Pasteur, Louis
FIRST EDITION OF PASTEUR'S DEFINITIVE PROOF THAT ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION IS DUE TO THE ACTION OF A LIVING ORGANISM (yeast), and is not a purely chemical process as most chemists since. Lavoisier had believed. This work laid the foundation for the germ theory of disease and had significant implications for the fields of microbiology and biochemistry. In December 1857, Pasteur published the first in a series of abstracts, notes, and letters on alcoholic fermentation. When his research was completed in 1860, he published the culmination of his work, the long and classic memoir offered here. Pasteur divided this work into two major sections, dealing respectively with the fate of sugar and of yeast in alcoholic fermentation, it inflicted on the chemical theory what Duclaux called "a series of blows straight from the shoulder, delivered with agility and assurance." "Pasteur established that alcoholic fermentation invariably produces not only carbonic acid and ethyl alcohol - as was well known - but also appreciable quantities of glycerin and succinic acid as well as of these results. Pasteur emphasized the complexity of alcoholic fermentation and attacked the tendency of chemists since Lavoisier to depict it as the simple conversion of sugar into carbonic acid and alcohol" (DSB, Vol. 10, p. 363). CONDITION & DETAILS: Paris: Victor Masson. Complete. Three full volumes, Volumes 58, 59, & 60, bound together in burgundy cloth, gilt-lettered at the spine; very slight toning to the boards. Ex. Library with NO spine markings & only a stamp on the front paste down & one on the title page. Clean & bright inside and out. Near fine condition.
Feynman, R. P. AND Bohr, N. & Wheeler, J. A. AND Oppenheimer, J. R. & Snyder, H.
FULL VOLUME 1st EDITION OF THREE LANDMARK PAPERS, each of seminal import in the history of physics. FEYNMAN'S "Forces in molecules" is the first edition of Feynman's undergraduate thesis, the paper that began to establish his name in physics. Published when he was just twenty-one, his work here a fundamental discovery "that has played an important role in theoretical chemistry and condensed matter physics" (Selected Papers, p. 1). This extraordinary work documents the first steps in original research of one of the most brilliant minds of the twentieth century. Feynman showed in this paper that "the force on an atom's nucleus is no more or less than the electrical force from the surrounding field of charged electrons - the electrostatic force. Once the distribution of charge has been calculated quantum mechanically, then from that point forward quantum mechanics disappears from the picture. The problem becomes classical; the nuclei can be treated as static points of mass and charge. Feynman's approach applies to all chemical bonds. If two nuclei act as though strongly attracted to each other, as the hydrogen nuclei do when they bond to form a water molecule, it is because the nuclei are each drawn toward the electrical charge concentrated quantum mechanically between them" (Gleick, Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman). The paper is known as the Feynman-Hellmann theorem and it proposed an original and enduring approach to calculating forces in molecules. Feynman "treated the problem of molecular forces from a thoroughly quantum-mechanical point of view, arriving at a simple means of calculating the energy of a molecular system that continues to guide quantum chemists" (DSB). "Feynman was one of the most creative and influential physicists of the twentieth century. A veteran of the Manhattan Project of World War II and a 1965 Nobel laureate in physics, he made lasting contributions across many domains, from electrodynamics and quantum theory to nuclear and particle physics, solid-state physics, and gravitation" (ibid). BOHR & WHEELER'S "The mechanism of nuclear fission" is the first fully worked out theory of nuclear fission and it laid the groundwork for atomic and hydrogen bombs"The paper is a masterpiece of clear thinking and lucid writing. It reveals, at the center of the mystery of fission, a tiny world where everything can be calculated and everything understood. The tiny world is a nucleus of uranium 236, formed when a neutron is freshly captured by a nucleus of uranium 235. The uranium 236 nucleus sits precisely on the border between classical and quantum physics" By studying this process in detail, they show how the complementary views provided by classical and quantum pictures are both essential to the understanding of nature. Without the combined power of classical and quantum concepts, the intricacies of the fission process could never have been understood. Bohr's notion of complementarity is triumphantly vindicated" (Barrow, Science and Ultimate Reality, xvii). OPPENHEIMER & SNYDER'S "On continued gravitational contraction" constitutes the very first theoretical prediction of a singularity when a sufficiently large neutron star collapses -- the extraordinary correct physical description of what happens in a particular collapse of a neutron star. This phenomenon was later to be coined as a black hole. "Had J. Robert Oppenheimer not led the US effort to build the atomic bomb, he might still have been remembered for figuring out how a black hole could form" (American Physical Society). This paper has been described as the forgotten birth of black holes. Lancaster: American Institute of Physics, 1939. Royal 8vo. (10.5 x 8 inches); 267 x 203 mm. Entire volume in contemporary full black cloth, gilt-lettered at the spine. Ex-libris with NO spine markings & bearing only a small, largely invisible perforated stamp at the foot of the title page. Tightly and very solidly bound. Bright and very clean throughout. Near fine condition.
Salter, S. H. [Stephen] and J. Darbyshire
FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS of Stephen Salter's influential paper on a wave energy converter (WEC) he invented known, the celebrated and eponymous "nodding duck," commonly called Salter's Duck. In the 1970s, alternative energy was beginning to gain a lot of hype due to the oil crisis, Salter's design was the most exciting possibility. Note: Information on Darbyshire's discovery appears at the end of this write-up. Stephen Salter is Emeritus Professor of Engineering Design at the University of Edinburgh and inventor of the eponymous Salter duck wave energy device. He is also a proponent of geoengineering and is responsible for creating the concept of the mechanical enhancement of clouds to achieve cloud reflectivity enhancement. Salter is responsible for the design and invention of the wide tank at the University of Edinburgh, the world's first multi-directional wave tank equipped with absorbing wavemakers. With the aim of providing a renewable and sustainable source of power, Salter's Duck was designed to harness energy from ocean waves and convert it into electricity. The Duck fells under a class of WECs known as terminators. Terminators are oriented perpendicular to the direction of the wave. When effective, they destroy the waves they face, leaving a calmer sea on the other side. The device itself is shaped like a large floating buoy or duck, and its design is optimized to efficiently capture and convert wave energy. The duck bobs up and down with the motion of the waves, and this movement is used to drive a hydraulic system, which in turn generates electricity. The key innovation of Salter's Duck was its ability to efficiently convert the linear motion of waves into rotational motion for electricity generation. While Salter's Duck was an innovative concept and faced challenges in terms of scalability and cost-effectiveness, "the funding for the project was cut off in the early 1980s after oil prices rebounded and the UK government moved away from alternative energy sources" (Wikipedia). OTHER PAPER OF NOTE: In Darbyshire's "Modeling tide and surge interaction," he presents his discovery that the interaction of astronomical tides and storm surges is nonlinear, and that this nonlinear interaction can form additional storm surges. CONDITION & DETAILS: London: Macmillan. 4to. (11 x 8.25 inches; 275 x 206mm). Original wraps. Inclusive of label & very light stamp on front wrap. Slight wear at the edge tips. Tightly bound & very clean inside & out. Very good condition.
