THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS
Report on the papers and miscellaneous
correspondence of
EDWARD ARTHUR MILNE
(1896-1950)
mathematician and natural philosopher
deposited in the
Bodleian Library, Oxford
(CSAC 102/6/84)
Reproduced for the Contemporary Scientific Archives Centre
All rights reserved
THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS
Quality House, Quality Court, Chancery Lane,
London WC2A iHP
1984
CSAC 102/6/84
CONTEMPORARY SCIENTIFIC ARCHIVES CENTRE
British National Committee for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology
under the guidance of the Royal Society’s
Catalogue of the papers and correspondence of
EDWARD ARTHUR MILNE, FRS
(1896 - 1950)
Compiled by:
Jeannine Alton and Peter Harper
Deposited in the Bodleian Library, Oxford
1984
All rights reserved
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
The work of the Contemporary Scientific Archives Centre, and the
production of this catalogue, are made possible by the support of the following
societies and institutions:
The Biochemical Society
The Charles Babbage Foundation for the History of Information
Processing
The Institute of Physics
The Institution of Electrical Engineers
The Nuffield Foundation
The Rhodes Trustees
The Royal Society of London
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers
The Wolfson Foundation
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
LIST OF CONTENTS
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
SECTION A
BIOGRAPHICAL AND PERSONAL
A.1-A.4
Obituary notices and tributes
A.5-A.21
Personal and family
SECTION B
LECTURES AND PAPERS
SECTION C
NOTES AND DRAFTS
Introduction to Section C
C.28-C.51
€.58
SECTION D
CORRESPONDENCE
C.1
-C.27
Thermodynamics
C.52-C.57_
Relativity
Statistical Mechanics
Milne's statistical problem
INDEX OF CORRESPONDENTS
Introduction to Section D
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
PROVENANCE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The collection has been assembled from several sources.
The personal letters at A.6 - A.20 and the note on Geoffrey Milne at A. 21
are the gift of Mrs. M.K. Milne, widow of Geoffrey and sister-in-law of Arthur
Milne.
The correspondence at D.58 - D.61 is the gift of Professor and Mrs.
Theodore
Dunham, friends with whom Milne's daughters stayed during the Second World War.
The photocopies of letters to H. Davenport at D.53A were made available
by Mrs. Anne Davenport.
The remainder of the material was assembled and given by Mrs. Margaret
(Meggie) Weston-Smith and Miranda Weston-Smith (daughter and grand-daughter),
who were also responsible for obtaining the photocopied documents and transcripts
ot1hs2'=D,50,-D.51 =-D.53, Di63:--D.68.
OUTLINE OF THE CAREER OF E.A. MILNE
Milne was a distinguished mathematician and one of the founders of modern
theoretical astrophysics.
Educated at Hymers College, Hull, and Trinity College, Cambridge, he
became Assistant Director of the Solar Physics Observatory, Cambridge (1920), Beyer
Other topics on which he wrote and lectured include thermodynamics,
three principal phases in Milne's work: atmospheric problems in astrophysics (1920-29),
1916-18 (holding an R.N.V.R. Commission), and for the Ministry of Supply at the
stellar structure (1929-35) and the discovery and development of kinematic relativity
Professor of Applied Mathematics at Manchester (1925-28) and the first holder of the
Rouse Ball Professorship at Oxford (1928-50).
Milne served in both World Wars, on
ballistics and sound-ranging at the Anti-Aircraft Experimental Station at Portsmouth
Ordnance Board as a 'Key Scientist' for much of the Second World War (1939-44).
W.H. McCrea, in his memoir of Milne for the Royal Society, distinguishes
(from 1932).
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
statistical mechanics and pulsating stars.
An annual Milne lecture was founded under the auspices of Wadham College,
Oxford, the first being given in 1978.
A fuller account of Milne's career can be found in the memoir by W.H. McCrea,
Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society, 7, 1950-51, pp.421-443.
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Milne died suddenly, away from home, in 1950 at the relatively early age of
fifty-four.
He had been twice widowed and had three still young children.
In these
circumstances there were more urgent tasks than the care of his papers, and the
present collection assembled after considerable lapse of time has many gaps.
particular, there is little record of Milne's overseas travel for research and conferences
or of his committee and editorial work, while the surviving correspondence, interesting
though it
is clearly no more than a fraction of the original corpus.
is,
In
Perhaps the main interest is to be found in the correspondence.
young man in the First World War.
The letters to Chandrasekhar in
There is clearly to be seen in both these
The lecture notes and drafts in Sections B and C indicate the range of Milne's
sequences of correspondence Milne's deep love for Trinity College, Cambridge,
whose traditions and ceremonies he accepted wholeheartedly and took part in when-
Section D, while mainly on technical subjects and especially Milne's growing belief
in his theory of kinematic relativity also contain many insights into his family life,
bereavements, and daily struggles.
mathematical and astrophysical interests reasonably well, if not as fully as could be
wished.
