Search Results: Authors starting with H from SOPHIA RARE BOOKS

Berlin: Walter de Gruyter und Co, 1944. First edition. Hardcover. DIBNER 168: NUCLEAR FISSION - THE TRUE OFFPRINT ISSUES. First edition, the true offprint issues, i.e., in orange wrappers, of the three fundamental papers on nuclear fission which eventually lead to the creation of the atom bomb. "...experiments conducted in 1938 at Berlin by Hahn and Strassman [sic] were reported to Lise Meitner, an Austrian scientist who had fled to Copenhagen to escape religious persecution. She and her nephew, O. R. Frisch, working in Niels Bohr's laboratory, found the true explanation of these phenomena. The interpolation of a neutron into the nucleus of a uranium atom caused it to divide into two parts and to release energy amounting to about 200,000,000 electron volts. This process bore such a close similarity to the division of a living cell that Frisch suggested the use of the term 'fission' to describe it" (PMM). "Hahn and Strassmann published this article [i.e. the 1939 paper] that started scientists down… Read More

Berlin: Walter de Gruyter und Co, 1944. First edition. Hardcover. NUCLEAR FISSION. First edition, offprint issues, of the three fundamental papers on nuclear fission which eventually lead to the creation of the atom bomb. "...experiments conducted in 1938 at Berlin by Hahn and Strassman [sic] were reported to Lise Meitner, an Austrian scientist who had fled to Copenhagen to escape religious persecution. She and her nephew, O. R. Frisch, working in Niels Bohr's laboratory, found the true explanation of these phenomena. The interpolation of a neutron into the nucleus of a uranium atom caused it to divide into two parts and to release energy amounting to about 200,000,000 electron volts. This process bore such a close similarity to the division of a living cell that Frisch suggested the use of the term 'fission' to describe it" (PMM). "Hahn and Strassmann published this article [i.e. the 1939 paper] that started scientists down the path to the atomic bomb. Originally working with Lise Meitner who was… Read More

London: Printed for Dan Brown, Tim. Goodwin, John Walthoe, Tho. Newborough, John Nicholson, Tho. Benskin, Benj. Tooke, Dan. Midwinter, Tho. Leigh, and Francis Coggan, 1704. First edition. THE FIRST TECHNICAL DICTIONARY IN ANY LANGUAGE (PMM 171a) . First edition of perhaps the most important single source for the history of science and engineering at the end of the scientific revolution. Its emphasis on technology, comparatively poorly covered by seventeenth century books, is particularly valuable primary material, while the author's access to Newton and others has been frequently emphasized. "Harris' most famous work was the Lexicon technicum, the first edition of which appeared in 1704. This was the first general scientific encyclopedia, and for it Harris drew upon some of the greatest authorities of the day. In physics, astronomy, and mathematics he turned to Newton; in botany he consulted John Ray and Joseph Tournefort; in other areas he drew upon Halley, Robert Boyle, Nehemiah Grew, John… Read More

[Brookhaven, NY: The American Physical Society], 1983. First edition. HAWKING'S NO-BOUNDARY PROPOSAL: HOW THE UNIVERSE COULD HAVE ARISEN FROM NOTHING. First edition, very rare offprint, and Hawking's own file copy, of this famous paper describing the 'no-boundary proposal' for the origin of the universe. "Stephen sought to understand the whole universe in scientific terms. As he said famously, 'My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe' ... From 1982 onwards, Stephen concentrated his efforts on the deeper puzzle of the boundary conditions required to bring about inflation and the probability of them coming about ... The singularity theorems proved by Stephen, Penrose and others showed conclusively that the classical Einstein equation implied that the universe began in a hot Big Bang. But the singularity theorems also showed that the beginning could not be described by a classical space-time geometry obeying the Einstein equation with three space directions and one time… Read More

London: Printed by Francis Leach, 1653. First edition. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF DE MOTU CORDIS. First edition in English of De motu cordis (1628), in which was described the discovery and proof of the circulation of the blood; this is the very rare first issue with uncancelled title and this leaf unclipped by the printer (see below). Harvey's discovery and experimental proof of the circulation of the blood created a revolution in physiology comparable to the Copernican revolution in astronomy: it was to become "the cornerstone of modern physiology and medicine" (Garrison-Morton). De motu cordis "is probably the most important book in the history of medicine. What Vesalius was to anatomy, Harvey was to physiology; the whole scientific outlook on the human body was transformed, and behind almost every important medical advance in modern times lies the work of Harvey" (Heirs of Hippocrates). It should also be regarded as "the first record of a complete biological investigation, giving a clear and… Read More