Cousin, Pierre
TRUE 1st edition of the French mathematician Pierre Cousin's doctoral thesis, published the following year in Acta Mathematica. Ownership stamp "F. Heymann," likely Franz Ferdinand Heyman (1924-2005), a British physicist who served as Quain Professor at University College London. He was featured in Who's Who in British Scientists, Who's Who in Atoms and Who's Who in Technology. Offered here is Cousin's thesis on the additive problem, or the two "Cousin problems," "two questions in several complex variables, concerning the existence of meromorphic functions that are specified in terms of local data" (Wikipedia). Cousin's work here has particular application to classical global function theory. Cousin who succeeded in solving it for products of planar domains by systemically iterating one variable techniques based on the Cauhy integral formula. in his honor the decomposition problem is often referred to as the additive cousin problem" (Range, Complex Analysis: A Brief Tour into Higher Dimensions). CONDITION & DETAILS: Stockholm: Central-Tryckeriet. 10 x 8 inches. 4to. [6], 61, [5]. Bears the ownership stamp of the physicist Franz Heyman and a small stamp on the rear of the title page reading "ad bibl. Univers. Monac." No other stamps whatsoever. Text illustrations throughout. Tightly bound in black cloth over marbled paper; tiny crease upper right corner. Bright and clean throughout. Very good + condition.
Einstein, Albert
The ownership signature, address of Buckminster Fuller appear on the front pastedown. Fuller also dated his entry (March 12th, 1948).This is his personal copy. Buckminster Fuller was a renowned inventor, philosopher, futurist architect, writer, social activist, designer, inventor, "intellectual outlaw," and author of more than thirty books (The New Yorker, In the Outlaw Area, Tomkins, 12.31.1965). Among many honors, Fuller (1895-1983), was selected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. EINSTEIN'S WRITING OF THIS BOOK: "After submitting the final version of his general theory of relativity in November 1915, Einstein began to write a comprehensive summary of the theory for the scientific community. At that time he was already thinking about writing a popular book on relativityâ??both the special and the generalâ??as he indicated in a letter to his close friend Michele Besso, quoted in the epigraph. Einstein completed the manuscript in December, and the booklet (as he referred to it) Relativity: The Special and the General Theory (A Popular Account) was published in German in the spring of 1917. Einstein believed that the laws of nature could be formulated in a number of simple basic principles, and this quest for simplicity characterized his scientific activities. He also believed that it was his duty to explain these principles in simple terms to the general public and to convey the happiness and satisfaction that understanding them can generate. As Einstein stated in the short introduction to his booklet, he "spared himself no pains in his endeavour to present the main ideas in the simplest and most intelligible form" (Einstein Papers, Princeton Press, 10). CONDITION & DETAILS: 8vo. Tightly and solidly bound in blue cloth, gilt-lettered on the front board and at the spine. The dust jacket is worn, but present. The volume and cover are protected with a mylar sheath.Frontispiece portrait. Full table-of-contents and index. Clean and bright throughout. Very good condition.
Heisenberg, Werner and Max Born and Pasqual Jordan
FIRST EDITIONS OF THREE LANDMARK PAPERS THAT TOGETHER FORMED THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATION OF QUANTUM MECHANICS. "In spite of its high-sounding name and its successful solutions of numerous problems in atomic physics, quantum theory, and especially the quantum theory of polyelectronic systems, prior to 1925, was, from the methodological point of view, a lamentable hodgepodge of hypotheses, principles, theorems, and computational recipes rather than a logical consistent theory. Every single quantum-theoretic problem had to be solved first in terms of classical physics; its classical solution had then to pass through the mysterious sieve of the quantum conditions or, as it happened in the majority of cases, the classical solution had to be translated into the language of quanta in conformance with the correspondence principle. In short, quantum theory still lacked two essential characteristics of a full-fledged scientific theory, conceptual autonomy and logical consistency" (Jammer, The Conceptual Development 196). The work of Heisenberg, Born, and Jordan in these papers began to rectify these issues and together marked the "starting point for the new quantum mechanics," also called matrix mechanics (DSB). "In May 1925, Heisenberg took on a new and difficult problem, the calculation of the line intensities of the hydrogen spectrum. Just as he had done with Kramers and Bohr, Heisenberg began with a Fourier analysis of the electron orbits. When the hydrogen orbit proved too difficult, he turned to the an harmonic oscillator. With a new multiplication rule relating the amplitudes and frequencies of the Fourier components to observed quantities, Heisenberg succeeded in quantizing the equations of motion for this system in close analogy with the classical equations of motion. In June Heisenberg returned to Göttingen, where he drafted his fundamental paper [the 1st paper], which he completed in July. In this paper Heisenberg proclaimed that the quantum mechanics of atoms should contain only relations between experimentally observable quantities. The resulting formalism served as the starting point for the new quantum mechanics, based, as Heisenberg's multiplication rule implied, on the manipulation of ordered sets of data forming a mathematical matrix. Born and his assistant, Pascual Jordan, quickly developed the mathematical content of Heisenberg's work into a consistent theory with the help of abstract matrix algebra [the 2nd paper].Their work, in collaboration with Heisenberg, culminated in their "three-man paper" ["Dreimännerarbeit", the 3rd paper] that served as the foundation of matrix mechanics. Confident of the correctness of the new theory, Heisenberg, Pauli, Born, Dirac, and others began applying the difficult mathematical formalism to the solution of lingering problems" (DSB). ALSO INCLUDED in ZfP Volume 33 is a major milestone in gravitational wave theory: the Czech physicist Guido Beck's discovery of a family of exact solutions to the equations of general relativity representing gravitational waves with cylindrical symmetry (called 'Beck vacua' or 'cylindrical gravitational waves'). His paper, "Zur Theorie Binärer Gravitationsfelder" appears on pp. 713-738. ALSO: We offer the Heisenberg paper (Volume 33) as a lone offering. Heisenberg, Werner "Über quantentheoretische Umdeutung kinematischer und mechanischer Beziehungen" in ZfP 33, 1925, pp. 879-893. ALSO, we offer Pauli's 1926 paper with the 1st significant application of & 1st validation of Heisenberg's new quantum mechanics. ("Über das Wasserstoffspektrum vom Standpunkt der neuen Quantenmechanik" in ZfP 36, 1926). CONDITION & DETAILS: In: ZfP 33 (1925), 34 (1925), 35 (1926). 8vo. (225 x 156mm). 3 full volumes. Volume 33 has no ex-libris stamps whatsoever; volumes 34 and 35 have some on the title page. Handsomely and uniformly rebound in grey linen, gilt-tooled and lettered at the spine. Tightly bound. Very clean inside and out. Near fine condition.
