Search Results: Titles starting with M from Atticus Rare Books

Kiel: Schaidt and Oheim, 1934. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, bound full volume, of Stjepan Mohorovicic's prediction of the existence of positronium. "Positronium (Ps) is a system consisting of an electron and its anti-particle, a positron, bound together into an exotic atom, specifically an onium. The system is unstable: the two particles annihilate each other to predominantly produce two or three gamma-rays, depending on the relative spin states" (Wikipedia). Stjepan Mohorovicic (1890-1980) was a Croatian physicist, geophysicist and meteorologist. He is "often called "'he father of positonium'" because of this, his most significant work. It was experimentally discovered and confirmed in 1951 by Martin Deutsch and became known as positronium. Mohorovi i in his paper also calculated spectra of positronium and predicted the existence of positronium in stars because of which he suggested the identification of possible spectral lines of positronium in spectra of stars. He was searching for spectra of… Read More

Edinburgh: W & A. K. Johnston, 1882. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION. 18 PLATES. Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819-1900) was a British astronomer known for his many innovations. He was Astronomer Royal for Scotland. [He was also] "professor of practical astronomy in the University of Edinburgh. His primarily interest was in experimental and speculative matters, and among one of his missions was to search for clear atmosphere through which he could chart the spectrum of sunlight. This led him to Palermo, Portugal, Madeira, and Winchester. For this research he won the Makdougall-Brisbane Prize of the Royal Society of Edinburgh" (Dictionary of Scientific Biography). CONDITION & DETAILS: W & A. K. Johnston, Edinburgh, 1882. 4to, x, 32; frontispiece & 18 plates, 1 color, vignette title page; gilt-ruled green cloth (original), gilt title on spine & front cover. Rubbed at the edges. Stain on front board. Clean within.

London: Macmillan, 1963. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION (FULL VOLUME) OF THE PAPER IN WHICH VINE & MATTHEWS, WITHOUT REFERRING TO IT AS SUCH, SHOW PROOF OF THE OCCURRENCE OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT. Their work is considered "the first scientific test of sea floor spreading, and a crucial development in the theory of Plate Tectonics" (Wikipedia; Geological Society Web Portal: "Pioneers of Plate Tectonics"). "Although Vine and Matthews were not the first to suggest that the sea floor was spreading, their paper was the first to reconcile an unpopular theory with direct palaeomagnetic evidence from seafloor lava flows. In less than a decade, the idea of continental drift was accepted, and earth science was born as a modern interdisciplinary subject" (Nature Website Portal). The geologist Harry Hess had proposed that new oceanic crust forms as the result of rising molten rock. Working together at Cambridge, the British geologists Frederick Vine and Drummond Matthews believed that if Hess was correct, the… Read More

New York: The American Physical Society, 1961. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPS OF THE FIRST PROPOSAL OF THE CONCEPT OF MAGNETIC BREAKDOWN (MB). ALSO, FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST PROOF OF THE VALIDITY OF THE ISOSPIN SYMMETRY, ANDERSON & WONG'S DEMONSTRATION OF EXCITED ISOBARIC ANALOGUE STATES IN MEDIUM & HEAVY NUCLEI. The concept of magnetic breakdown (MB) "was first proposed [in this paper] by Cohen and Falicov to explain the very high frequency oscillation (the so-called giant orbit) observed by Priestley in his pulse-field De Haas-Van Alphen investigation of magnesium" (Progress in Low Temperature Physics, 5, 235). Their work made clear that the effects of MB are highly likely to appear in experiments involving the electronic band structure (or interbank structure) of many metals and should be anticipated. "Since [their discovery] the concept of MB has been applied to many experimental situation involving the dynamics of electrons in magnetic fields. The effect of MB is to alter the… Read More

2000. 1st Edition. Tsien Hsue-shen (1911-2009) was a scientist who made important contributions to the missile and space programs of both the United States and the People's Republic of China. NASA documents commonly refer to him at H. S. Tsien. During the 1940s, Tsien was one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. During World War II, Tsien was among many scientists who participated in the Manhattan Project. During the ‘red scare' of the 1950s, the US Government accused Tsien of having communist sympathies. Tsien was wrongfully imprisoned at Alcatraz. Stripped of his security clearance, Tsien decided to go back to China. After being under house arrest for 5 years, Tsien was released in exchange for the return of US pilots captured during the Korean war.Notified by US authorities that he was free to go, Tsien immediately arranged to go back to China in September of 1955 and then led the Chinese rocket program, becoming known as the ‘Father of… Read More

FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPS OF THE INVENTION OF THE DOUBLE FOCUSING SPECTROMETER. In 1936, Kenneth Bainbridge and Edward Jordan built a double focusing spectrometer at Harvard University. In 1919 Aston developed the first really good mass spectrograph, an instrument for measuring the masses of isotopes; his apparatus gave accuracies of one part in 1000. The mass spectrograph Bainbridge and Jordan developed was capable of mass determination of 1 in 30,000 parts. The earlier spectrographs were designed either to focus ions having the same velocity or moving in the same direction to one point (Mittal, Introduction to Nuclear, 29). In the instrument Bainbridge and Jordan built, greater accuracy was possible because "all the ions having same e/M value are focused at the same point irrespective of the direction or velocity" (ibid). ALSO INCLUDED: H.A. Bethe "An Attempt to Calculate the Number of Energy Levels of a Heavy Nucleus", pp. 332-342. Bethe's paper presents the first derivation of the level… Read More

