Whispering-gallery wave Whispering-gallery wave Whispering-gallery waves, or whispering-gallery modes, are a type of wave that can travel around a concave surface. Originally discovered for sound waves in the whispering gallery of St Paul’s Cathedral, they can exist for light and for other waves, with important applications in nondestructive testing, lasing, cooling and sensing, as well as in astronomy. Whispering-gallery waves were first explained for the case of St Paul's Cathedral circa 1878 by Lord Rayleigh, who revised a previous misconception that whispers could be heard across the dome but not at any intermediate position. He explained the phenomenon of travelling whispers with
South London Gallery Rossiter staged an art show of privately owned works at the Library. After this the name was changed to the Free Library and Art Gallery. In 1881, the library and gallery moved again to New Road, Battersea, and in 1887 to 207 Camberwell Road. Leading artists such as Sir Frederic Leighton, President of the Royal Academy, Edward Burne-Jones and G. F. Watts supported the institution; the Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone, was its first president, succeeded by Leighton in 1887. On 4 May 1891, The South London Fine Art Gallery opened in Peckham Road in a new building in the