Einstein, A. [Albert]; Grommer, J. [Jakob]
FIRST EDITION, OFFPRINT ISSUE IN ORIGINAL PAPER WRAPS, VERY GOOD CONDITION. "Einstein and Grommer's work [treats] the particle as a singularity in the field, and attempts[s] to obtain the equations of motion by imposing conditions on the exterior field in the neighborhood of the singularity" (Stachel, Einstein from â??B' to'Z', pp. 507). Weil 155. In 1927, Einstein's research "concentrated on a new approach to the problem of the motion of particles in a general field theory" (Mehra, The Golden Age of Theoretical Physics, 997). He presented his work, conducted with Jakob Grommer in this report. Einstein and Grommer here show that â??in the case of a pure gravitational field the mechanical behavior of singularities can be derived,' a result which in Einstein's opinion â??opened the possibility to obtain, on the basis of the field equations, a theory of matter characterized as discontinuities in space' (ibid, 997; Einstein and Grommer, 1927). "After Einstein had tried for years to obtain a theory of material particles in a generalized field theory by describing these objects with the help of continuous functions, Einstein and Grommer now proposed â??to consider elementary particles as singular points or singular world lines, respectively,' motivated by the observation â??that both the equations of the pure gravitational field and the equations augmented by Maxwell's electromagnetic field possess simple spherically-symmetric solutions which contain a singularity' (ibid). Finally they arrived at the result: In the approximation of the gravitational field obtained by solving linearized equations, the equation of motion for a singularity is completely determined - at least in the case of equilibrium - and corresponds to the law of a geodetic line" (ibid). CONDITION & DETAILS: Berlin: Verlag der Akademie der Wiss. Pp. 2-13. Offprint in original wraps. (10 x 7.25 inches; 250 x 181mm). Toning at the edges & bearing the ownership stamp of "Friedrich Wilhelm Ritter" (W. F. Ritter) 1839-1929. Ritter had a large library. Very good condition.
Einstein, Albert
FIRST PRINTED OF THE THIRD & EXTENDED EDITION, COMPLETE WITH ORIGINAL DUST JACKET of four lectures Einstein delivered at Princeton University in May 1921. The lectures, intended as further explanation of Einstein's famous theory of relativity and its developments, were titled 'Space and Time in Pre-Relativity Physics,' 'The Theory of Special Relativity,' The General Theory of Relativity,' 'The General Theory of Relativity II.' "This edition contains both an appendix discussing certain advances in the theory of relativity since 1921 and a new appendix on his generalized theory of gravitation. According to the Weil bibliography of Einstein's works, this is Weil 124a. CONDITION & DETAILS: Large 12mo (7.5 x 5.25 inches, 187 x 131mm). [8], 145, [3]. The dust-jacket is not price-clipped; small closed tear at the foot of the front wraps and head of rear wraps, both small and minor. Very good condition, safe in archival mylar. Bound in tan cloth, gilt-lettered at the spine; the binding is tight and solid. Bright and very clean inside and out. Very good condition.
Redi, Francesco
THIRD EDITION OF FRANCESCO REDI'S MASTERPIECE REFUTING SPONTANEOUS REGENERATION, first published in 1668. "A milestone in the history of modern science," Redi's book outlines the first series of experiments to disprove 'spontaneous generation' -- "a theory also known as Aristotelian abiogenesis" (Wikipedia). Francesco Redi was an Italian physician, naturalist, and poet. Redi's seminal work includes 39 particularly gorgeous copperplate engravings. "At the time, [the] prevailing wisdom was that maggots arose spontaneously from rotting meat"; in other words, that nonliving matter could generate the production of living organisms" (ibid). In his experiments, Redi captured maggots and waited for them to metamorphose, becoming flies. "Also, when dead flies or maggots were put in sealed jars with dead animals or veal, no maggots appeared, but when the same thing was done with living flies, maggots did" (Wikipedia). Redi compared two groups of meat: "the first left exposed to insects, and the second group covered by a barrier of gauze. In the exposed meat, flies laid eggs, which quickly hatched into maggots. On the gauze-covered meat, no maggots appeared, but Redi observed fly eggs on the outer surface of the gauze" (Benecke, A Brief History of Forensic Entomology). Knowing full well the terrible fates of out-spoken scientists like Giordino Bruno and Galileo Galilei, Redi was careful to express his new views in a manner that would not contradict to theological tradition of the Church; hence, his interpretations were always based on biblical passages, such as his famous adage: omne vivum ex vivo ('All life comes from life')" (Wikipedia). CONDITION & DETAILS: Florenz: Onofri. 1674. Quarto (9.5 x 7 inches; 238 x 175mm). Complete. [4], 136, [39], 1. 39 copperplate engravings in near fine condition (29 numbered; 10 unnumbered; 3 large folding). Vellum bound with the title written on the spine in an early hand. A large section of the vellum has been cut from the rear board and is missing. The binding and its stitching, however, remain very solid. Vellum has some creasing, but is still handsome. Two early ownership signatures; see photos. Consistent with its age, slight toning within.
