User:Sekrumpe/Henry Dircks

Included portrait of Dircks and added a minor link. Cleaned up redundant paragraphs in the Perpetual Motion section. Planning to continue exploring potential poetry section additions. Sekrumpe (talk) 15:25, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

Edit on 3/25 Sekrumpe (talk) 15:28, 25 March 2022 (UTC)

I did not receive a peer review, so here is my plan for the near future:

I plan to contribute to a new section of the article: 'Poetry'. Dircks had several works with hundreds of composed poems, and it was an important facet of his life that needs to be elaborated on.

Almost all of Dircks works are available in free pdfs through Google books, which I will continue to explore for valuable information.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Nature_Study_as_applicable_to_the_purpos/3gU8mgEACAAJ?hl=en

This source^ in particular will be useful to a potential poetry section.

Henry Dircks comments/sources

-more info on Dircks books and works


 * Dircks, H. (1852). Jordantype, otherwise called 'electrotype: Its early history, being a vindication of the claims of C.J. Jordan as the inventor of electrometallurgy. London: Printed for the author.
 * Dircks, H., Worcester, E. S., & George Fabyan Collection (Library of Congress). (1865). The life, times and scientific labours of the second Marquis of Worcester. London: Quaritch.

both above sources can be pulled from 'Worldcat' database

https://engineering.mit.edu/engage/ask-an-engineer/is-it-possible-to-construct-a-perpetual-motion-machine/

HD Acquaintances mentioned in prefaces of books

Bennet Woodcroft-https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Biographical_Memoir_of_Samuel_Hartlib/Js3rUHyvNQMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=a+biographical+memoir+of+samuel+hartlib&printsec=frontcover

Henry Bessemer-https://www.google.com/books/edition/Inventors_and_inventions/5I8BAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=inventors+and+inventions+dircks&printsec=frontcover

Michael Faraday-https://www.google.com/books/edition/Contribution_Towards_a_History_of_Electr/SI0DAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=contribution+towards+a+history+dircks&pg=PA53&printsec=frontcover

Henry Charles FitzRoy-https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Life_Times_and_Scientific_Labours_of/gQIFAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=second+marquis+of+worcester+dircks&printsec=frontcover

The dedications of Dircks' works help give a glimpse into some of his personal and professional acquaintances. A Biographical Memoir of Samuel Hartlib, Milton’s Familiar Friend, With Bibliographical Notices of Works Published By Him, and a Reprint of His Pamphlet Entitled, "An Invention of Engines of Motion." is dedicated to Bennet Woodcroft.

Contribution Towards a History of Electro-Metallurgy includes a dedication to Michael Faraday.

Inventors and Inventions begins with a dedication to Henry Bessemer.

Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort

Article Draft
It is said (in his Dictionary of National Biographies page) that there is a portrait of Dircks in two of his published works('Nature-Study, or the Art of attaining ......Universal nature' and 'Naturalistic Poetry, selected from Psalms and Hymns....with Sacred Song'). If I'm able to dig up the portrait I will include in the article.

Article body
Copied from Henry Dircks-Restructuring and adding to this section of the article Sekrumpe (talk) 16:36, 11 March 2022 (UTC)

Dircks had an interest in the search for a perpetual motion machine. His study of perpetual motion built upon the earlier exploration of the subject by Simon Stevin, who wrote:

“It is not true [falsum] that the globe moves by itself with an endless movement [aeternum]”.

Dircks' book Perpetuum mobile; or, Search for self-motive power, published in 1861, examined many attempts at creating such a device, and has since been cited by other science writers on the subject. Dircks summarised the ongoing efforts of inventors:"A more self-willed, self-satisfied, or self-deluded class of the community, making at the same time pretension to superior knowledge, it would be impossible to imagine. They hope against hope, scorning all opposition with ridiculous vehemence, although centuries have not advanced them one step in the way of progress."and:"There is something lamentable, degrading, and almost insane in pursuing the visionary schemes of past ages with dogged determination, in paths of learning which have been investigated by superior minds, and with which such adventurous persons are totally unacquainted. The history of Perpetual Motion is a history of the fool-hardiness of either half-learned, or totally ignorant persons."In 1870, Dircks had a second book published under the title "Perpetuum Mobile; or; a History of the Search for Self-Motive Power from the Thirteenth, to the Nineteenth Century." This was a follow up to his first book in which he collected and presented more information and history of perpetual motion devices.

Sekrumpe (talk) 16:36, 11 March 2022 (UTC)