‎Physique‎

‎"D'AUBUISSON DE VOISINS, (J.F.).‎

‎Traité Hydraulique, a L'Usage des Ingenieurs.‎

‎Paris, F.G. Levrault, 1834. Contemp. hcalf, gilt spine. Very slightly rubbed. A small crack to hinge at lower compartment. XII,,564,(2) pp. and 4 large folded engraved plates. Some scattered brownspots, mainly to first and last leaves.‎

‎"DAVISSON, C. [CLINTON] & L. H. GERMER [LESTER].‎

‎Diffraction of Electrons by a Crystal of Nickel.‎

‎Minneapolis, The Collegiate Press, 1927. 4to. As extracted from ""The Physical Review, Volume 30, Second Series, July-December, 1927"". Title-page detached, with vague library stamp to top right corner. A fine and clean copy. (2), 704-740 pp.‎

‎First printing of Davisson and Germer's paper in which they present some additional discoveries not published in their groundbreaking paper ""The Scattering of Electrons by a Single Crystal of Nickel"" published the same year. This led directly to Davisson receiving the Nobel Prize in physics in 1937. It advanced understanding of physics at the quantum level and led to inventions such as the electron microscope.""Davisson and Germer submitted their results to Nature in early March and their paper was published on 16 April. It contains a detailed comparison between their replcted beams and those that would be produced by illuminationg the crystal with X-rays. There were thirteen reflected beams in all, of which ten corresponded to those seen in X-ray diffraction"". (Gerwin, A Century of Nature, 28 p.) They could not account for the last three wave and this was not published in their first paper. ""The remaining three peaks for which Davisson and Germer could not find any correspondence with X-ray data were later identified as being due to diffraction from atoms absorb ed on the surfaces of the target crystal."" (Ibid.). This information was published in the present paper. ""Davisson's investigations on the scattering of electrons entered a new phase when, in April 1925, his taget was heavily oxidized by an accidental explosion of a liquid-air bottle. He cleaned the target by prolonged heating and then found the distribution-inangle of the secondary electrons completely changed, new showing a strong dependence on crystal direction. Prior to the accident the target had consisted of many tiny crystals, but heating converted it to several large crystals. Davisson and L. H. Germer, who had replaced Kunsman before the accident, at once began bombarding targets of single crystals. [...] When Davisson returned from England, he and Germer began a systematic research for some sort of interference phenomenon, and in January 1927 they observed electron beams resulting from diffraction by a single crystal of nickle. The results were in good agreement with de Broglie's prediction. For his confirmation of electron waves Davisson shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1937 with G. P. Thomson."" (DSB, III, 597b-598a).Davisson and Germer's confirmation of the de Broglie hypothesis if today known as the Davisson-Germer experiment.‎

Référence libraire : 45781

‎"DAVISSON, C. J.‎

‎Electrons and Quanta. - [THE DISCVERY OF ELECTRON DIFFRACTION]‎

‎New York, American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1929. Lex8vo. Volume VIII, April, No. 1, 1929 of ""The Bell System Technical Journal"". In the original printed blue wrappers. Even soiling to spine and back wrapper. Internally fine and clean. Pp. 217-224. [Entire issue: Pp. 217-434].‎

‎First edition of Davisson's paper on electrons and quanta. Together with George Paget Thomson he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1937 for his discovery of electron diffraction.""The experiments by the author and L. H. Germer, by G. P. Thomson and by others from which the wave properties of electrons are adduced are briefly described. The agreement between the results of these experiments and the prediction of L. de Broglie is pointed out. The wave and corpuscular properties of electrons are compared with the similar properties of light quanta."" (From the introduction to the present paper).Other papers contained in the present issue:1. Williams, R.R." Murphy, E.J.The Predominating Influence of Moisture and Electrolytic Material Upon Textiles as Insulators. Pp. 225-242.2. Glenn, H.H. Wood, E.B. Purified Textile Insulation for Telephone Central Office Wiring. Pp. 243-256.3. Townsend, J.R.Telephone Apparatus Springs: A Review of the Principal Types and the Properties Desired of These Springs. Pp. 257-266.4. Herman, J.Effect of Signal Distortion on Morse Telegraph Transmission Quality. Pp. 267-285.5. Johnson, J.B.A Braun Tube Hysteresigraph. Pp. 286-308.6. Bailey, Austin Dean, S.W. Wintringham, W.T.The Receiving System for Long-Wave Transatlantic Radio Telephony. Pp. 309-367.7. Marrison, W.A.Oscillographs for Recording Transient Phenomena. Pp. 368-390.8. Darrow, Karl K.Contemporary Advances in Physics, XVIII, The Diffraction of Waves by Crystals. Pp. 391-428.‎