Nambu, Y. and Jona-Lasinio G; Brans, Carl H. and Robert H. Dicke
1st edition OF PART II of Yoichiro Nambu's 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking in subatomic physics" (Nobel Prize Committee). NOTE that we offer both Part I and Part II together in a separate listing. Nambu's work "was an important precursor to the theory that unifies electromagnetic and weak forces, and similar symmetry breaking is central to most modern particle physics theories" (Schirber, "Nobel Focus: Particle Physics Gets a Break," Phys. Rev. Focus 22, 2008). According to the model put forth in these papers, "the Lagrangian [method] which describes a physical system may be invariant under a symmetry group which is â??spontaneously broken' by the physical states of the theory" (Kantorovich, Scientific Discovery: Logic and Tinkering, 237). In short, Nambu's work "showed how to connect the highly symmetric, massless particles that appear in the underlying particle theories with the massive particles observed in the real world" (ibid). While Nambu's model was later superseded, his idea was "later incorporated into the. Higgs mechanism" (ibid). Nambu's "work was deep and original and he was well-ahead of his time," (ibid quoting Helen Quinn, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center). ALSO INCLUDED IN VOLUME 124: Brans and Dicke's "Mach's Principle and a Relativistic Theory of Gravitation" (pp. 925-935). "The Brans-Dicke theory of gravity is the best-known example of the class of theories called "scalar-tensor" theories because they contain both scalars and tensors in the field equations relating the curvature of space to the matter in the universe. In Brans-Dicke, the gravitational constant becomes a variable, and the resulting scalar field has kinetic energy" (History of Physics: The Wenner Collection). CONDITION & DETAILS: Lancaster: American Physical Society. Two complete volumes, identically bound in brown buckram, gilt-lettered at the spine. Ex-libris with no spine markings whatsoever. Pictorial bookplate of the Bridgeport Library on the front pastedown; stamp on title page and rear flyleaf. 4to (10.5 x 8 inches; 263 x 200mm). Tightly and solidly bound; bright and clean inside and out. Near fine condition.
Rabi, I. [Isidor]
FIRST EDITION OF RABI'S DESCRIPTION OF HIS THEORETICAL IDEA OF HOW TO MEASURE NUCLEAR SPIN, an idea that would lead to the determination of the signs of magnetic moments via his magnetic resonance method, the most significant improvement in molecular and atomic beam techniques to date" (Gonolis, Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings). Rabi received the 1944 Nobel Prize "for his resonance method for recording the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei." The scientific community knew that "nuclei have intrinsic spins and magnetic moments. The magnetic moment has both a magnitude and a sign. [But] in 1935, the sign was missing. The sign of a magnetic moment can be either plus or minus: if the spin and the magnetic moment have the same space-quantized direction, the sign of the moment is plus; if these directions are opposed, the sign is minus. [But] as beamlets of a particular atom were refocused into the detector, the same pattern was observed regardless of whether the sign of the atom's moment was plus or minus. The problem of determining the signs was something like trying to determine whether someone's right hand or left hand is pushing the front-door buzzer" (Rigden, Rabi, 92). Theoretical in nature, Rabi's paper analyzes experiments carried out in Otto Stern's Hamburg lab. As Stern had written: "The purpose of [the experiments] had been to answer a question that went back to the days of the old quantum theory, the days when the idea of space quantization strained credulity. The question was, Can an atom that is â??clinging' to a magnetic field with some particular space-quantized orientation be shaken loose? Can an atom be made to change its orientation" (ibid). Of the idea for this paper, Rabi wrote:"One day I was walking up the hill on Claremont Avenue and I was thinking about it [the sign of the nuclear magnetic moment] kinesthetically with my body. Here's the moment and its wobbling around in the direction of the field and [to find] the sign was to find out in which sense it was wobbling. To do this, I have to add another field which goes with it or against it." "The whole resonance method goes back to this. His intuition was sound, and atoms did reorient in such a way that the signs of their magnetic moment could be determined" (Rigden, 93). Rabi's theory supposed that the effects of the spins of the nuclei, along with those of the electrons had to be considered in weak magnetic fields where the nuclear and electron angular momenta were significantly coupled together (Zeller). In his own words, Rabi believed it theoretically "possible to measure the sign of nuclear magnetic moment vector with respect to the spin vector" (Rabi, 324). Rabi's paper, this paper, "presented a theory that became the basis for the magnetic resonance method, determination of the signs of magnetic moments. [It] inaugurated a new era of precision: the experimental and theoretical difficulties that limited the precision of earlier results no longer existed" (Rigden, 94). "After WW II, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) became a workhorse for physical and chemical analysis. Still later, Rabi's discovery was extended to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a powerful medical diagnostic tool, which is now used in medical centres the world over. In subsequent decades, the molecular beam method has been widely adopted by the physics and physical chemistry communities world wide, and about 20 Nobel Prizes were awarded for work based on the molecular beam method (Bonolis). CONDITION: 4to. Full volume. Bound in brown buckram. Ex-libris bearing bearing pictorial bookplate on paste down. Stamp on ffp, rffp & title page, the usual. Discreet gilt numbers at foot of spine. Tightly bound and clean. Very good.
