Profile Major Works Resources

Rev. Dionysius Lardner, 1793-1859. 

Dublin-born engineer, mathematician, scientist,  popularizer of science and  proto-marginalist.

Dionysius Lardner had an LL.D. from Trinity College Dublin and was an ordained priest of the Anglican Church of Ireland. 

In 1828, Dionysius Lardner was appointed the first professor of natural philosophy (science) and astronomy at University College London.  Later in life, Lardner moved to Paris and came in contact with the French engineering tradition.  

Lardner's handbook of mechanics was translated by the young Augustin Cournot.  Lardner's 1850 book Railway Economy applied mathematical and graphical tools to analyze railway economics -- including supply-and-demand, marginal revenue and marginal cost.   It was apparently Lardner's book that inspired the young William Stanley Jevons to take up economics via a "mathematical approach" (cf. Jevons, 1871: p.xviii).

 

  


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Major Works of Dionysius Lardner

  • A Series of Lectures upon Locke's Essay, 1821  [bk]
  • A System of Algebraic Geometry, 1823, v.1,
  • An Elementary treatise on the Differential and Integral Calculus, 1825 [bk]
  • Popular Lectures on the Steam Engine, [1828 ed, 1830 ed; 1832 ed]
  • An Analytical Treatise on Plane and Spherical Trigonometry, and the analysis of angular sections, 1828 [bk]
  • A Letter to the Shareholders and Council of the University of London, on the Present State of that Institution, with J.R. McCulloch, A. De Morgan, etc., 1830 [bk]
  • "Observations of Dion. Lardner", in  Observations on a letter addressed by Leonard Horner, esq., to the Council of the University, dated June 1, 1830, p.17
  • Editor, The Cabinet Cyclopaedia, 1830-41  (155 volumes (cat), only Lardner's listed below)
    • v.5  - Treatise on Mechanics, by D. Lardner and H. Kater, 1830 [bk] [moa]
    • v.17 - Hydrostatics and Pneumatics, by Lardner, 1831 [bk]
    • v.29 - A Treatise on Heat, by Lardner, 1833 [bk]
    • v.55 - A Treatise on Arithmetic, practical and theoretical,  by Lardner, 1834 [bk]
    • v.127 - A Treatise on Geometry and its Applications in the Arts, by Lardner, 1840 [bk]
  • Treatise on Algebraic Geometry, 1831 [bk]
  • Hand-books of Natural philosophy and Astronomy [moa]
    • First Course - Mechanics, Hydraulics, Hydrostatics, Pneumatics, Sound and Optics
    • Second Course - Heat, Magnetism, Electricity, 1852 [bk]
    • Third Course - Meteorology and Astronomy, 1853 [bk]
    • v.1 - Mechanics, 1855  [bk]
    • v.2 - Hydrostatics, Pneumatics and Heat, 1855 [bk]
    • v.3 - Optics, 1856 [bk]
    • v. 4 - Electricity, Magnetism and Acoustics, 1858 [bk]
  • The Steam Engine Familiarly Explained and Illustrated, 1836 [bk] [moa] [1840 ed], [1851 ed]
  • Steam Communication with India by the Red Sea, 1837 [bk]
  • Reports on the determination of the mean value of railway constants, with E. Woods, 1841 [bk] (Report of the BAAS)
  • Course of Lectures delivered by Dionyius Lardner on the sun, the comets, the fixed stars, electricity, etc. 1842 [bk]
  • The Second Course of Dr.  Lardner's Lectures, 1842 [bk]
  • Popular Lectures on Science and Art, delivered in the principal cities and towns of the United States, 1846 v.1, v.2 [moa]
  • Investigation of the causes of the explosion of the locomotive engine "Richmond," near Reading, PA., on the 2d Sept. 1844, 1844 [bk]
  • A Rudimentary Treatise on the Steam Engine, for the use of beginners 1848 [bk]
  • Railway Economy; a treatise on the new art of transport, its management, prospects and relations, commercial, financial and social, with an exposition of the practical results of the railways in operation in the United Kingdom, on the continent and in America. 1850 [bk] [moa]
  • Editor,  The Museum of Science and Art, 1854:, v.1, v.2, v.3 (transport), v.4, 1855: v.5 (steam engine) v.6, v.7, v.8, v.9, v.10
  • Common Things Explained, 1855 [bk]
  • Popular Physics, 1856 [bk]
  • Steam and its Uses, 1856 [bk]
  • Natural Philosophy for Schools, 1857 [bk]

 


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Resources on Dionysius Lardner

 

 
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