle Street; for this area see Richard Garnier, “Grafton Street, Mayfair,” Georgian Group Journal 13 (2003), 210–272), but it did discuss 18 and 19 Albemarle Street. In this paper we concentrate on the core Royal Institution buildings at 20 and 21 Albemarle Street. Other studies of the relationship of architecture,space, and science include Crosbie Smith and Jon Agar, ed., Making Space for Science: Territorial Themes in the Shaping of Knowledge (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997); Peter Galison and Emily Thompson, ed., The Architecture of Science (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999); and Sophie Forgan,“The architecture of science and the idea of a university,” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 20 (1989), 405–434. Frank A.J.L. James is Professor of the History of Science at the Royal Institution; he has written widely on the history of nineteenth-century science in its social and cultural contexts and is editor of the Correspondence of Michael Faraday. He is President of the British Society for the History of Science. Anthony Peers is an Associate of Rodney Melville and Partners where he works in the field of building conservation as an architectural historian. He is a Council member of the Ancient Monument Society.     

Influence of the variable wall thickness of the sample tubes and a quartz Dewar on the EPR signal intensity in a single TE102 and double TE104 rectangular cavity

The response of a single TE₁₀₂ and double TE₁₀₄ rectangular cavity to the insertion of samples contained in tubes with variable wall thickness and a quartz Dewar into the cavity has been analyzed. A direct, indirect, and concurrent (positive or negative) “lens effect” inside the double TE₁₀₄ rectangular cavity is discussed. The experimental dependence of the EPR signal intensity on the wall thickness of the sample tube, δ, for the line-like samples with identical length of the sample material column, L=30 mm, recorded in the microwave cavity showed a directly proportional increase of the relative “lens effect” with the increase of the wall thickness of the tube in the interval, δ∈<0.1 mm, >0.5 mm. The insertion of the variable-temperature double-wall quartz Dewar (home-built, resonant frequency shift, ca. −300 MHz) into the single TE₁₀₂ rectangular cavity showed the same relative “lens effect”, with ca. 1.5-time increase of the EPR signal intensity, for a point-like sample and the line-like samples with material columns of diameter of 1 and 1.3 mm, and wall thickness of the sample tubes, δ∈<0.1 mm, >0.5 mm. The increased effect of the Dewar arises because the active volume of the quartz Dewar tube walls is always much more larger than the active volume of the sample tube wall. In the case of the double TE₁₀₄ rectangular cavity, the insertion of the quartz Dewar: (i) into the same cavity, in which the sample is present, caused a direct “lens effect”, with ca. 1.8-fold increase of the EPR signal intensity; however, (ii) into the complementary cavity, in which the sample is absent, caused an indirect “lens effect”, with ca. 0.6-fold decrease of the EPR signal intensity. With the Dewar and sample in one cavity and a large empty sample tube in the complementary cavity, a concurrent (positive or negative) “lens effect” can be observed. Thus, the possible increase/decrease of the EPR signal intensity depends on the volume ratio of the quartz Dewar tube walls and large sample tube wall inserted into the double TE₁₀₄ rectangular cavity. Each of the above phenomena may be a significant source error in quantitative EPR spectrometry unless the samples to be compared in the quantitative EPR analysis are contained in sample tubes having the same wall thickness and each EPR spectra should be recorded inside an identical quartz Dewar.     

Cycloaddition Reactions of Deoxyribosylpropynoates

Pure anomers of either α or β 3-(2-deoxyribofuranosyl)propynoates reacted with the tetramethylcyclobutadiene–aluminum trichloride complex to yield the corresponding diastereoisomeric Dewar benzenes. Thermal- or ultraviolet light–initiated rearrangement gave rise to highly substituted C-aryldeoxyribosides as single anomers. The same compounds as well as other substituted deoxyribosides were obtained also by transition metal–mediated cycloaddition reactions.     