Valtat, Raymond WITH Louis Couffignal
Full volume. FIRST EDITION OF VALTAT'S DESCRIPTION OF HIS PATENTED CALCULATING MACHINE FOUNDED ON THE CONVERSION OF DECIMAL INPUT INTO BINARY INPUT PRIOR TO CALCULATION. Valtat here notes "that binary digits could be represented either mechanically or electrically. He also stated that in an electric circuit the switch "on" would equal 1 and the switch "off" would equal 0" (Jeremy Norman, History of Science). As noted below, some instead credit Louis Couffignal who in 1936 and in this same volume, wrote of employing binary notation in a calculating machine. Couffignal "argues the utility of representing numbers by binary notation in computers and discusses the design of electrical calculators" (Aiken, Proposed Automatic Calculating Machines, 10). A Frenchman, Raymond Valtat (1898-1986) patented his calculator in 1932, but this 1936 paper is his first written account of his invention. In this paper, Valtat finally explains his thought and methodology, strongly advocating for the usage of the binary system in calculating apparatus over that of the decimal system. The scholarship on the invention of the first binary-based calculating machine is confusing. The discovery is sometimes credited to Claude Shannon's master's thesis published in 1938 but written in 1937. Some credit Konrad Zuse who working in Germany, applied for a patent on a binary calculating machine in 1936. Others credit Louis Couffignal who in 1936 also wrote of employing binary notation in a calculating machine. Valtat, however, "may have been the first to propose a binary-based calculating machine" - this because though he did not publish until 1936, he applied for his patent in 1932, thus predating both Zuse and Shannon (Norman; Ptak). Randell 1982a, 519-20. Origins of Cyberspace 397. CONDITION & DETAILS: Complete volume. Ex-libris stamp on the rear of the first page; slight ghosting at the spine where a spine level has been removed. Illustrated throughout, including the Pouillet paper. 4to (11 x 8 inches; 275 x 200mm). Continuously paginated: pp. 1225-2331. Full blue cloth binding, gilt-lettered at the spine; ghosting from the removal of a label at the spine; stamp on the rear of the title page.
Mendeleev, Dmitri. [Mendelejeff, Mendeléev, Mendeleyev, Mendeléeff]
FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST OF MENDELEEV'S PREDICTED ELEMENTS TO BE IDENTIFIED, thereby confirming "the validity of the periodic system of elements" Mendeleev had designed (Niaz, Critical Appraisal of Physical Science, 62). "The confirmation of this prediction may certainly be called the culminating point in the history of the periodic system" (ibid). In 1869 "Mendeleev published a periodic table. Mendeleev also arranged the elements known at the time in order ofrelative atomic mass, but he did some other things that made his table much more successful. He realised that the physical and chemical properties of elements were related to their atomic mass in a 'periodic' way, and arranged them so that groups of elements with similar properties fell into vertical columns in his table. "Sometimes this method of arranging elements meant there were gaps in his horizontal rows or 'periods'. But instead of seeing this as a problem, Mendeleev thought it simply meant that the elements which belonged in the gaps had not yet been discovered. He was also able to work out the atomic mass of the missing elements, and so predict their properties. And when theywerediscovered, Mendeleev turned out to be right. "The discovery of the three elements predicted by Mendeleev was of decisive importance in the acceptance of his law. In 1875 Lecoq de Boisbaudran, knowing nothing of Mendeleev's work, discovered by spectroscopic methods a new metal, which he named gallium. Both in the nature of its discovery and in a number of its properties gallium coincided with Mendeleev's prediction for eka-aluminum, but its specific weight at first seemed to be less than predicted. "Although Lecoq de Boisbaudran objected to this interpretation, he made a second determination of the specific weight of gallium and confirmed that such was indeed the case. From that moment the periodic law was no longer a mere hypothesis, and the scientific world was astounded to note that Mendeleev, the theorist, had seen the properties of a new element more clearly than the chemist who had empirically discovered it. From this time, too, Mendeleev's work came to be more widely known" (Dictionary of Scientific Biography). CONDITION & DETAILS: Complete volume. Ex-libris bearing only a deaccessioned stamp on the back of the title page and slight ghosting at the spine where a spine level has been removed. 4to (11 x 8 inches; 275 x 200mm). [6], 1450, [2]. Bound in clean full blue cloth, gilt-lettered at the spine. Solidly and tightly bound. Very occasional toning, otherwise clean and bright throughout.
Schrödinger, Erwin [Schrodinger; Schroedinger]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT OF ERWIN SCHRODINGER'S SEMINAL THOUGHT EXPERIMENT KNOWN AS "SCHRODINGER'S CAT," present here in all three papers.This is not an ex-library copy. In May of 1935, Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen's published a paper (the famous EPR paper) on quantum entanglement that argued, in part, that quantum mechanics was not a complete physical theory. After its publication, and in a series of letters between Einstein and Schrodinger, Schrodinger became intrigued by what Einstein believed was an absurd contradiction in the application of Heisenberg and Bohr's Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics to the world of tangible objects. The experiment Schrodinger designed - as famous in physics as it is in philosophy -- illustrates the conflict Einstein and Schrodinger perceived between what quantum theory argues is true about the nature and behavior of matter on the microscopic level, and what we observe to be true about the nature and behavior of matter on the macroscopic level. Rather than an everyday object Einstein had discussed, however, Schrodinger applied his depiction of the absurdity of the Copenhagen interpretation to something living - to a cat. In the experiment, Schrodinger wrote: "A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter, there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small that perhaps in the course of the hour, one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges, and through a relay releases a hammer that shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts." To Schrodinger, the Copenhagen interpretation insinuates that the cat remains both alive and dead until the box is opened. "Schrödinger did not wish to promote the idea of dead-and-alive cats as a serious possibility; quite the reverse. The thought experiment serves to illustrate the bizarreness of quantum mechanics and the mathematics necessary to describe quantum states. Intended as a critique of just the Copenhagen interpretation, the Schrödinger cat thought experiment remains a topical touchstone for all interpretations of quantum mechanics. How each interpretation deals with Schrödinger's cat is often used as a way of illustrating and comparing each interpretation's particular features, strengths, and weaknesses" (Wikipedia). CONDITION & DETAILS: Berlin: Julius Springer. 4to (10.5 x 7 .75 inches; 262 x 194mm). 870pp. This volume is NOT an ex-library copy and there are no stamps whatsoever. Rebacked in black with a paper label at the spine; marbled paper boards. Slight toning to a few pages. Very good condition.