[London: Macmillan, 1974. THE DISCOVERY OF HAWKING RADIATION - 'ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT RESULTS EVER IN FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS'. First edition, extremely rare offprint issue, and Hawking's own file copy, of his most important article, predicting that black holes emit radiation, now known as 'Hawking radiation'. This would cause relatively low mass black holes (less than 1012 kg) to 'evaporate' completely in a time less than the age of the universe. The discovery that black holes radiate was a complete shock to the scientific community since it had been assumed that nothing, not even light, could escape from a black hole (that was, of course, why they were called black holes!). Hawking's Royal Society obituary stated: "It is fair to say that Stephen's discovery [of Hawking radiation] ranks as one of the most important results ever in fundamental physics" (Carr, et al.). John Archibald Wheeler once said that just talking about Hawking radiation was like "rolling candy on the tongue" (ibid.). Hawking's… Read More

Berlin: Julius Springer, 1928. First edition. Hardcover. BOHR'S COPY OF HEISENBERG ON FERROMAGNETISM. First edition, journal issue in original printed wrappers, of Heisenberg's solution of the problem of ferromagnetism, and a remarkable association copy linking two of the greatest figures in twentieth-century physics. Bohr and Heisenberg are also linked by the subject matter of the present work. In his doctoral thesis Studier over Metallernes Elektrontheori (1911), Bohr proved what was later called the 'Bohr-van Leeuwen theorem', which shows that classical physics cannot account for magnetic phenomena. This probably provided at least part of the motivation for his subsequent work on quantum theory, of which Heisenberg gave the first mathematically consistent formulation in 1925. In this paper, Heisenberg applies his new quantum mechanics to finally explain one of the most puzzling magnetic phenomena, that of ferromagnetism. This is the ability of certain substances, such as iron, cobalt, nickel,… Read More

Berlin: Julius Springer, 1929. First editions, first printings. Hardcover. THE FOUNDATIONS OF QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS. First edition, journal issues in original printed wrappers, of this two-part paper which represents the "formal invention of quantum electrodynamics [QED]" (Miller, p. xiii). "Three years before the discovery of the positron Heisenberg and Pauli - in two papers 'Zur Quantenmechanik der Wellenfelder' and 'Zur Quantenmechanik der Wellenfelder II' of 29 March and 7 September 1929, respectively - took a decisive step forward to develop a consistent theory of quantum electrodynamics" (Mehra & Milton, p. 186). "This extremely technical and mathematical branch of quantum physics, the foundations of which were laid by Heisenberg, Dirac, Pauli, Jordan, and their colleagues during the late 1920s and early 1930s, continues to this day with much the same program and approach . . . [Heisenberg was] a leading member of the small band of abstract theorists who established the program and laid the… Read More

Berlin: Springer, 1926. First edition. Hardcover. EXPLANATION OF THE ANOMALOUS ZEEMAN EFFECT. First edition of the explanation of the anomalous Zeeman effect on the basis of matrix mechanics. "By including the spin property of the electron, Heisenberg and Jordan obtained perhaps the greatest triumph of matrix mechanics: they were able to derive all observed phenomena connected with the anomalous Zeeman effect" (Rechenberg, p. 211). When an atom is placed in a magnetic field, its spectral lines split into a series of equidistant lines - always an odd number - whose separation is proportional to the field strength. This, the normal Zeeman effect, was explained in 1916 by Debye and Sommerfeld in terms of the 'old' quantum theory: the splitting was due to the interaction between the magnetic field and the orbital magnetic moment of the electrons in the atom. However, there is also an anomalous Zeeman effect, observed particularly in atoms with odd atomic number, in which the lines split in a more complex… Read More

Berlin: Springer, 1943. First edition. HEISENBERG'S S-MATRIX PROGRAMME. First edition, extremely rare offprints, of Heisenberg's S-matrix approach to the study of elementary particles. "Heisenberg's prewar researches in quantum field theory, undertaken in part with Pauli, had led him to the study of cosmic rays, the highest energy particles then available for research. When an extremely high-energy cosmic ray strikes the earth's atmosphere, it induces a shower of newly created particles and photons. This effect was to be explained on the basis of quantum field theory. Heisenberg's researches had previously convinced him and others of the inadequacy of field theories for this task. Infinities and divergences plagued all three of the available theories - quantum electrodynamics, Fermi's theory of beta decay (relating to what is now the weak force), and Yukawa's meson theory (relating to what is now the strong, or nuclear, force). The small size of elementary particles and the close approach of the… Read More