Search for singlet-triplet bistability or biradicaloid properties in polycyclic conjugated hydrocarbons: a valence-bond analysis

Two classes of molecules displaying singlet-triplet biradical bistability (i.e. species having significant biradicaloid properties) can be designed as follows. Alternant conjugated polycyclic hydrocarbons with numerous fixed double bonds (double bonds that remain unchanged in all its Kekulé resonance structures), a large number of Dewar resonance structures which measures the corresponding diradical resonance, and a small HOMO-LUMO band gap which measures the ease of thermal spin inversion are candidates for singlet triplet biradical bistability. Chichibabin's hydrocarbon ( 1 ) is an example. In addition, in the search for candidate molecules having singlet triplet bistability, one should also examine polycyclic conjugated systems having nonalternant induced spin frustration. Spin frustrated nonalternant polycyclic conjugated hydrocarbons will display singlet-triplet bistability (biradicaloid properties) and are generated from alternant valence-bond diradicals or Hückel molecular orbital diradicals having classical Kekulé structures by appropriate intramolecular joining of two starred or nonstarred positions with bonds, respectively.     

FAIR收集环二极超导磁体外杜瓦泄放系统的概念设计

对FAIR(Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research)收集环-CR(Collector Ring)二极超导磁体外杜瓦的超压泄放系统进行了概念设计,给出了爆破片式的泄放系统结构,并基于ANSYS的结构分析初步确定了爆破片的结构参数;以及通过ANSYS对波纹管和外杜瓦进行了结构分析,分析结果表明波纹管和外杜瓦在超压状态下安全。文中的设计和分析研究,为外杜瓦的工程设计提供了有益的参考。     

超流氦获取实验液位数据采集与测试系统研究

针对超流氦获取与传输实验设计的数据采集系统由控制柜、工控机、显示器三部分组成。使用板卡PCI-1620对工控机的串口进行扩展,使系统能够同时采集8个RS232信号。其中液位信息是非常重要的物性参数,针对获取与传输实验液氦杜瓦设计定制的超导液位计,能够与整个测控系统一起完成液位信息的采集、转换和记录。     

Mechanism of UV-induced formation of Dewar lesions in DNA

The importance of a backbone: The mechanism of formation of Dewar lesions has been investigated by using femtosecond IR spectroscopy and ab?initio calculations of the exited state. The 4π?electrocyclization is rather slow, occurs with an unusual high quantum yield, and--surprisingly--is controlled by the phosphate backbone.     

高温超导磁体试验装置设计

在高温超导磁体试验装置设计中,冷却方式有制冷机传导冷却和液氮浸泡冷却两种。制冷机传导冷却是将磁体通过一种热导率高的材料与制冷机冷头相连。该方式为保证绝缘、冷量传递、温场均匀性等指标,对磁体的结构设计要求较高;液氮浸泡冷却是将高温超导磁体浸泡在液氮中,该方式虽然对磁体结构设计要求有所降低,但在试验过程中需定期补充蒸发掉的液氮,试验过程较繁琐。有鉴于此,我们设计了一套利用热虹吸原理的零蒸发液氮浸泡冷却高温超导磁体试验装置,超导磁体吊装在杜瓦上盖板法兰下,液氮浸泡超导磁体,带GM制冷机的液氮再冷凝杜瓦与超导磁体分开,用一根真空绝热管道将两者连接起来,利用热虹吸原理构成自循环系统。     

Reply to A Computational Evaluation of the Evidence for the Synthesis of 1,3‐Dimethylcyclobutadiene in Solid State and Aqueous Solution—Beyond the Experimental Reality

Following earlier reports on the photochemical synthesis of 1,3‐dimethylcyclobutadiene 8 , 10 in a protective host matrix, theoretical calculations for the formation of that adduct have been recently performed by Rzepa. 13 The author formulated criticisms based mainly on density functional theory calculations of ¹H NMR spectra. According to Rzepa the calculated spectra do not correspond with our measured spectra, which leads him to the conclusion that our interpretation is wrong, and that mainly cyclobutadiene has not been stabilized or even synthesized; we believe, however, that the initial model that Rzepa used for his calculations does not correspond to chemical reality or is at the very least a crude simplification of it, which implies that his calculations cannot match, in every point, our experimental spectra. Rzepa′s simplified models might be ‘reasonable’ from the theoretical point of view; however, in the case of assessment in the solid state, the theoretical setup does not force the system to preserve the confined stabilizing space defined by the crystalline matrix for encapsulated hosts in the solid state. Inversely, in the case of solution modeling, the theoretical setup is too rigid to properly assess the complex equilibria occurring in solution and to accurately determine the NMR spectra of exchanging species in solution. The inconsistency between our experimental results and the results of the theoretical models proposed by Rzepa is such that his conclusions are considered to be too far from experimental reality. Accurate modeling taking in account “reasonable” experimental details would be a worthwhile endeavor.