Cormack, Allen
FIRST EDITIONS IN ORIGINAL PAPER WRAPS OF PART II ONLY OF ALLAN CORMACK'S SEMINAL INVENTION OF A MATHEMATICAL TECHNIQUE FOR COMPUTER-ASSISTED X-RAY TOMOGRAPHY (CAT Scans) - TOGETHER, THESE TWO PAPERS DOCUMENT THE INVENTION OF THE CAT SCAN. Cormack's work produced the most revolutionary development in the field of radiography since the discover of the x-ray by Rontgen in 1895. In 1979, Cormack and Godfrey Hounsfield received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work in "the development of computer assisted tomography" (Nobel Prize Committee). "This was the first time that researchers trained not in the medical sciences but in mathematics and engineering received the Nobel Prize in Medicine" (Grolier Medical Hundred, 365). Cormack's work as a theoretical physicist with a special interest in computer tomography and math drove his interest in and invention of a mathematical technique for computer-assisted X-ray tomography. Cormack's papers contain the first description of the mathematical theory of axial tomography, the method by which the varying X-ray absorption rates of tissues in the human body can be used to construct a detailed picture of the organs and soft tissues. Computerized axial tomography, otherwise known as the CAT scan, is a process by which X-rays can be concentrated on specific sections of the human body at a variety of angles. Once this information is analyzed by a computer, it is combined to reproduce images of internal structures previously unviewable by medical technology. Cormack was the first to analyze the possibility of such an examination of a biological system, and in these papers, developed the equations needed for computer-assisted x-ray reconstruction of pictures of the human brain and body. CONDITION & DETAILS: Individual issue original wrappers, October 1964. American Institute of Applied Physics. (10.5 X 8 inches; 263 x 200mm). Fine condition. Clean and bright inside and out.
DeWitt, Bryce
FIRST EDITION of Bryce DeWitt's first paper on quantum gravity, including the introduction of both the Wheeler-DeWitt equation and canonical quantum gravity. "Quantum gravity attempts to unify quantum mechanics (which describes the behavior of electromagnetism, the weak interaction and the strong interaction) with general relativity (the theory of gravity)" (Wenner Collection). NOTE that we separately offer the 1st ed. in original wraps of all three parts of Bryce DeWitt's paper on quantum gravity, including the introduction of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. In this work, DeWitt, known as the father of quantum gravity, formed important calculations on quantum gravity highly controversial and important to modern theoretical physics. The Wheeler-DeWitt "equation expresses the expectation that the total energy of a closed universe vanishes" (Liebscher, Cosmology, 269). It is a "cosmic Schrodinger equation" that describes the whole universe - both atoms and galaxies - in a unified manner. Although controversial, the equation does in fact unify deep properties of both quantum theory and general relativity. "The Wheeler-DeWitt equation is a functional differential equation on the space of three dimensional spatial metrics. It is ill defined in the general case, but very important in theoretical physics, especially in quantum gravity. The equation has the form of an operator acting on a wave functional, the functional reduces to a function in cosmology. Contrary to the general case, the Wheeler-DeWitt equation is well defined in mini-superspaces like the configuration space of cosmological theories" (Wikipedia). CONDITION & DETAILS: Lancaster: The American Physical Society. Vol. 160, Number 5, 25 August 1967, pp. 1113-1148 (DeWitt paper). Full volume pp. 719-1611. Fully indexed. Additionally, there are 36 pages of separately culled abstracts. Ex-libris bearing only a small stamps on the front & rear flypapers & text block. There are no spine markings. 4to (10.5 x 8 inches; 263 x 200mm). Bound in pristine brown buckram, gilt-lettered at the spine. Near fine condition inside and out.
Lockyer, J. Norman
RARE OFFPRINT OF JOSEPH LOCKYER'S DISCOVERY OF HELIUM ON THE SUN. ORIGINAL PAPER WRAPS, FINE CONDITION. 6 PLATES. An "offprint" is a separately published and bound issue of the journal paper in question. Usually these are printed for the given authors and for authors to give to colleagues. Because they are rare, offprints are considered more desirable that either the original issue of the journal in paper wraps or bound. Helium was the first chemical element discovered on an extraterrestrial body -- in this case, the sun -- prior to its discovery on the Earth. Lockyer's discovery of helium also represents the first element discovered via spectroscopy. Though rare on the Earth, helium is the second most abundant element in the universe, comprising 24% of known baryonic matter by weight. Lockyer discovered helium on the sun in 1868 when he adapted his 6-inch telescope to utilize a spectroscope and while using it to carry out electromagnetic spectroscopic observations of the sun during an eclipse, he discovered a yellow line never seen before in the laboratory. Unable to reproduce the line in his lab, Lockyer made the bold suggestion that the line was the 'fingerprint' of an element, an element he named 'helium' for Helios, the Greek God of the Sun. Lockyer's finding -- the only element to be discovered in space before it was discovered on Earth -- was the first element to be discovered by spectroscopy. As Lockyer tried to make sense of his initial discovery of a yellow line, he reasoned that "because the bright yellow line was close to the D1 and D2 lines of sodium, it [should be] designated D3. In order to identify the lines in his spectral data, Lockyer enlisted the help of the prominent British chemist, Edward Frankland. Their laboratory work showed that the majority of the observed solar lines were due to hydrogen, though often modified by changes in temperature and pressure. The D3 line, however, could not be reproduced in the laboratory" (Jensen, "Why Helium Ends in 'ium'?) . While Lockyer was ridiculed for his discovery for many years, in 1895, twenty-five years after Lockyer's initial discovery, William Ramsay confirmed the existence of Helium when he managed to isolate it from another mineral. In 1897, Lockyer was finally knighted for his discovery of helium. CONDITION & DETAILS: London: The Royal Society. Offprint from The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Vol. 165, Pt. 2. 1876. [Printed in 1876]. Continuously paginated, pp. 577-586. 4to. (300 x 225mm; 12 x 9 in.). ILLUSTRATIONS: 6 plates EXTERIOR: Bound in original paper wraps. Tightly bound. Near fine condition.
