Search Results: Titles starting with U from Atticus Rare Books

Berlin: Druck und Verlag von G. Reimer. 1st Edition. Two volumes (1845 & 1847) FIRST EDITION OF HELMHOLTZ'S FIRST STATEMENT OF HIS ‘CONSERVATION OF FORCE,' predating by two years his famous 1847 work "Uber die Erhaltung der Kraft" (Garber, The Language of Physics, 293). We offer just the 1847, published in 1850 paper separately. In the first paper offered here, an 1845 review paper on theories of physiological heat, Helmholtz notes that "‘if we substitute the motion theory of heat for the material theory of heat, we see heat as originating from mechanical force.' From this it followed that chemical electrical, and mechanical force were equivalent, and [he] cited some of the experimental evidence he would use in his 1847 paper to demonstrate this" (Garber). Helmholtz would later note that these 1845 findings - his first statements on the subject - really belonged in his 1847 work. The second paper offered here is Helmholtz's own summary of his famous 1847 paper. "Throughout the 1840s Helmholtz… Read More

Braunschweig: Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, 1914. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, FULL VOLUME, OF THE FRANCK-HERTZ EXPERIMENT: THE FIRST ELECTRICAL MEASUREMENT TO CLEARLY SHOW THE QUANTUM NATURE OF ATOMS - PROOF OF THE QUANTIZED MODEL OF THE BOHR ATOM & OF PLANCK'S QUANTUM THEORY. Note that this volume includes both the first and second Franck-Hertz experiment. In the first they demonstrate that atoms can only absorb and be excited by specific amounts of energy; in the second experiment performed the same year, they demonstrate that the frequency of the light emitted following the collision of electrons with mercury atoms corresponds precisely with the energy lost by the electrons in the collision. Franck and Hertz received the Nobel Prize for this work, specifically, "for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom" (Nobel Prize Committee). Of equal import, this volume also contains a paper by Einstein in which he uses the light quantum hypothesis to give new derivations of… Read More

Berlin: Julius Springer, 1926. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, FULL VOLUME, COMPLETE WITH 3 IMPORTANT PAPERS. THE FIRST, PAULI'S, IS THE 1st SIGNIFICANT APPLICATION OF & 1ST VALIDATION OF HEISENBERG'S NEW QUANTUM MECHANICS. Very good+. Upon publication, Max Born said Pauli's derivation of the hydrogen spectrum from the new quantum mechanics proved "there was no longer any doubt about the correctness of the theory among physicists" (Born, Physics in My Generation, p. 181). ALSO: Fermi's paper proposes Fermi-Dirac statistics, "a set of equations describing the distribution of energies of a system of identical particles (e.g., electrons) that obey the exclusion principle" (History of Physics, The Wenner Collection). ALSO: An early paper by Hund "marking his debut" in "[appealing] to molecular spectroscopy in order to introduce the concept of molecular orbital [theory] - an important step in the "genesis of the quantum theory of the chemical bond" (Gavroglou, Quantum Chemistry, 34; Advances in Historical… Read More

Berlin: Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1939. 1st Edition. NEAR FINE CONDITION FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPS OF THE OFFPRINT of the first of Hahn and Strassmann's "three fundamental papers on nuclear fission," work which, when confirmed, demonstrated the previously unknown phenomenon of nuclear fission (Dibner, Heralds of Science, 168). (NOTE: We separately offer another copy of this in very good -- somewhat faded -- condition). "Über das Zerplatzen" constitutes the "first comprehensive account of the phenomenon of nuclear fission. In 1938, the radiochemist, Otto Hahn and the nuclear chemist Fritz Strassmann demonstrated the presence of radioactive barium, lanthanum and cesium among the products of neutron bombardment of uranium-a phenomenon that seemed to contradict all previous experiences of nuclear physics" (Norman). This paper "indicated fission of the uranium nucleus into two parts of about equal size with the release of much energy [in fact a tremendous jump over the energy produced in all… Read More

Berlin: Julius Springer, 1925. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OF THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF PAULI'S EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE giving a criterion for the electronic structure of atoms, and explaining the periodic table and the combining properties of the elements. Specifically, the Pauli exclusion principle states that no two "fermions" (elementary particles with half-integer spin such as electrons, protons and neutrons) may occupy the same "quantum state" (i.e., the same unique set of the quantum numbers) within an atom. This is one of the most important principles in physics, because electrons occupy shells at increasing distance from the nucleus and there are limits to the number of electrons that may occupy a given shell (2n2 electrons in the nth shell). This gives an atom a physical size, and this underpins the stability of matter. The electron is now known to have four quantum numbers, three of which ("shell," "subshell" and "orbital") relate to the location of the electron within the atom and were known by… Read More