The letters
to his parents and brother in Section A are revealing of his personality as well as of -
his work asa
ever he could.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
LOCATIONS OF FURTHER MATERIAL
A little correspondence remains in family hands.
The manuscript of Milne's Edward Cadbury Lectures, 'Modern Cosmology and the
Christian Idea of God', is held in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (Ref.:
Add. Ms. 4.228).
The lectures were to have been given in the University of
Birmingham in 1950 but Milne died in
September of that year.
The manuscript
was edited by G. J. Whitrow and published in 1952.
Six letters by Milne to Sir Joseph Larmor written between 1930 and 1933 are held
in the Royal Society, London.
A list of additional locations of letters by and to Milne can be found at D.1.
Professor D.G. Kendall, FRS, and Dr. J. Hendry gave helpful advice on the
identification and description of some of Milne's notes and drafts.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Professor K. Hufbauer kindly made available his own reference list of locations of
additional correspondence now included at D.1.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
SECTION A
BIOGRAPHICAL AND PERSONAL
A.1 - A.21
A.1-A.4
OBITUARY NOTICES AND TRIBUTES
A.1
Obituary notice by G.J. Whitrow, n.d.
3pp. Photocopy.
Memoir by W.H. McCrea (Obituary Notices of Fellows of the
Royal Society, 7, 1950-51).
Photocopy.
l5pp. typescript draft obituary, by G.J. Whitrow, with ms.
additions and notes by A.G. Walker, intended for a joint
publication.
delay, February 1955.
by Walker apologising for
Withams. letter
Also includes 2pp. incomplete list of Milne's publications,
paginated 14 and 15.
A.V. Hill - Milne's career in 1914-18 war, and return to Cambridge.
L.J. Mordell - Milne's family, and career at Manchester.
Ordnance Board - Milne's work for Board 1939-44.
Letters from colleagues, sent to McCrea as author of Royal Society
Obituary Notice, with information and reminiscences of Milne,
1950.
E.D. Adrian - on the incidence and effects of Milne's attack
of epidemic encephalitis.
as a covering letter.
'My philosophy'
5pp. ms. autobiographical notes by Milne, describing the principal
phases of his career and those who had influenced him.
The work
is dated 25 August 1950 (Milne died on 21 September of that year).
Attached to the ms. is an additional short note, perhaps intended
F.J.M. Stratton.
PERSONAL AND FAMILY
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Biographical and personal
A.6-A.12
Milne's letters to his brother Geoffrey, 1916-17, 1930-40.
These are all autograph manuscript, usually dated and often
voluminous.
this is indicated in the entry.
mathematical material and their discursive style gives insight into
Milne's personality.
Occasionally only part of the letter survives and
The letters include personal and
Geoffrey Milne (1898-1942) was two years younger than
He was educated at Leeds University and served in the
Arthur.
First World War with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
and with the Royal Engineers Sound-ranging Section.
Afterwards he became an agricultural scientist with special
interest in soil research, working in East Africa and elsewhere
on tropical agriculture and soil conservation.
his career, published in 1978 by Mrs. Kathleen Milne (widow),
from which this information is drawn, is included at A.21].
A short account of
1916
2 letters, one dated 20 May.
Includes some reference to the early part of Milne's work with
A.V. Hill and R.H. Fowler at Anti-Aircraft Experimental Section,
Munitions Inventions Department, though Milne writes that the
information should be 'kept squat’.
Letters of July and August describe
1917
iy
15 July;
Milne was commissioned as a Lieutenant R.N.V.R.
26 August, addressed from H.M.S. Excellent,
8, 24 May;
Portsmouth.
in order to ensure against his being conscripted and perhaps transferred
from his naval work.
This is referred to (to be kept 'perfectly squat’)
in letters of 8and 24 May.
‘stalling turns' and early experience of flying.
in view of criticisms by the popular press.
Milne's letters of 30 October and 11 November discuss the problems
of anti-aircraft defence, and the value of his department's research,
21, 30 October; 11,25 November; 6 December, all from H.M.S.
Excellent.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
A.9
1930:
Biographical and personal
23 March; 5 August; 23 November, from Oxford.
Letter of 23 March is 2pp., lacking both beginning and end, and
has a note 'To G.M. from E.A.M. 23 March 1930! in the hand
of Mrs. K. Milne.
Letter of 23 November is one sheet only.
Mainly concerned with Milne's work on stellar structure and
his controversy with Eddington.
1931-32
25 January 1931;
10 August, 27 November 1932.
Letter of 10 August is last sheet only (numbered 15) of a letter,
with a note 'ToG.M. 10 August 1932' in the hand of Mrs. K. Milne.
Letter of 27 November is from Einstein Institute, Potsdam and lacks
the lower half of the last page.