London: Harrison and Sons, 1964. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OFFPRINT of "famous paper in classic astrophysics" (SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System). This paper by the Anglo-Austrian physicist Hermann Bondi studies whether redshifts could be of gravitational origin and "served as a theoretical guidepost for planetary and super-planetary relative motion calculation" (ibid). In it he proves that "whatever equation of state is chosen, provided it is physically realistic (i.e., with sound speed in the material not exceeding the speed of light), the gravitational surface redshift due to the presence of a massive object like a white dwarf or neutron star cannot exceed 0.62" (Kembhavi, Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei, 6). For this paper, Bondi adopted the field equations of general relativity "and physically plausible equations of state... in order to calculate the maximum surface redshift... Bondi [states] that his models give the largest values of surface redshifts among spherically symmetric massive… Read More

Berlin: Slawo [Slovo], 1923. 1st Edition. 1922 FIRST RUSSIAN EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPS OF EINSTEIN'S FOUR LECTURES ON RELATIVITY DELIVERED AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY IN THE SPRING OF 1921 (Norman 697; Weil 124g). Bears the ownership stamp of the Russian/Jewish logician-philosopher Gregorius Itelson. Itelson lived in Berlin and was beaten to death in 1926 by an anti-Semitic crowd. The introduction was written by Albert Einstein. The English titles of Einstein's four lectures are: "Space and Time in Pre-Relativity Physics", "The Theory of Special Relativity", "The General Theory of Relativity I", "The General Theory of Relativity II" CONDITION & DETAILS: Berlin: Slawo [Slovo], 8vo. (8.75 x 6 inches; 219 x 150mm). [106], 2. Slightly spotted original wraps; removal of early price sticker from upper right corner (see scan). Minor chipping at the head and foot of the spine. The front wrap is loosening but the binding is holding solidly. Handsome wide margins, clean and bright throughout.

Lancaster: American Physical Society, 1950. 1st Edition. 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… Read More

Lancaster: American Physical Society, 1960. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPS OF "KRUSKAL'S DISCOVERY OF THE FULL CLASSICAL SPACETIME STRUCTURE OF THE SIMPLEST TYPE OF BLACK HOLE IN GENERAL RELATIVITY" (Wikipedia). This work spurred a renaissance in a study of the physics of black holes. In this paper, Kruskal presents his "Kruskal coordinates" - an innovation that facilitated the mathematical study of the interior of black holes. Krukal's methodology allows the solutions of the equations of general relativity to be singular at the center of a black hole but finite in other parts -- including the event horizon. Kruskal's created a "very complete space-time diagram which allows us to represent on a plane the central regions of the Schwarzschild black hole" (Luminet, Black Holes, 168). Problematically, the Schwarzchild solution had only been able to describe "the region exterior to the horizon of the black hole" (Wikipedia). Kruskal's introduction of "a single set of coordinates that… Read More

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950. Third Edition. 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,… Read More

FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST DISCOVERY OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVES IN THE BINARY PULSAR - the gravitational waves Einstein predicted in his 1916 theory of general relativity. This is the first proof that "radiation leaves the system of a binary pulsar at exactly the speed of light and as gravitational waves" (Spotts, Einstein Verified, CSM, 11 Feb, 2016). While the discovery was considered indirect, it is also regarded as "the first proof [of] the existence of gravitational waves" or, put another way, the first proof that "radiation leaves the system of a binary pulsar at exactly the speed of light and as gravitational waves" (van Haasteren, Gravitational Wave Detection, 8; Spotts, Einstein Verified, CSM, 11 Feb, 2016). The Nobel Prize in Physics 1993 was awarded jointly to Russell A. Hulse and Joseph H. Taylor Jr. "for the discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation" (Nobel Prize Committee). "Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime… Read More

American Institute of Physics, 1939. 1st Edition. ORIGINAL WRAPS, NEAR FINE CONDITION. 1st EDITION OF TWO (within a single journal issue) SEMINAL PAPERS IN THE HISTORY OF PHYSICS, one by Bohr & Wheeler and one by Oppenheimer & Snyder. 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… Read More

Zurich: Europa Verlag, 1953. First published in 1934, this volume was published in 1953 and is bound in handsome white linen boards gilt-lettered on the front board and at the spine. It is a collection gleaned from Einstein's speeches and letters across a wide span of his career. The subjects are as varied as science, life, Jadaism, pacifism, and politics. Not ex-libris. 275pp. Tightly and solidly bound. Bright, very clean inside and out. Near fine condition.