Référence libraire : 43341

‎"DANIELL, J. FREDERIC.‎

‎Fifth Letter on Voltaic Combinations, with some Account of the Effects of a large Constant Battery. Addressed to Michael Faraday. Received April 11, Read May 30, 1839.‎

‎(London, Richard and John E. Taylor, 1839). 4to. No wrappers as extracted from ""Philosophical Transactions"" 1839 - Part I. Pp. 89-95. Clean and fine.‎

‎First printing of an importent paper in which Daniell further records his experiments with his invention the ""Daniell Cell"" from 1836. ""The use of such cells, often coupled together in long chains to give a large electromotive force, gave great impetus to research in all branches of current electricity and also lead to commercial applications in gilding, electroplating, and glyphography.""(DSB III, p. 557)In 1831 Daniell was appointed proffesor of Chemistry at King's College London. He invented several scientific instruments, including a hygrometer for measuring humidity he is best known for his work in electrochemistry, his interests having been aroused by the work of his good friend faraday. Volta's battery had the defect of rapid diminution in current. What was needed, however, was a battery yielding a constant current over a considerable lenght of time. In 1836 Daniell succeeded, producing the Daniell cell, of copper and zinc. his was the first reliable source of electric current.‎

Référence libraire : 42806

‎"DANBY, G. & J-M. GAILLARD & K. GOULIANOS & L. M. LEDERMAN & N. MISTRY & M. SCHWARTZ & J. STEINBERGER.‎

‎Obervation of High-Energy Neutrino Reactions and the Existence of Two Kinds of Neutrino. - [THE DISCOVERY OF THE MUON NEUTRINO]‎

‎(New York), American physical Society, 1962. Lex8vo. Volume 9, No. 1, July 1, 1962 of ""Physical Review Letters"", In the original printed blue wrappers. A very nice and clean copy externally as well as internally, near mint. Pp. 36-44. [Entire issue: (2), 46 pp].‎

‎First edition of this seminal paper in which the discovery of the muon neutrino was first announced. The muon neutrino is the second of the three neutrinos and it forms the second generation of leptons. Jack Steinberger, Leon Lederman and Melvin Schwartz were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in the year 1988, ""for the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino"". In 1934 Enrico Fermi had solved the major problem of beta decay: How do electrons come out of the nucleus if there are non to begin with? Pauli had named his proposed light particle a neutron. James Chadwick had named his much more massive nuclear particle a neutron as well which left the two particles with the same name. Fermi therefore, to solve the confusion, coined the term neutrino (Italian diminutive of neutron). Speculations in the early 1940ies were centered on whether it would be possible to find even smaller parts of an atom. ""The experiment used a beam of the AGS's energetic protons to produce a shower of pi mesons, which traveled 70 feet toward a 5,000-ton steel wall made of old battleship plates. On the way, they decayed into muons and neutrinos, but only the latter particles could pass through the wall into a neon-filled detector called a spark chamber. There, the impact of neutrinos on aluminum plates produced muon spark trails that could be detected and photographed -- proving the existence of muon-neutrinos. The experiment's use of the first-ever neutrino beam paved the way for scientists to use these particles in research at the AGS and around the world.""(Nobel Prize, Brookhaven National Laboratory) ""Following the discovery of a second neutrino associated with the muon - the Muon neutrino - at Brookhaven in 1962 by L. Lederman, M. Schwartz, J. Steinberger, and collaborators, a new neutrino program was started in CERN in 1963. Using a spark chamber set-up and a heavy liquid bubble chamber exposed to the new high quality neutrino beam the discovery was confirmed with high statistics"". (Krige, John. History of CERN, 1996, p. 433).‎

Référence libraire : 43437

‎"DANIELL, J. FREDERIC. - THE INVENTION OF THE DANIELL-CELL.‎

‎On Voltaic Combinations. In a Letter addressed to Michael Faraday. Received January 26, - Read February 11, 1836. (+) Additional Observations on Voltaic Combinations. In a Letter to Michael Faraday. Received April 14, - Read April 21, 1836. (2 Papers).‎