Mainly concerned with Milne's work on kinematic relativity.
of 27 November gives some account of the Potsdam Institute and
Milne was in Germany on a fellowship
scientists working there.
from the Rockefeller Foundation.
Letter
1934-36
13 May, 9 December 1934;
28 July 1935;
10 April 1936.
Letter of 13 May is incomplete (2pp. only);
incomplete (2pp. only);
beginning and end and has a note 'From E.A.M. to G.M. 10th
Ap. 1936' in the hand of Mrs. K. Milne.
letter of 10 April is Ip. only, lacks
letter of 28 July is
Letter of 1931 refers to Geoffrey Milne's work at Amani, Tanganyika.
old Newton! '
Letter of 13 May describes controversial meetings of Royal Astro-
nomical Society;
on 'structure of dynamics';
on the inverse
1937) of which Milne says 'I really think it would have interested
letter of 28 July describes Milne's new ideas
square law of gravitation (Proc. Roy. Soc. 160,
letter of 19 April refers to his papers
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
A.12
1939-40
Biographical and personal
4 September 1939;
3 July, 15 September, 30 October 1940.
Letter of 15 September is incomplete (3pp. only).
Mainly concerned with the outbreak of the Second World War,
air-raids and the departure of Milne's two eldest children,
Eleanor and Margaret, to America.
Letters of 4 September 1939 and 3 July 1940 are concerned with
Beatrice Renwick whom Milne married as his second wife in June
1940 after her adventurous journey from New York through Italy
and France during the German advance.
Letter to 'George' [ Heseltine J.
One letter only, 2 February 1917, from H.M.S. Excellent, on
research and personnel at Portsmouth.
Heseltine was a pilot and apparently a family friend;
for references to various flying tests as part of his pilot's training.
see A.14
A.14-A.19
there is an empty envelope at A.19.
Milne's letters to his parents, 1917-20.
Milne seems to have addressed his letters separately to his
mother and father, more or less turn and turn about, though the
content of the letters does not vary according to the named recipient.
Several of the letters are accompanied by the original envelope bearing
ams. date;
Geoffrey Milne was then stationed.
All addressed from H.M.S. Excellent though letter of 9 March refers
to work at Orfordness.
Milne's father's illness, and the war on the Western Front where
Describes flight in ‘Fighting Experimental’ aircraft,
2 March.
and research under Fowler with his 'bristling manner'; also refers
to George Heseltine (see A.13).
Letters also refer to air defence of London,
1917
1918
9,
17,
28 March.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
A.16
1918
Biographical and personal
19 June (from Essex);
25 July (from Portsmouth).
1918
11, 22 September, both from First Army Anti-Aircraft Defences,
B.E.F. France.
In pencil.
General reflections on conditions and the progress of the war.
1919
12 October; 9, 23 November, all from Trinity College, Cambridge.
Letter of 12 October describes ceremonies of Milne's election as
Fellow of Trinity, offer to him by H.F. Newall of post at Solar
Physics Observatory, Cambridge personalities, research, etc.
Letters of 9 and 23 November describe customs and life at Trinity,
mathematical meetings and research with Rutherford, etc.
1920
25 January; 30 April.
Cambridge news, details of post at Solar Physics Observatory,
teaching, lecturing, research, social occasions.
Enclosed here is an empty envelope addressed to Milne's father
and postmarked 6 February 1920.
‘Geoffrey Milne 1898-1942!
Letter to Milne's father, 18 February 1920, from A.V. Hill, expressing
his admiration of Milne and his work, and the hope that 'he will
become one of the great scientists of the day’.
Note on the career and publications of G. Milne, by Kathleen
Milne, 1978.
Offprint from Geographers: Bibliographical
Studies, published by the International Geographical Union
Commission on the History of Geographical Thought and the
International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
SECTION B
LECTURES AND PAPERS
B.1 ~ B.10
B.1 is Milne's notes of lectures he attended in Cambridge in 1919; B.2-B.10 are
his own lectures and papers.
B.1
Red notebook of lectures attended by Milne in Cambridge.
In
his letters home (see especially A.18) he writes that he attends
lectures whenever his own work permits.
The book includes:
‘Chapman.
some corrections and additions in pencil).
Kinetic Theory of Gases.
May Term 1919" (with
‘Darwin on Theory of Quanta.
Cavendish Lab.'
‘Debye.
Degrees of freedom in elastic vibrations of a solid’
(Perhaps a single visiting lecture by Debye.)
‘Stratton on Series in Line-spectra'
‘Darwin on Bohr's Theory'
"J.J. [Thomson ] Positive Rays'
(Pages left blank. )
There is a bibliography, an outline of ten
‘The Physics of Stellar Atmosphere 1923'
The pages are numbered, but not always in order, and there are
several pages of additional material to be incorporated dated
1924, 1925, as well as many intercalated pages.
Milne's original folder for a 'research course' of lectures intended
to cover twoterms.
topics to be studied, examples and problems to be used, etc.