Einstein, Albert and Paul Ehrenfest
This paper, "On the Quantum Theory of the Radiative Equilibrium" introduces the expression "negative irradiance" ("negative Einstrahlung") for the emission of a quantum by action of irradiance (Calaprice, 121). Following his work on general relativity in 1916, Einstein continued searching for new ways in which the existence of photons might lead to observable derivations from the classical picture" (Pais, p. 413). In 1922, after six years of experimental and theoretical work, Arthur H. Compton discovered what came to be called the Compton effect; Peter Debye also discovered this independently and virtually simultaneously. Pauli then used Compton & Deby's work to extend Einstein's 1917 work to the case of radiation in equilibrium with free electrons (Pais, 414). "Pauli examined the requirements of detailed balance under Lorentz transformations and found that scattering of light by free electrons must include a term of a form which we would now call stimulated emission . . . Einstein and Ehrenfest then showed that Pauli's results could be obtained by an extension of [Einstein's] 1917 paper with the unnecessary specialization to discrete energy levels removed . . . "The core of Einstein's argument is that the scattering process should be broken into two parts: the absorption of energy from radiation of frequency 1 and the emission of energy as radiation of frequency 2" Lewis, "Einstein's derivation of Planck's radiation law," AJP, 1973, 38-44. Weil, Einstein Bibliography, 138; Pais, Subtle is the Lord, 21, 413; Lewis, "Einstein's derivation of Planck's radiation law," AJP, 1973, 38-44; Calaprice, Einstein Almanac 121. ALSO INCLUDED IN VOLUME 19 ARE PAPERS BY: Hertz, Meitner, Lande, Hertzfeld, Joos, Kossel, Lande, Sommerfeld, Seeliger, Wentzel, Raschevsky, Ebert, and Toussaint among many others. ALSO INCLUDED IN VOLUME 20 ARE PAPERS BY: Pauli, Ornstein, Raschevsky, Bothe, Walter, Hermann, and Przibram among many others. CONDITION: Berlin: Julius Springer. Volumes 19 & 20 bound as one. [iv], 415pp + [v], 426pp. NOT EX-LIBRARY. Solidly and cleanly bound in blue cloth, gilt-lettered at the spine. Bright and clean inside and out. Very good + condition.
Feynman, Richard WITH Hahn, E.L.
FIRST EDITION of Feynman's proof of the validity of his 1949 "reformation of quantum mechanics itself," work that would "elegantly rewrite quantum theory" (American National Biography; Peacock, The Quantum Revolution, 102). ALSO included is Erwin Hahn's "Spin Echoes," the first detection and report of spin echoes in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). FEYNMAN PAPER: In this, the third paper in his pivotal reformulation of quantum mechanics, Feynman provides the mathematical "proof of the validity of the [his] rules for calculations of amplitudes in quantum electrodynamics. Feynman's paper rigorously proved that his treatment of "the problem of molecular forces from a thoroughly quantum-mechanical point of view" was accurate (DSB). Feynman had arrived "at a simple means of calculating the energy of a molecular system that continues to guide quantum chemists" (ibid). In 1965 Feynman was awarded the Nobel Prize along with Schwinger and Tomonaga "for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles" (Particle Physics, One Hundred Years of Discoveries, 113). HAHN PAPER: Erwin Hahn's "Spin Echoes," relays the first detection and report of spin echoes in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)."In magnetic resonance, a spin echo is the refocusing of spin magnetization by a pulse of resonant electromagnetic radiation. Modern NMR and magnetic resonance imaging make use of this effect. Echo phenomena are important features of coherent spectroscopy which have been used in fields other than magnetic resonance including laser spectroscopy and neutron scattering" (Wikipedia). In 1950, Hahn, then a graduate student, was experimenting with NMR using pulsed RF energy and observed echo signals, hereafter called 'Spin Echo' or 'Hahn Echo' signals. We also separately offer this paper in its original wrappers. CONDITION & DETAILS: Lancaster: American Physical Society, Volume 80, October to December 1950. Bound in green buckram. NOT EX-LIBRARY. Tightly and solidly bound. Bright and clean inside and out. Near fine condition.
FIRST EDITION, 1st PRINTING SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, TIM BERNERS-LEE, inventor of the World Wide Web, the first web browser, as well as the fundamental protocols and algorithms allowing the Web to scale. In 1989, while working at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), Berners-Lee proposed the concept of the World Wide Web as a way to facilitate the sharing of information among researchers. He published a paper entitled Information Management: A Proposal. In the paper, Berner's Lee proposed a linked system of information - a universal one - that would employ differing technologies and concepts. The most fundamental aspect of his proposition was the ability to link the connections between information. His proposition and the work it engendered laid the foundation for the development of the modern internet and transformed the way information is accessed and shared globally. His book, Weaving the Web provides insights into the creation and development of the web. He shares his experiences, thoughts, and vision for the future of the web. Berners-Lee covers the early days of the World Wide Web, discussing the challenges and decisions that led to its creation. Berners-Lee talks about the initial concepts, the development of the first web browser and server, and the establishment of the first website. The book also delves into the philosophy behind the design of the web and its potential impact on society. Furthermore, Tim Berners-Lee addresses the importance of maintaining an open and accessible web, free from proprietary constraints. He discusses the need for standards that allow interoperability and the sharing of information across different platforms. The book serves as a historical account of the web's origins and a call to preserve its fundamental principles. In addition to his work on the World Wide Web, Berners-Lee has been an advocate for an open and decentralized web, emphasizing principles like net neutrality, privacy, and accessibility. He continues to be involved in various initiatives to promote the positive and ethical development of the internet. CONDITION & DETAILS: Harper: San Francisco. The book includes a tipped in note on the stationery of Berner Lee's consortium W3C. Signed by Amy van der Hiel is the Media Relations Coordinator for the W3C Communications Team and the Team Contact for the Advisory Board, it is a response to a request for a signed photo of Berner-Lee's. The inscribed photo was then pasted down on the front flyleaf. [xl], 3, 226, [2]. Bound in blue cloth with dust jacked protected by a mylar slip. Tightly bound. Bright and very clean inside and out. Fine condition.