‎London, Richard Taylor, 1836. 4to. No wrappers as extracted from ""Philosophical Transactions"" 1836 - Part I. Pp.107-124 and 1 engraved plate. + Pp. 125-129 and 1 engraved plate. Both plates with a dampstain in upper part, not reaching the image. With titlepage to Part I of theTransacti‎

‎First appearance of Daniell's first paper on the construction of the famous ""Daniell-Cell"", in which he announced his invention of the battery, THE FIRST RELIABLE SOURCE OF AN ELECTRIC CURRENT. In the new invention by Charles Wheatstone of the electric telegraph in 1837, the Daniell cell was used as the electric source.In 1831 Daniell was appointed profesor of Chemistry at King's College London. He invented several scientific instruments, including a hygrometer for measuring humidity he is best known for his work in electrochemistry, his interests having been aroused by the work of his good friend Faraday. Volta's battery had the defect of rapid diminution in current. What was needed, however, was a battery yielding a constant current over a considerable lenght of time. In 1836 Daniell succeeded, producing the Daniell cell, of copper and zinc. his was the first reliable source of electric current.Parkinson ""Breakthroughs"" 1836 P.‎

Référence libraire : 43372

‎"DAVISSON, C. [CLINTON] & L. H. GERMER [LESTER].‎

‎The Scattering of Electrons by a Single Crystal of Nickel. - [ELECTRON DIFFRACTION - NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS 1937.]‎

‎London, Macmillian and Co, 1927. Royal8vo. Bound in a nice black full cloth with title, year and exlibris (Grosvenor Library) in gilt on spine. The entire volume 119, 1927, of ""Nature"" offered. Pasted library stamp to pasted down free front end-paper. Binding tight, clean and externally as well as internally. Pp. 558-560. [Entire volume: LIX, (1), 948, 100].‎

‎First edition of this seminal and highly influential paper on electron diffraction. Today the paper is regarded as one of the most important in the entire journal of Nature, and it led directly to Davisson receiving the Nobel Prize in physics in 1937. It advanced understanding of physics at the quantum level and led to inventions such as the electron microscope. Davisson and Germer's confirmation of the de Broglie hypothesis if today known as the Davisson-Germer experiment.""Davisson's investigations on the scattering of electrons entered a new phase when, in April 1925, his taget was heavily oxidized by an accidental explosion of a liquid-air bottle. He cleaned the target by prolonged heating and then found the distribution-inangle of the secondary electrons completely changed, new showing a strong dependence on crystal direction. Prior to the accident the target had consisted of many tiny crystals, but heating converted it to several large crystals. Davisson and L. H. Germer, who had replaced Kunsman before the accident, at once began bombarding targets of single crystals. [...] When Davisson returned from England, he and Germer began a systematic research for some sort of interference phenomenon, and in January 1927 they observed electron beams resulting from diffraction by a single crystal of nickle. The results were in good agreement with de Broglie's prediction. For his confirmation of electron waves Davisson shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1937 with G. P. Thomson."" (DSB, III, 597b-598a).‎

Référence libraire : 43032

‎"DALTON, JOHN.‎

‎Versuche über Wärme Kälte, die bei mechanischer Verdichtung und Verdünnung der Luft entstehen. (+) Ueber die Kraft der Flüssigkeiten, Wärme zu leiten, in Beziehung auf des Grafen vonRumford siebenten Essay. (+) Ueber den absoluten Nullpunkt der Wärme ...‎

‎Halle, Rengerschen Buchhandlung, 1803. Contemp. hcalf., Raised bands, gilt spine. Slightly rubbed. ""Annalen der Physik. Herausgegeben von Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert"", Bd. 14. (8),512 pp. and 5 engraved plates. Small stamps on verso of titlepage and verso of plates. (Entire volume offered). Titlepage slightly brownspotted. A few scatterd brownspots. Dalton's papers: pp. 101-111, pp. 184-198, pp. 287-292 a. pp. 293-96.‎