Berlin: Julius Springer, 1922. First edition. Hardcover. HEISENBERG'S FIRST PUBLISHED PAPER. First edition of Heisenberg's first published paper, journal issue in original printed wrappers, describing his 'core model' of the atom and its application to solve the problems of the multiplet structure in atomic spectra and the anomalous Zeeman effect, which had defeated all previous attempts. "Just a year after entering Sommerfeld's program, Heisenberg amazed his teacher by presenting a model of atoms that seemed to resolve every spectroscopic riddle at a stroke. But the model succeeded only because its daring inventor failed to follow the requirements of an acceptable quantum theory" (Cassidy, Beyond Uncertainty, p. 95). "Werner Heisenberg had just celebrated his twentieth birthday when he presented his first paper for publication in 1921. This paper, a long and complex study entitled 'On the Quantum Theory of Line Structure and of the Anomalous Zeeman Effects,' immediately placed its young author on… Read More

Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1868. First edition. HELMHOLTZ ON NON-EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY . First edition, very rare, of Helmholtz's famous and important contribution to non-Euclidean geometry, 'On the facts which lay at the foundations of geometry'. "Motivated by his study of visual perception, throughout the mid-1860s Helmholtz investigated the most general analytic expressions of spatial relations. He formulated for himself the abstract mathematical concept of the extended n-ply manifold and became convinced that tacit assumptions of congruence and translation underlie the Euclidean axioms. In 1868, before publishing these results, he received a copy of G. F. B. Riemann's treatise of 1854 [not published until 1868], Ueber die Hypothesen, welche der Geometrie zu Grunde liegen ['On the hypotheses which lay at the foundations of geometry']. Riemann had assumed that in any manifold the distance formula ds must be the square root of a homogeneous function of second degree in dx, dy,… Read More

Berlin: Georg Reimer, 1847. First edition. EVANS 41 - The DOCTRINE OF THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY. First edition, rare, of "the first comprehensive statement of the first law of thermodynamics: that all modes of energy, heat, light, electricity, and all chemical phenomena, are capable of transformation from one to the other but are indestructible and cannot be created" (PMM). "On the basis of this short paper, written when he was only twenty-six, Helmholtz is ranked as one of the founders, along with Joule and Mayer, of the principle of conservation of energy. The paper sets forth the philosophical and physical basis of the energy conservation principle: Helmholtz maintained that the scientific world view was based on two abstractions, matter and force, and since the only possible relationship that can exist among the ultimate particles of matter is a spatial one, then ultimate forces must be moving forces radically directed. This can be inferred from the impossibility of producing work continually… Read More

Berlin: Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1883. First edition. A FOUNDING WORK OF CHEMICAL THERMODYNAMICS. First edition, extremely rare author's presentation offprints, of all three parts of one of the founding paper of chemical thermodynamics, along with Josiah Willard Gibbs's 1876 paper 'On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances.' In these papers, Helmholtz introduced the concept of 'free energy' and proved the 'Gibbs-Helmholtz equation' which he used to demonstrate that free energy - not heat production - was the driver of spontaneous change in isothermal chemical reactions, thereby overthrowing the previously accepted 'Thomsen-Berthelot principle.' Although Gibbs introduced similar ideas, he did not state the equation explicitly, nor did he explore its chemical significance. "Helmholtz's research in physical chemistry culminated in his 1882 memoir, 'Die Thermodynamik chemischer Vörgange.' Thermochemistry, especially that of Thomsen and Berthelot, assumed that the heat evolved in reactions is a… Read More

Leipzig: Leopold Voss, 1856. First edition. THE ONLY RECORDED COPY IN THE ORIGINAL PARTS. First edition, and the only recorded copy in the original parts, of "the most important book on the physiology and physics of vision" (Grolier/Horblit), and "one of the greatest books on physiological optics" (Garrison-Morton). This work encompassed all previous research in the field, including the results of Helrnholtz's work in optics: his study of colours, and his investigations of the physiology of vision and the dioptrics of the eye, enterprises aided by his invention of the ophthalmoscope and the ophthalmometer. "Volume I, which appeared in 1856, contained a detailed treatment of the dioptrics of the eye . . . In it Helmholtz treated the various imperfections of the lens system and announced the result that the visual axis of the eye does not correspond to its optical axis. Volume I also elaborated Helmholtz's theory of accommodation and his invention of the ophthalmometer, both announced in 1855. In… Read More