FIRST EDITION OF ARTHUR COMPTON'S NOBEL PRIZE WINNING PAPER ON THE â??COMPTON EFFECT,' THE SCATTERING OF HIGH-ENERGY PHOTONS BY ELECTRONS. The landmark "discovery of the Compton effect served as the technical catalyst for the acceptance and rapid development of quantum mechanics in the 1920s and 1930s" (Todd, Scientists in Space and Astronomy, 88). From this distance, "it is difficult for us today to understand that Compton's explanation of X-ray scattering was regarded as revolutionary. Physicists until then had learned that electromagnetic radiation, depending on the process studied, had to be described as consisting of EITHER waves OR energy quanta but now had to accept that BOTH the wave AND the particle property were needed" (Brandt, The Harvest of the Century, 130). "Compton carried out relativistic calculations (assuming detailed conservation of energy and momentum on a quantum-by-quantum basis) that predicted that energetic X-ray or gamma-ray quanta, when scattered off of electrons, would lose a certain amount of energy" Peacock, The Quantum Revolution, 43). "His experiments revealed that there definitely was a measurable shift of X-ray (photon) wavelength with scattering angle - a phenomenon now called the â??Compton effect'" (Todd). "The Compton effect is the inelastic scattering of a photon when it collides with an electron that results in a decrease in energy (increase in wavelength). Part of the energy is transferred to the electron, which recoils and is ejected from its atom (which becomes ionized), and the rest of the energy is taken by the scattered, "degraded" photon. The classical wave theory of light cannot explain the shift in wavelength (and loss of energy) observed in the Compton effect, and as a result, Compton's experiment convinced most physicists that light does in this case behave as a stream of particles whose energy is proportional to its frequency" (The Wenner Collection). Compton's paper verified Planck's quantum postulate AND "confirmed Einstein'a view that the quantum of light interacted like a discrete particle" (Peacock). Compton was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics. CONDITION & DETAILS: Full volume. Lancaster: American Physical Society. 4to (10.75 x 8 inches; 268 x 200mm). Entire volume, continuously paginated pp. 1-736. Compton's paper: pp. 483-502. Ex-libris with no markings at the spine whatsoever. There are two stamps of the blank front fly leaf and an envelope on the front paste down. Minor. Illustration: In-text figures throughout. Exterior: Bound in blue cloth with a gilt-lettered spine; very slight rubbing at the edges. Tightly and solidly bound. The interior is bright and very clean throughout. Very good condition.
PASTEUR'S SEMINAL REFUTATION OF SPONTANEOUS GENERATION, INCLUSIVE OF "SWAN NECK" FLASK ENGRAVINGS. The doctrine of spontaneous generation -- a belief that living organisms arose spontaneously from non-living matter -- was used to explain the appearance of microorganisms in decaying organic substances beginning with Aristotle and was taken as scientific fact for two millennia. Written in 1861 and published in 1862, Pasteur famously felled the doctrine by demonstrating in this paper that microorganisms did not arise spontaneously but came from pre-existing microorganisms. In understanding the import of sterilized equipment, etc., Pasteur demonstrated the possibility of culturing and studying a single microorganism in the absence of others" (Norman). Taken in total, his work lay the foundation for the germ theory of disease and thus had profound implications for microbiology and medicine. This volume includes "The longest and most important of Pasteur's papers on spontaneous generation, describing the series of classic experiments with bent-necked and sealed flasks by which he proved conclusively that fermentation and putrefaction are not the products of spontaneous generation, but result from contamination by airborne micro-organisms" (ibid). Pasteur began his studies on spontaneous generation via his interest in fermentation. "In 1860 he had completed a series of careful but simple 'Experiments relative to so-called Spontaneous Generation' . When his conclusions were called into question by Pouchet. Pasteur [conducted] further experiments [presented here] which demonstrated beyond dispute that fermentation is caused by the actions of minute living organisms, and that if these are excluded or killed fermentation does not occur. This enabled him to explain to brewers and vintners the cause and prevention of sourness in their products. The heating process that he recommended was the earliest form of 'pasteurization'" (PMM). Pasteur's swan-necked culture vessels (illustrated on the engraved plate) were integral to Pasteur's discovery. He partly filled the body of the flask with an â??infusion' - a nutrient rich broth -- then boiled the infusion killing any germs already present in the liquid, a process now known as pasteurization. "Pasteur allowed the infusion to rest. Over time, he observed that the physical appearance, particularly the colour of the broth did not change. This he explained was because the germ particles in the air attempting to enter the flask had become became trapped in the s shaped bend. Therefore, they had not contaminated the liquid. Pasteur then tipped the particles into the body of the flask and observed that the microorganisms appeared in the infusion and multiplied, spoiling the infusion. "This demonstrated that certain germ particles in the air caused the spoiling of the broth, disproving spontaneous generation - a previous leading theory of disease that claimed the air itself was to blame. From this Pasteur developed and published his germ theory of disease revealing to the world the existence of microorganisms and the role they play" (Worcester Medical Museum) ALSO INCLUDED: Kirchhoff and Bunsen's long spectral analysis of salts paper introduces the technique of spectroscopy as a tool for chemical analysis, work fundamental in the development of analytical chemistry and THAT marked the beginning of the application of spectroscopy to identify and analyze chemical elements. CONDITION: Volumes 64, 65, & 66, solidly bound together in burgundy cloth; gilt-lettered at the spine; very slight toning to the boards. Note that the toning on the plates in the image appear much worse than they do to the naked eye; the brightness of the scanner light does this. 14 plates, 1 colored. Ex. Library with NO spine markings & only a stamp on the front paste down & one on the title page. Clean & bright inside and out. Near fine condition.