See also B.3.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Lectures and papers
B.3
‘Addendum to the paper "The temperature in the outer atmosphere
of a star"'
(Communicated by the Director of the Solar Physics Observatory,
Cambridge. )
App. typescript draft, with a ms. note by Milne at head,'July 1922.
Never published.
The 'addendum' is to Milne's
paper of the same title published in Mon. Not. R. Astr. Soc., 82,
1922.
?Not worth it'.
This item was originally tucked into the folder of lecture notes
Gib. 2:
'The relations of mathematics to science’
Ms. draft for paper, probably for a Cambridge audience (perhaps
Trinity College), n.d.
33pp. (with intercalated p.8a), and sequence paginated a-! of
Milne's translation of selected passages from Bergson.
‘Radiation Theory and Astrophysical Applications’
Volume I, pp. 1-139, with a few intercalated pages and additional
notes in pencil.
2 black spring-back binders, Volumes | and II for an extended
course of lectures under the slightly different title 'Radiation
Theory and its Applications in Astrophysics’.
Volume Il, pp.140-269, with a title page headed 'Second Term’.
Some references dated 1922.
Inserted between pp.225 and 226
is a Spp. ms. paper by Milne 'Note on the evolution of the stars’.
Addendum pp.187a, 187b is dated February 1923.
See C.3.
There is an index (perhaps added later,
on different format paper)
of topics, some described as 'very important’, ‘important and very
difficult', etc.
are no longer in the folder.
Black spring-back notebook 'Lecture Notes on Thermodynamics'
Ms. notes for a course of lectures described as 'Schedule B',
pp.1-102a.
The index goes up to p.128 but the last pages
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Lectures and papers
‘The aims of mathematical physics'.
1929.
(Milne's Inaugural Lecture, Oxford.)
Offprint of published text.
Uncut.
‘The White Dwarf Stars'
Essay submitted for the Johnson Memorial Prize, 1931.
96pp., mainly ms. draft and diagrams; some typed pages.
In his covering letter Milne (‘The Candidate') requests the return
of the text and diagrams 'as they constitute original work of which
| have no copy’.
The ms. is in the folder as received, which bears a variety of
dates and descriptions.
'The white dwarf stars’
(The Halley Lecture, given May 1932 and published that year by
the Clarendon Press.)
S0pp. typescript with ms. corrections and additions, in black
spring-back folder.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
SECTION C
NOTES AND DRAFTS
C.1 - C.58
INTRODUCTION TO SECTION C
Crl G27
THERMODYNAMICS
© .20:--G.5!
STATISTICAL MECHANICS
C 52 = Co
RELATIVITY
C.58
MILNE'S STATISTICAL PROBLEM
statistical problem posed by Milne.
Some sequences of notes are paginated by Milne, others were clipped together
and have been retained in Milne's order.
Sometimes he used the backs of examina-
The material was received grouped under the three main headings of thermo-
necessarily correspond to their original state.
Item C.58 isa later analysis of a
dynamics, statistical mechanics and relativity and these have been retained, though
it
is clear from Milne's descriptive titles for some of his notes that they no longer
These are undated sequences for lectures and papers, some belonging to the
Cambridge period and probably contemporary with the material at B.5 - B.7 (see
especially C.3) but with later additions and updatings.
and later work are usually on smaller format paper.
tion scripts or class exercises for his notes, but much of the material is written on
the cream-laid large quarto paper used for the 1920s lectures.
Additional pages
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Notes and drafts
EP
Li
THERMODYNAMICS
Various sequences of notes and narratives, undated, the majority probably
from the 1920s when Milne was working on atmospheric problems in astrophysics.
The material was mainly intended for lectures and class problems but also in part
for Milne's article ‘Thermodynamics of the Stars' published as part of the Handbuch
der Astrophysik (Berlin, 1930), or for other published work.
lecture and publish on stellar thermodynamics throughout the 1930s, revising and up-
dating his material accordingly.
phrases below, are Milne's.
All the sequences, and the titles or opening
Milne continued to
1
‘Pure Thermodynamics'
Bibliography and introductory remarks for a course of
Spp.
lectures (latest quoted date 1933).
Extensive sequence of notes and narratives, with pencil additions
and revisions, paginated 1-54 with a
later intercalated sequence
at p.53.
It seems likely that
‘On the Second Law of Thermodynamics. By E.A. Milne’ 7pp.
Three sequences of notes and examples on 'simple substance’.
Extensive sequence of notes and narratives, paginated O24, 92.1
headed 'to be published sometime', and with a pencil note 'N.B.
This is rather a swagger proof ...' and 108a-128 some also headed’
‘Publish sometime’, ‘replaced ...', etc.
these are the pages missing from B.7.
paginated 1-3, 35-38, 63-64.