1910. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST PRINTED H-R DIAGRAM, probably the most important diagram in stellar astrophysics" (Evans, The Curious Astronomer, 2014). In the volume offered, the German physicist Hans Rosenberg published "The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (or H-R diagram) -- a scatter diagram showing the relationship between the "intrinsic luminosity" of stars (a measure of their energy output) and their temperatures (as indicated by their "spectral type" or color). The diagram presents stellar evolution—a star begins its life in one place on the chart and moves across the chart during its lifetime" (History of Physics: Wenner Collection). "The same type of diagram is still used today as a means of showing the stars in clusters without having to initially know their distance and luminosity" (Wikipedia). CONDITION & DETAILS: Complete. Includes volumes 181-186. 4to. Tightly bound in red cloth and calf, scuffed at the edges. Ex-libris with very minimal markings, and none at the spine.… Read More

Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth. 1st Edition. FIVE PAPERS BY HEINRICH HERTZ, TOGETHER PROVING THAT LIGHT AND ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES ARE THE SAME. Completing Hertz's demonstration of the validity of Maxwell's theory, Hertz "demonstrates that electromagnetic waves propagate, reflect, interfere and polarize just like light waves" (History of Physics: The Wenner Collection). Two volumes. The papers "report a series of 'more qualitative experiments carried out by Hertz in 1888 on the analogy between electricity and light waves' (Dictionary of Scientific Biography, VI, 346), in which he showed that electromagnetic waves are longer than light, but like light can be refracted, reflected, and polarized" (Norman sale catalogue 1124). "This discovery and its demonstration led directly to radio communication, television, and radar" (Dibner 71). In these papers, Hertz details his experiments showing "that the nature of [electromagnetic] reflection and refraction was the same as those of light, confirming that… Read More

Berlin: Julius Springer, 1935. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, FULL VOLUME, OF THE PREISACH MODEL OF HYSTERESIS; BOUND WITH VOLKOV'S "EXACT SOLUTION TO THE DIRAC EQUATION FOR AN OTHERWISE FREE ELECTRON INTERACTING WITH AN ELECTROMAGNETIC PLANE WAVE" (Guo, Exact Wave Functions, 39). The origin of the Preisach model can be traced to this "landmark paper" (Mayergoyz, Mathematical Models of Hysteresis, 1). The Preisach model is a well-known hysteresis identification method in which the hysteresis is modeled by linear combination of hysteresis operators. First introduced by Ferenc (Franz) Preisach in this paper, the widely accepted Preisach model of hysteresis "generalizes hysteresis loops as the parallel connection of independent relay hysterons" [a two-valued operator used to model hysteresis] (Wikipedia) Hysteresis is a form of non-linearity with memory, an example being a magnet that may "have more than one possible magnetic moment in a given magnetic field, depending on how the field changed in… Read More

Leipzig: Amberosius Barth, 1852. First Edition. FIRST EDITION of the paper in which Hermann Helmholtz (1821-1894) laid the foundation for our modern understanding of color vision. This work had a profound impact on the fields of optics, physiology, and psychology. Helmholtz's contributions to the theory of compound colors were instrumental in shaping subsequent research on color perception and the physiology of the visual system. "Our modern understanding of color began with a set of experiments by Isaac Newton. In these experiments he used a prism to separate light into its component colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Prior to Newton, people thought that color was a mixture of light and darkness, and prisms colored light. Newton demonstrated that light alone was responsible for color and that white light consisted of many colors" (Wenner, History of Physics, 98). Not limiting his interest to light alone, Helmholtz was also interested in "the physics of pigments as well as light"… Read More

Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1874. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, BOUND FULL VOLUME, OF THE FIRST WRITTEN DESCRIPTION OF A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE, A DIODE RECTIFIER; Braun's discovery of the semiconductor point-conduct rectifier effect. In this 1874 paper, "Braun observed that an electric current flows freely in only one direction at the contact between a metal point and a galena (lead sulfide) crystal. He later went on to use this device as an early ‘crystal radio' receiver (History of Physics: The Wenner Collection). Information on the Boltzmann paper appears at the end. "A semiconductor is a material that behaves like both a conductor and an insulator. The electrical conductivity of a semiconductor can be modified by adding small quantities of other elements (called "doping"), leading to an array of electrical characteristics that have made possible the development of modern electronics" (Wenner). "German physicist Ferdinand Braun, a 24-year old graduate of the University of Berlin, studied… Read More

Berlin: Julius Springer. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE OF TWO SEMINAL PAPERS: Heisenberg's groundbreaking contribution to magnetism and to the identification of the quantum mechanical exchange energy. A third paper of import appears in the 1928 volume, Jacov Frankel's collectivized model of the quantum theory of ferromagnetism. Heisenberg's model appears in the same volume, was submitted after Frenkel's, and presents the model of localized spins. "Heisenberg's masterly contribution in magnetism lies in identifying the quantum mechanical exchange energy, first appearing in the context of chemical bonding and spectroscopy, to be of central importance in explaining ferromagnetism... The question was this: If every atom has an outer cloud of electrons, then how do atoms approach each other to form a chemical bond? It was Heisenberg who showed that the interaction between electrons, called the exchange energy," was the key (ibid., 60). His "exchange interaction" is a force generated solely by… Read More

Berlin: Vieweg und Springer, 1924. 1st Edition. BOUND FIRST EDITION OF FERMI'S "VERY BEAUTIFUL & SUGGESTIVE" PAPER ON THE IMPACT BETWEEN ELECTRICALLY CHARGED PARTICLES & ATOMS (Bohr Quote, Stolzenburg, Emergence of Quantum Mechanics, 71). ALSO FIRST EDITION OF WENTZEL'S QUANTUM THEORETICAL TREATMENT OF DISPERSION. Volume bears the ownership stamp of Friedrich Hermann Hund, a physicist well-known for his work on atoms and molecules. "In statistical mechanics [Fermi] had written subtle papers on the ergodic hypothesis and on quantum theory. [In this paper] he developed an original form of analyzing collisions of charged particles" (History of Science: The Wenner Collection). Here Fermi "attempted to explain the retardation of swiftly moving particles by resolving the electric field of the charged particles into its harmonics, then comparing it with a radiation field having a suitable frequence distribution" (Stolzenburg). As Bohr understood it, Fermi wanted "to develop a theory of the stopping of… Read More

Berlin: Julius Springer. 1st Edition. 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… Read More

Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1887. 1st Edition. BOUND FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING OF HERTZ'S FIRST THREE PAPERS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES, THE DISCOVERY OF THE PRODUCTION BY ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE OF WAVES WHICH HAVE THE PROPERTY OF VERY LONG WAVES" - THE FOUNDATION OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION (H.M. Evans). Complete volume. Here Hertz demonstrates what Maxwell had predicted - that electromagnetic waves radiated in space with the speed of light. It was the first conclusive proof of the existence of electromagnetic waves theorized by Maxwell's electromagnetic theory of light. Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894) was a German physicist. When he first "entered physics in the 1870's, electrodynamics was in a disorganized state. Theories had multiplied in its fifty years of development, and each had its own following. To encourage. the experimental decision between electrodynamic theories Helmholtz proposed through the Berlin Academy of Sciences in 1879 a second prize problem, this one in connection with the… Read More

Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1834. 1st Edition. BOUND FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST APPEARANCE & FORMULATION OF LENZ'S 1833 LAW, stating that "The direction of current induced in a conductor by a changing magnetic field due to Faraday's law of induction will be such that it will create a field that opposes the change that produced it" (Lenz). Obeying both Newton's third law of motion and the conservation of energy, Lenz's law explains the physical meaning of the negative sign in Faraday's law. It was "the first explanation of the choice of sign in Faraday's law of induction and served as the basis for Helmholtz's proof of the law of conservation of energy for electromagnetic phenomena" (History of Physics: The Wenner Collection). At the beginning of the nineteenth century scientists were beginning to understand electricity and magnetism, but did not understand the relationships between the two. In this paper, Russian physicist Heinrich Friedrich Emil Lenz (1804-1865) took one of the first steps… Read More

Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1869. 1st Edition. FIRST GERMAN EDITION OF MENDELÉEV'S DOCTORAL DISSERTATION "O soedineni spirta s vodoyu" from 1865. On the basis of his successful defense of his study of the interaction between alcohol and water and the densities of their combination, Mendeleev achieved tenure at St. Petersburg University in 1867 and became a full professor of technical chemistry. Two years later, Mendeleev formulated the periodic table of elements. He was the first chemist to understand that all elements are related members of a single ordered system. He converted what had hitherto been a highly fragmented and speculative branch of chemistry into a true, logical science. Working during the early 1860s, Mendeleev began to further develop concepts he had been considering since the mid 1850s, concepts ultimately expressed in his thesis. As he furthered his study of solutions, Mendeleev "gave the term ‘indefinite compounds' to substances that had constant physical properties, but… Read More

Leipzig: Barth-Verlag, 1898. 1st Edition. IN RARE ORIGINAL WRAPS, THE 1898 FIRST COMPLETE EDITION OF RONTGEN'S ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE X-RAY, INCLUSIVE OF ALL 3 PAPERS and housed in a custom cloth box. For this work, Rontgen was awarded the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. "Their importance in surgery, medicine, and metallurgy is well known. Incomparably the most important part of Rontgen's experiments, however, is his discovery of matter in a new form, which has completely revolutionized the study of chemistry and physics" (Printing and the Mind of Man, 380). "Herald[ing] the age of modern physics and revolutionized diagnostic medicine", the importance of Rontgen's discovery was quickly understood (Curley, The 100 Most Influential Inventors of All Time, Britannica Guide,128). Laue and the Braggs would go on to use X-rays to show us the atomic structure of crystals. Mosely used them to reconstruct the periodic table of the elements. Becquerel was directly inspired by Rontgen's… Read More

Minneapolis: American Physical Society, 1929. 1st Edition. BOUND FULL VOLUME, 1st ed. OF ROBERTSON'S SEMINAL MODIFICATION OF THE HEISENBERG UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE. The Heisenberg relations were quickly taken up, discussed, and sought to be extended or modified by many physicists, including Schrodinger, Condon, and Robertson. Robertson, a Princeton physicist better known for his work in cosmology, in 1929 (in this paper) proved a more general version of the uncertainty relation, valid for any pair of conjugate variables, not just position and momentum (Kragh, Quantum Generations, p. 208. It is one of the most important and commonly used general form of the uncertainty principle and is known as "the Robertson uncertainty relation" (Wikipedia). Separately we offer this in its original wraps. Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is, at its core, the principle that the momentum and position of a particle cannot both be precisely determined at the same time. It stands at the heart of quantum… Read More

New York: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1996. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPS OF THE FIRST PROOF "THAT UNIVERSAL COMPUTERS CAN BE BUILT FROM QUANTUM MECHANICAL SYSTEMS" (Stolz, Quantum Computing, 129). In 1982 Feynman conjectured that quantum computers can be programmed to simulate any local quantum system. In this paper, Seth Lloyd proves that Feynman was correct. He "prove[s] that a universal quantum simulator is possible by showing that a quantum computer can be programmed to simulate any local quantum system efficiently" (History of Science: The Wenner Collection; Wikipedia). "Quantum computing studies theoretical computation systems (quantum computers) that make direct use of quantum-mechanical phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform operations on data" (Gershenfeld, "Quantum Computing with Molecules" in Scientific American, June 1988). "Quantum computers are different from binary digital electronic computers based on transistors.… Read More

Berlin: Julius Springer. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OF THE 2nd of a series of papers "IN WHICH [KOPFERMANN AND LADENBURG] PRESENTED THE FIRST EVIDENCE OF ‘NEGATIVE DISPERSION,' WHAT PHYSICISTS NOW CALL STIMULATED EMISSION" (James, 100 Years at the Intersection of Chemistry and Physics 86). "Some historians of science have even argued that with just a bit more luck Ladenburg and Kopfermann might have observed the first laser pulse" (James, 86). That might seem hyperbole. It isn't. To understand just how close the work in the papers offered here brought Ladenburg and Kopfermann: "One of the most important concepts necessary in understanding laser operation is the fact that quantization of energy in the atom results in discrete energy levels. In addition, transitions from one energy level to another must be possible in order for light emission to occur, and these transitions include both spontaneous and stimulated emission" (Parry-Hill et al, Spontaneous and Stimulated Process). The Ladenburg and… Read More