‎First appearance in German of 4 importent early papers by Dalton (issued in English 1799, 1800 a.1803) - dealing with heat circulation (criticizing Rumford) and with air, its relations to temperature and pressures, announcing the importent observation, that the temperature of air compressed to one-half its volume is raised to 50 degrees Fahrenhait. ""Three papers that Dalton read to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in 1799 and 1800 (in which year he became the Society's secretary) show how much the question of water vapor continued to exercise him. In the first paper he discusse the balance in nature between rain, dew, river-water runoff, and evaporation. In the course of this discussion, he provided the earliest definition of the dew point. Then followed two competent, but more pedestrian, papers on heat, in which his firm belief in a fluid of heat is well-displayed and his complete acceptance of the particular caloric theory of William Irvine an Adair Crawford is apparent.""(DSB III, p.541). - Smyth No. 27, 28 a. 31 (German version).The volume contains otrher notable papers by Olbers ""Ueber die vom Himmel gefallnen Steinen"", Thomas Thomson (2 papers on the subject of ""heat of fluids""), Alex. Volta, Faujas-Saint-Fond etc.‎

Référence libraire : 43642

‎"DALTON, JOHN.‎

‎(5 Memoirs:). 1. Ueber die Ausdehnung der expansibeln Flüssigkeiten durch Wärme. - 2. Eine neue Theorie über die Beschaffenheit gemischter luftförmiger Flüssigkeiten, besonders der atmosphärischen Luft. - 3. Weitere Erörterung einer neuen Theorie über... - [METEOROLOGY CONSTITUTED AS A SCIENCE AND THE GAS-LAWS FORMULATED]‎

‎Halle, Rengerschen Buchhandlung, 1803. Small 8vo. Without wrappers as extracted from ""Annalen der Physik. Herausgegeben von Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert"", Bd. 12, 13 u. 15. Pp. 310-318 a. pp. 385-95 (Bd. 12) - pp. 438-45 (Bd. 13) - pp. 1-24 a. pp. 121-43.. With the 3 titlepages to the 3 volumes. Stamp on titles. Some scattered brownspots.‎

‎"DALTON, JOHN.‎

‎Versuche über Wärme Kälte, die bei mechanischer Verdichtung und Verdünnung der Luft entstehen. (+) Ueber die Kraft der Flüssigkeiten, Wärme zu leiten, in Beziehung auf des Grafen vonRumford siebenten Essay. (+) Ueber den absoluten Nullpunkt der Wärme ...‎

‎Halle, Rengerschen Buchhandlung, 1803. Contemp. hcalf., Raised bands, gilt spine. Slightly rubbed. ""Annalen der Physik. Herausgegeben von Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert"", Bd. 14. (8),512 pp. and 5 engraved plates. Small stamps on verso of titlepage and verso of plates. (Entire volume offered). Titlepage slightly brownspotted. A few scatterd brownspots. Dalton's papers: pp. 101-111, pp. 184-198, pp. 287-292 a. pp. 293-96.‎

‎"DALTON, JOHN. - THE REBIRTH OF THE ATOMIC THEORY.‎

‎Ueber die Ausdehnung der expansibeln Flüssigkeiten durch Wärme. (+) Eine neue Theorie über die Beschaffenheit gemischter luftförmiger Flüssigkeiten, besonders der atmosphärischen Luft. (2 Papers).‎

‎Halle, Rengerschen Buchhandlung, 1803. Without wrappers as extracted from ""Annalen der Physik. Herausgegeben von Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert"", Bd. 12. Pp. 310-318 a. pp. 385-395.‎

‎"DANBY, G. & J-M. GAILLARD & K. GOULIANOS & L. M. LEDERMAN & N. MISTRY & M. SCHWARTZ & J. STEINBERGER.‎

‎Obervation of High-Energy Neutrino Reactions and the Existence of Two Kinds of Neutrino. - [THE DISCOVERY OF THE MUON NEUTRINO]‎

‎(New York), American physical Society, 1962. Lex8vo. Volume 9, No. 1, July 1, 1962 of ""Physical Review Letters"", In the original printed blue wrappers. A very nice and clean copy externally as well as internally, near mint. Pp. 36-44. [Entire issue: (2), 46 pp].‎

‎"DANIELL, J. FREDERIC.‎

‎On the Electrolysis of Secondary Compounds. In a Letter to Michael Faraday. Received May 15, - Read June 13, 1839. (+) Second Letter on the Electrolysis of Secondary Compounds, Addressed to Michael Faraday. Received April 30, - ead May 21, 1840. (2 Pa...‎