Sequence paginated '61.1' - '64.4' and 2pp. related, referring
to work of Gibb.
Three sequences on ‘Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances’,
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
C.8
'The réle of friction in thermodynamics'
Notes and drafts
‘Properties of Thermodynamic Functions’
"Electrolytic Cell ...'
‘Porous Plug Experiment, pp.1-5, la, 2a.
‘Brief account of the classical thermodynamics’, variously
paginated (later addition).
'‘Clausius', Ip.
‘A mathematical treatment of chemical equilibrium’, 23pp.
‘Conditions of equilibrium ...'
'The Phase Rule’
‘Complex of two phases in equilibrium’
"Semi~permeable membranes’
‘Partial potential of a perfect gas', witha ms. note 'Second
Term' (early work).
Two sequences of notes on vapour pressure (early work).
Three sequences of notes, and solutions to problems, on osmotic
pressure.
‘Mixture of perfect gases', pp.1-4 with ms. revisions and inter-
calated pages.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
cr?
Three sequences of notes on vapour pressure (later work).
Notes and drafts
C123
"Freezing point of a solution'
C94
Si20
"Thermodynamic Equilibrium in an External Field of Force'
'Dissociated Equilibrium in gaseous mixtures', pp.1-66.
C.26
‘The Nernst Theorem and its Applications', pp.1-14.
C.23-C.26 are all on same format paper, show similar features of handwriting, and:
may have been written at the same time.
©. 2/
Miscellaneous problems and solutions in thermodynamics, one
headed 'Special hard question.
Original’.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Notes and drafts
C.28-C.51
STATISTICAL MECHANICS
All this material was received crammed into Milne's original folder inscribed
It consists mainly of notes for courses of lectures
‘Notes on Statistical Mechanics’.
at various dates, probably all at Oxford; C.28 is early (c.1928), much of C.29 et seq
are later (c.1937).
here alphabetically for convenience, with Milne's comments or re-workings, and
some longer narratives for lectures or publications.
There are also analytical notes on earlier theories, presented
Bibliography and introductory note on 'Fundamentals of the New
Statistics’.
‘Introductory Lecture’, pp.1-9, preceded by 2pp. note on 'My
difficulties in beginning and preparing the course', and Ip.
Bibliography, heavily annotated, with outline of course.
date quoted 1936; most of the authors listed are those whose
work is discussed in the ms. notes and drafts.
Latest
'Classical statistical mechanics for ideal gas’.
Draft for lecture or paper, 26pp.
Probably given at Mathematical Institute, Oxford, 1937.
Unpaginated (13pp.) sequence of notes on 'classical' and 'new'
statistics, with ms. note at head 'Important Ms.'.
Three sequences of notes (perhaps later).
Two sequences of notes on Boltzmann's hypothesis, 5pp. and 8pp.
Einstein-Bose statistics.
Two sequences of notes (perhaps earlier work).
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Notes and drafts
G.35
Fermi-Dirac statistics.
Three sequences of notes.
Also included here is an offprint of Milne's paper 'The dissociation
formula according to the Fermi-Dirac statistics’ (Mon. Not. R.
Astr. Soc., 90, 1930).
C.36
Notes on R.H. Fowler's theories.
C.37-C.42
Extensive notes on the work of J. Willard Gibb.
a
Seon
Lear
C.40
"Notes on Gibb' Statistical Mechanics', paginated 1-62, with
several intercalated pages.
"Notes from Gibb’
‘Criticism of Gibb'
‘Notes from Haas' comments on Gibb', paginated 1-36
numbered pages.
+ 4 un-
C.4]
C.42
C.43
C.44
"Notes from Pannekoek', paginated 1-22.
'Brillouin's account of the passage to Gibb', paginated 1-8.
"Notes from Lorentz’ with a note 'To be inserted after notes on
Haas', paginated 1-12.
Three sequences of notes on Planck, and comparison of his work
with Einstein-Bose statistics, 4pp., l1pp., 7pp.
mechanics.
Two sequences of notes on Dissociative Equilibrium’, 7pp.
early work), 3pp. (perhaps later).
Notes on J. Woltjer, 4pp.
.
Five sequences of notes on
(perhaps
'
relativistic' and 'non-relativistic'
.
.
.
.
.
.
:
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Notes and drafts
C.48
"Vapour pressure equation derivation', 4pp. (perhaps early
work).
‘Entropy formula’ (perhaps early work).
"Motion of systems and ensembles ...' (perhaps early work).
Two sequences of untitled notes.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
C.52-C.57
RELATIVITY
Notes and drafts
None of the material is dated, though W.H. McCrea
(Obituary Notices ...
1950-51, p.435) describes Milne's work on 'kinematic relativity’ as “his predominant
scientific interest from 1932 onwards".
©.52 is a draft for a paper apparently
intended for publication; C.53-C.57 are sequences of notes and problems, probably
for lectures.
"On Inertial Frames.