London: Royal Society, 1858. 1st Edition. Handsomely bound FIRST EDITION, FULL VOLUME INCLUSIVE OF MANY IMPORTANT PAPERS & 71 PLATES. Included are Cayley's paper on matrices marks "an epoch in the development of the subject" (Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics, 476). Gassiot's paper "was particularly important in the demise of the contact theory of voltaic electricity" and is widely held to contain the roots of early television (Wiki; Shiers, Early TV). Two papers by the distinguished paleontologist Richard Owen (with a total of 8 plates). As well, there are 5 more papers by Cayley; several by Tyndall including one on ice; Matthiessen on metals (including his ‘rule'), work for which he would later win the Royal Medal. There are others by Plücker, Lister, Lyell, and others. CAYLEY: Cayley's memoir on matrices "the first paper on matrix algebra" (Higham, Cayley, Sylvester, and Early Matrix Theory, 2007). His "researches on matrices and non-commutative algebras mark an epoch in the… Read More

London: The Royal Society, 1841. 1st Edition. Full volume 1st editions of 3 important papers, MANTELL'S 2nd MAJOR PAPER ON THE IGUANODON; BOWMAN'S's CLASSIC PAPER ON THE PHYSIOLOGY OF MUSCLES; & ONE OF A NUMBER OF LUKE HOWARD'S PAPERS "WHICH TRANSFORMED THE SCIENCE OF METEOROLOGY" (Wikipedia). MANTELL'S PAPER: Gideon Mantell "is best known for his discovery of the first dinosaur ever to be described properly - a momentous event" (Dictionary of Scientific Biography, IX, 87). Mantell published three major papers on his Iguanodon, the first in 1825, the 1941 paper offered here, and the last, the 1848 paper inclusive of the most complete description. In 1822, Mantell discovered the teeth of a giant reptile in West Sussex. "In 1825 he was shown teeth of the modern lizard iguana, and he saw that his fossil teeth were similar but much larger. That same year, Mantell announced, described, and named his discovery in the first of the 3 papers. It was eventually pointed out that the teeth resembled those of… Read More

Lynn, MA: Thos. P. Nichols & Son Co, 1915. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, OFFPRINT IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS OF VOLUME I OF LOWELL'S PREDICTION OF THE EXISTENCE OF A PLANET BEYOND THE ORBIT OF NEPTUNE, here also calculating its probable position. 9 plates are included. Lowell's 1903 hunch about the existence of a ninth planet led him, in 1905, to organize his observatory staff and task them with carrying out a systematic search for "a planet out there as yet unseen by man" (Lowell, Lowell Observatory, The Story of Pluto). Eleven years later, the product of that work was the mathematical, observational, and photographic studies he then published in 1915 - the work offered here -- Memoir on a Trans-Neptunian Planet.' While Lowell died the following year, his work survived his death and "culminated in 1930 with the discovery of Pluto at Lowell Observatory by Clyde W. Tombaugh" (Schindler, Pluto and Lowell Observatory). "The first phase of Percival Lowell's hunt for Planet X ran from 1905 to 1909 . Lowell… Read More

Paris: Hotel de Thou, rue des Poitevins, 1780. LAVOISIER'S OFFICIAL EASTER MEMOIR ON THE COMPOSITION OF AIR. THIS IS THE 1780 edition. WE OFFER THE 1st 1778 EDITION SEPARATELY. In this work, Lavoisier proposed that ordinary air is composed of two different gases, one "highly respirable" (that he named "oxygen") and the other (later named nitrogen) that was unable to support combustion or respiration. This work is commonly referred to as Lavoisier's "Easter Memoir" because he presented an earlier version to the Academy around Easter of 1775; as this is the 1778 revised version, historians regard it as Lavoisier's "official" Easter Memoir (Wikipedia). In April, 1778, "Lavoisier read for a second time the memoir in which he had originally demonstrated, in April 1775, that mercury precipitate reduced without charcoal disengages not fixed air, but the ‘air itself entire', or ‘the purest portion of the air'. He made some revisions in the text that have attracted widespread attention from… Read More

Paris: De l'Imprimerie Royale, 1778. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, LAVOISIER'S OFFICIAL EASTER MEMOIR ON THE COMPOSITION OF AIR. In this work, Lavoisier proposed that ordinary air is composed of two different gases, one "highly respirable" (that he named "oxygen") and the other (later named nitrogen) that was unable to support combustion or respiration. This work is commonly referred to as Lavoisier's "Easter Memoir" because he presented an earlier version to the Academy around Easter of 1775; as this is the 1778 revised version, historians regard it as Lavoisier's "official" Easter Memoir (Wikipedia). We offer the 1780 edition separately. In April, 1778, "Lavoisier read for a second time the memoir in which he had originally demonstrated, in April 1775, that mercury precipitate reduced without charcoal disengages not fixed air, but the ‘air itself entire', or ‘the purest portion of the air'. He made some revisions in the text that have attracted widespread attention from historians" (Holmes,… Read More

Paris: Victor Masson, 1862. 1st Edition. 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… Read More