Philadelphia: Printed by James Kay, Jun. & Brothers, 1839. First edition. Hardcover. THE ELECTRICAL TRANSFORMER. First edition, author's presentation offprint, of the third and most important part of Henry's Contributions to Electricity and Magnetism. Following on from his discovery of electromagnetic self-induction in 1832, in the present paper Henry extends his results on 'galvanic' electricity (current produced by batteries) to the inductive effects of static electricity. Along the way, he established the principle of the electrical transformer, which was crucial to later nineteenth-century science and technology. Henry himself considered the findings reported in this paper "the most important I have ever made" (see below). OCLC lists only one copy of this offprint (Yale Medical Library). Provenance: Presentation inscription in the author's hand on the title page, "To the Rev. Professor Hitchcock with the respects of the author." The recipient is probably Edward Hitchcock (1793-1864), ordained… Read More

1850. First edition. Hardcover. AN EXCEPTIONAL COLLECTION OF 69 ORIGINAL WORKS ASSEMBLED FOR PRESENTATION TO HIS SON. An extraordinary collection of works by Sir John Herschel (1792-1871), the outstanding astronomer and physical scientist of his day, assembled for presentation to his son William James Herschel (not to be confused with John's father, the astronomer Frederick William). The collection includes offprints of Herschel's three most important publications on photography, the first two of which have corrections and annotations in his hand. These offprints are of extreme rarity - ABPC/RBH list no other copy of any of them in the past 75 years. Herschel's intensive investigations in photography and photochemistry during the late 1830s and early 1840s led to enormous advances: he coined the terms 'positive' and 'negative,' invented new photographic processes and improved existing ones, and experimented with colour reproduction. Among the mathematical works are several on the 'calculus of… Read More

London: R. & J. E. Taylor, 1842. First edition. Hardcover. INSCRIBED BY HERSCHEL TO CHEVREUL. First edition, extremely rare offprint, of this seminal early work of photography, the invention of the world's first photocopying process, 'cyanotype,' later called 'blue-printing'; this remained by far the most important reprographic process for more than a century after the publication of Herschel's paper. This is an extraordinary presentation copy, inscribed by Herschel to the great French colour theorist Michel-Eugène Chevreul. "Photography in Prussian blue was discovered in 1842 by Sir John Herschel just three years after Louis Daguerre and Henry Talbot had announced their independent inventions of photography in silver, using metal and paper substrates, respectively. Their successes in finally securing silver photographs represented the fruition of an idea that had been gestating for more than a century in the minds and laboratories of many noted natural philosophers. In contrast, the birth of… Read More

London: Smith, Elder & Co, 1847. First edition. INSCRIBED PRESENTATION COPY OF HERSCHEL'S SURVEY OF THE SOUTHERN SKY. First edition, inscribed presentation copy, of Herschel's greatest astronomical work, inscribed to the Captain of the ship that brought Herschel and his family back from South Africa. This is a monumental survey of the stars of the southern hemisphere, a complement to his father's survey of the northern celestial hemisphere. Herschel devoted five years to the project, which he chose to carry out at the Cape of Good Hope. In a suburb south of Cape Town he constructed a 20-foot reflecting telescope, with which he methodically explored the night skies. "By 1838 he had swept the whole of the southern sky, catalogued 1,707 nebulae and clusters, and listed 2,102 pairs of binary stars. He carried out star counts, on William Herschel's plan, of 68,948 stars in 3,000 sky areas ... He produced detailed sketches and maps of several objects, including the Orion region, the Eta Carinae nebula, and… Read More

Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1888. First edition. FIRST PROOF THAT ELECTROMAGNETIC EFFECTS PROPAGATE AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT. First edition, complete journal issue in original printed wrappers, of one of the two most important papers of Hertz's on electromagnetic waves, in which he demonstrates for the first time that electromagnetic effects propagate at the speed of light (it was only a month later that he first produced and detected electric waves). "In his Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (1873) [Maxwell] gave no theory of oscillatory circuits or of the connection between currents and electromagnetic waves. The possibility of producing electromagnetic waves in air was inherent in his theory, but it was by no means obvious and was nowhere spelled out. Hertz's proof of such waves was in part owing to his theoretical penetration into Maxwell's thought" (DSB). "Experimental proof by Hertz of the Faraday-Maxwell hypothesis that electrical waves can be projected through space… Read More