By E.A. Milne’
l4pp. ms.;
1934; 1935:
latest references quoted are Milne's and McCrea's,
'Example in relativity’, 3pp.
"Lorentz transformations', 3pp.
‘Easy example ...', 3pp.
‘Example in special relativity’, 3pp.
‘Material Energy-tensor', 5pp., annotated and revised.
published in Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 331, 1972.
Photocopy of draft article by D.R. Cox and Agnes M. Herzberg,
MILNE'S STATISTICAL PROBLEM
‘Ona
statistical problem by E.A. Milne'
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
SECTION D
CORRESPONDENCE _
D.1 - D.70
INTRODUCTION TO SECTION D
The surviving correspondence is regrettably scanty.
Attention is drawn to
D.1, an itemised list of letters to and from Milne now located in other manuscript
collections;
this was compiled, and kindly made available, by Professor K. Hufbauer,
University of California, Irvine.
The extensive folders of letters to
S$. Chandrasekhar at D.2- D.50 and D.5]1 -
' D.53 consist of photocopies from the originals in the Chandrasekhar archives deposited
at the Joseph Regenstein Library, Chicago, and typed transcripts made by Miranda
Weston-Smith.
Similar photocopied material appears at D.62 - D.68, from originals
at Churchill College, Cambridge, and at D.53A.
Compiled and made available for the present
D.2-D.50 is a chronological sequence of photocopies and typed
transcripts (two copies) of Milne's contribution to an extensive exchange of
Chandrasekhar, S.
1929-50 and 1933-76
List of letters toand from Milne in various manuscript collections
in Britain, Norway, U.S.A., 1925-39, 3pp. +1p. source
collections.
collection by K. Hufbauer.
Cont inve d
transcripts often leave space for the insertion of technical terms or formulae
cription of technical terms, proper names, and of ordinary manuscript readings.
D.8, D.21, D.23 for material occurring in one form and not the other.
The
sequence and this is indicated in the entries.
Exceptionally, there are also
letters and postcards 1929-50.
Occasionally, letters to others occur in the
which are of course present in the letters.
There are also many errors of trans~
letters from Chandrasekhar, at D.16, D.24, D.43.
D.45, D.47, D.49.
The transcripts and photocopies are not exact duplicates: see D.6,
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/34
Correspondence
23
The transcripts should always be checked against Milne's original as preserved
in the photocopies.
The communications are frequent and often voluminous.
The content is
From about 1939, with the
primarily research problems and publications or visits and lectures, generally
somewhat formally expressed and dry in tone.
heavy pressure on Milne of war-work, life in London, the care of his family,
the loss of his second wife, brother and several old colleagues, he became less
reserved and spoke more freely of his circumstances.
The simple family life of
the Milnes, and their joyful pleasure in the gifts (usually food) sent by Chandrasekhar,
are touching, especially in contrast with the wholly abstract problems of Milne's
professional life.
Most of Milne's letters are signed 'E.A. Milne';
later he relaxed to
'E. Arthur Milne’ or occasionally 'Arthur Milne', and addressed his letters to
‘My dear Chandrasekhar! or ‘Dear Chandra! and his Christmas letters 'Dear
Chandra and Lalitha’.
D,2
1922.
1930
One letter only, 2 November.
Photocopy and transcripts.
One item only, comment (unfavourable) on a paper by Milne.
Not signed.
D.51~D.53 is a separate sequence (transcripts only) of personal cor-
respondence, principally of letters to Chandrasekhar from Margaret and Eleanor
Milne, 1933-76.
Photocopy and transcript.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Correspondence
1931 (1)
7,
13,
16, 29 January
12,
16,
17, 22, 27,
28 February
3,
7 March
Photocopies.
Transcripts.
1931
(2)
13 April
Undated letter addressed from Manchester.
letter has a ms. note 'Between 5.5.31. and 13.4.31' (where the
letter now rests), but letter of 17 June mentions that Milne is ‘off
to Manchester tomorrow’.
The typescript of this
5,
7 May
Transcripts.
9 December
Photocopies.
11
(2 letters),
17, 26, 27,
30 June
Photocopies.
1931 (3)
18,
16,
30 October
Lacks the first letter of 11 June.
19, 29 (followed by Ip. undated 'Notes by E.A.M.'),
is likely that two or more originals have been conflated.
letter of 19 October differs considerably from the photo-
Transcripts;
copy and it
5,
14,
18,
19, 24 November
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Correspondence
1932 (1)
2, 24, 29,
30 January
26 February.
Letter of 13 February is toR.H. Fowler
13, 24,
about arrangements for Chandrasekhar to work with Milne in
Oxford.
visit to Potsdam later in the year and the suggestion that
Chandrasekhar might go too (he did not).
Letter of 26 February contains first mention of Milne's
Photocopies.
Transcripts.
1932 (2)
6,
9
(2 letters),
17,
18 March
19 June
Photocopies.
1
3 November
Photocopies.
Transcripts.
(2 letters), 7 October
1932 (3)
These letters are all addressed from Potsdam.
Transcripts.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Correspondence
1933 (1)
18 January (includes Milne's proposal of Chandrasekhar as
10,
Fellow, Royal Astronomical Society.
25 March
3 (from Chandrasekhar), 16 May
Photocopies.
Transcripts.
1933 (2)
7,
17 June
25 July (long letter on research problem on Cepheid stars which
Milne hoped Chandrasekhar would tackle during a proposed visit
to work in Oxford).
5,
8,
19 August
16 October.
15 November
20 December
Photocopies.
10 (on Chandrasekhar's election to Fellowship at Trinity College,
Cambridge), 12,
Continued
27 September (long letter, mainly on Milne's theories of cosmology)
16, 23 February
11,
19 October
Transcripts.
1934
5, .10 March
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Correspondence
D.20 Cont'd.
n.d. (‘Tuesday')
12, 25 December
Photocopies.
Transcripts.
16 October not included at D.20.
Includes transcript of an additional letter of
1935
24 February
13 June
11,
14 October
16 November
Photocopies.
1936
15, 20,
31 May
2,
14 November
13 December
30 June,
25,
26 (from Chandrasekhar), 27 April
Includes transcript of an additional! letter,
Transcripts.
not included at D.22.
Transcripts.
Some of these letters include a
Letter of 31 May refers to Milne's shyness, and to his
usual.
love of Trinity College, Cambridge; letters of November and
December to Chandrasekhar's marriage, and move to Chicago.
little more personal material than
Photocopies.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
D.26
1937
Corresponde nce
7 January
20 April
23 May
26 December’
Photocopies.
Transcripts.
193!
5 November
26 December
Both letters refer to the death of Milne's first wife, Margaret
(‘Margot').
1939
25 January
18 February
30 March
29 May
Photocopies and transcripts.
Photocopies.
Several of these letters refer to the threat of war and Milne's
engagement in war work.
in the First World War ‘doing the same type of work, with partly
the same colleagues’.
Letter of 13 October recalls his service
25,
28 June
3 July
13 October
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
D.30
Transcripts.
Correspondence
1940
15 January
8 July (refers to Milne's second marriage to Beatrice Renwick
after her 'thrilling and difficult journey' to reach Britain, and
the departure of Eleanor and Margaret Milne to Canada and io: 35)
15 September
27 November (includes description of the installation of Trevelyan
as Master of Trinity).
Photocopies.
Transcripts.
1941
28 February
14 August
4 November
30 December
Includes reflections on war-work, conditions of life, Milne's
Royal Medal, etc.
Phot ocopy and transcript.
One letter only, 30 December
Photocopies.
Transcripts.
1942
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Correspondence
1943
6 July
3 November
Photocopies and transcripts.
1944
20 January
15 March (Chandrasekhar's election to Fellowship of the Royal
Society; death of Newall)
8 May
2 September (flying-bomb damage to Milne's London house and the
family's return to Oxford; death of R.H. Fowler).
Photocopies.
Transcripts.
1945
15 April
27 June
10 October
Mainly concerned with the illness, and death in August, of Milne's
second wife Beatrice;
Margaret.
Photocopies.
also the return from America of Eleanor and
8 June (2 copies)
29 December
Photocopies.
Transcripts.
22 February
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Correspondence
Transcripts.
1947
2 (from Chandrasekhar), 19 June (describes quatercentenary cele-
brations at Trinity).
15,
28 (from Chandrasekhar) July
6,
18 (from Chandrasekhar) August
16 September
7 (from Chandrasekhar), 28 November (includes a rare reference
to the ‘unfortunate palsy', i.e. tremor, resulting from Milne's
attack in 1923 of epidemic encephalitis whose late after-effects
began to afflict him more perceptibly from 1945.
Photocopies.
Transcripts.
1948
20 March
3 May
27 April (from Chandrasekhar)
5 January (dated 1947 in error)
10 (from Chandrasekhar), 20 August
Transcripts .
18 December
Photocopies.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Correspondence
1949
15 March (from Chandrasekhar)
18,19 July (2 letters on 19 July).
by C. Prasad.
Includes material re a paper
1,
2 (from Chandrasekhar) September
29 Oct ober
13 (from Chandrasekhar), 14, 23,
26 December
Photocopies.
Transcripts.
1950
14 January
25 February
11 September (envelope only)
n.d. letter from Margaret (Meggie) Milne about her father's death
(on 20 September).
14 October (from Chandrasekhar to W.H. McCrea with recollections
of Milne and extracts from some of the letters).
letter from M. Dunham.
Includes letters from Margot Milne, two letters from Milne
(8 September 1935, 10 August 1936), anda note and press~cutting
on the death of Margot Milne 1938.
Transcripts, 1940-45.
Mainly letters from Meggie and Eleanor Milne but includes
Photocopies.
Transcripts.
Transcripts of letters to Chandrasekhar, 1933-38.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
2,50
Transcripts, 1950-56, 1975, 1976.
Correspondence
Letters exchanged between Meggie and Eleanor Milne and
Chandrasekhar, re meetings, personal news, etc.
Davenport, H.
1926-27, 1945
These are photocopies of letters from Milne to Davenport, made
available by Mrs. A. Davenport in 1984, and with some transcriptions by her
of illegible and technical terms.
Letters of 1926-27 refer to the award to Davenport of a scholarship
at Trinity College, and his work for the Cambridge Tripos after his graduation
from Manchester University where he had been a pupil of Milne, C. Walmsley
and L.J. Mordell.
Letter of 1945 refers to work of contemporary mathematicians.
1931
various dates 1930-51
Dingle was Secretary
D.54
1930
D.54-D.57
Dingle, H.
Mainly scientific correspondence from Milne on his theories of
stellar interiors and his controversy with Eddington.
of the Royal Astronomical Society 1929-32 and many of the letters re meetings
and publications are written to him in that capacity.
5 letters, June-September.
6 letters, July-December.
Letter of 1 August refers to Milne's
re~casting of his Bakerian Lecture in response to criticisms from
Eddington
(Obituary Notices, p.431).
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Correspondence
1941-45
4 letters.
subjects;
Letters of 1941, 1943, 1944 are on mathematical
letter of 1945 is on the death of Beatrice Milne.
1951
Correspondence with Clarendon Press, Oxford, re Milne's Cadbury
Lectures ‘Modern Cosmology and the Christian Idea of God the
Creator’.
Includes Dingle's 4pp. report on the ms., which was
published 1952.
D.58-D.61
Dunham, T. and Dunham, M.
1929-47
Mainly letters from Milne to Dunham and his wife. Dunham was
an American astronomer and a friend of Milne from 1929.
Miriam were hosts to Milne's daughters Eleanor and Margaret from July 1940
to August 1945.
The letters are numbered 1-13, and were given, along with
He and his wife
the photocopies, by Dr. and Mrs. Dunham in 1979.
D.58
Item 4 is a formal note on the
11 July 1930
24 May 1939
10 November, 25 December 1929
Letters, 1929-39, numbered 1-5.
death of Margaret Milne.
Letters, 1940-47, numbered 6-13, addressed to both Theodore
and Miriam Dunham.
Mainly about Milne's children and family affairs.
17 August, 29 October 1940
1, 29 January 1941
8,
31 October 1945
30 December 1946
25 March 1947
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Correspondence
Photocopies of the letters, some with typed transcripts.
to copy of Milne's letter of 1 January 1941 is a copy of a letter
from D.R. Pye to A.V. Hill about Dunham's wish to join the R.A.F.
to help the British war effort.
Attached
Also enclosed are some of the original censored war-time envelopes.
Letter from Dunham to R.A, Lyttelton and N. Hetherington explaining
his family's connection with Milne and the origin of the letters,
1 December 1979.
Also included here are two copies of a
list and summary of the letters.
Eliezer, C.J.
Milne's papers on Rational Electrodynamics.
D.63-D.68
Hill, A.V.
1918-50, 1955
Photocopies of correspondence and papers made from the original
documents held in Churchill College, Cambridge.
Mainly from
Milne.
1926-29 (marriage, research, move to Oxford).
1934-35
1938-46 (mainly war-work).
1918 (from Hill), 1919-21 (includes letters from Milne's father
to Hill thanking him for his help with Milne's career, ond letter
from Milne on his father's death).
Letter 1955 from Meggie Weston-Smith (née Milne).
Correspondence, 1950-51, between Hill and W.H. McCrea with
recollections of Milne.
1950 (one letter only,
and recollections of service in First World War).
10 June, describing visit to Whale Island
Miscellaneous pages of calculations by Milne and Hill
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
Correspondence
Papers about the 'Brigands' (humorous society of the Anti-
Aircraft Research Establishment in First World War).
Hubble, E.
MeViitte, GC,
Pannekoek, A.
Richmond, H.
W.
Rois, Gs.
“M:
Recollections of Richmond.
White, F.
P.
Recollections of Richmond.
E.A. Milne
CSAC 102/6/84
INDEX OF CORRESPONDENTS
ADRIAN, Edgar Douglas, Baron
CHANDRASEKHAR, Subramanyan
DAVENPORT, Harold
DINGLE, Herbert
DUNHAM, Miriam
DUNHAM, Theodore
SLIBZER,. Gres.
FOWLER, Sir Ralph Howard
HILL, Archibald Vivian
HUBBLE, Edwin
MceVITTIE, GG...
MILNE, Edward Arthur v2
Published: 20 November, 2023 Author: admin