‎(London, Richard and John E. Taylor, 1839 a. 1840). 4to. No wrappers as extracted from ""Philosophical Transactions"" 1839 - Part I. Pp. 97-112. One textillustr. And !840 - Part I. Pp. 209-224.‎

‎"DARROW, KARL K.‎

‎Memorial to the Classical Statistics.‎

‎New York, American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1943. 8vo. In the original printed blue wrappers. In ""The Bell System Technical Journal"", Volume XXII, January, Number 1, 1943. Entire issue offered. Light miscolouring to spine. A fine fine and clean copy. Pp. 108-135. [Entire issue: 143 pp.].‎

‎"DARWIN, G.H.‎

‎Bakerian Lecture. - On Tidal Prediction. Received December 16, 1890 - Read January 29, 1891.‎

‎(London, Harrison and Sons, 1892). 4to. No wrappers as extracted from ""Philosophical Transactions"", 1891, Vol. 182 - Series A. Pp. 159-229. Clean and fine.‎

‎"DAVISSON, C. [CLINTON] & L. H. GERMER [LESTER].‎

‎Diffraction of Electrons by a Crystal of Nickel.‎

‎Minneapolis, The Collegiate Press, 1927. 4to. As extracted from ""The Physical Review, Volume 30, Second Series, July-December, 1927"". Title-page detached, with vague library stamp to top right corner. A fine and clean copy. (2), 704-740 pp.‎

‎"DAVISSON, C. J.‎

‎Electrons and Quanta. - [PHYSICS NOBEL PRIZE 1937.]‎

‎New York, American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1929. 8vo. Original full green cloth. Volume VIII, 1929 of The Bell System Technical Journal. Library stamp to front free end-paper and title page. Minor bumping to extremities. A nice and clean copy. Pp. 217-224. [Entire volume: (8), 861 pp.].‎

‎"DAVY, JOHN. - ANIMAL ELECTRICITY.‎

‎Observations on the Torpedo, with an account of some additional Experiments on its Electricity. Received May 15, - Read June 19, 1834.‎

‎(London, Richard Taylor, 1834) 4to. No wrappers as extracted from ""Philosophical Transactions"" 1834 - Part II. Pp. 531-550 and 3 lithogrpahed plates. Clean and fine.‎

‎"DEBYE, P. - THE DEBYE-FACTOR ANNOUNCED.‎

‎Interferenz von Röntgenstrahlen und Wärmebewegung.‎

‎Leipzig, Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1914. No wrappers. In: ""Annalen der Physik. Vierte Folge. Hrsg. von W. Wien und M. Planck."", Bd. 43. (Heft 1), No 1,1914. The entire issue offered. The block is punched in inner margins after cords.Titlepage to vol. 43. Small stamp at foot of titlepage. Pp. 1-168. Debye's paper: pp. 49-95.‎

‎First appearance of this importent paper in which Debye announced his discovery of the so-called Debye-factor, later extended by Ivar Waller (1924) and then named the Debye-Waller factor.""The Debye-Waller factor (DWF), named after Peter Debye and Ivar Waller, is used in condensed matter physics to describe the attenuation of x-ray scattering or coherent neutron scattering caused by thermal motion. It has also been called the B factor or the temperature factor. Often, ""Debye-Waller factor"" is used as a generic term that comprises the Lamb-Mössbauer factor of incoherent neutron scattering and Mössbauer spectroscopy.""""Within a year of the discovery of X-ray diffraction by crystals by von Laue and the Braggs in 1912. Debye published three papers proving that the thermal movement of the atom in the crystal affected the X-ray interferences. Here he was examining from a different point of view the atomic lattice treated in his specific heat work. Late in 1913 he sent in for publication a long paper (the paper offered) deriving a factor now called the Debye factor, which gave the decrease of intensity of the diffration spotss as a function of wavelenght, diffraction angle, and absolute temperature.""(DSB III, p. 619.‎

Référence libraire : 43816

‎"DEBYE, PETER. - THE DEBYE MODEL.‎

‎Zur Theorie der spezifischen Wärmen.‎

‎(Leipzig, Barth), 1912. No wrappers. In: ""Annalen der Phsyik"", 4th series, vol. 39, No. 14. Pp. 705-896 (entire issue offered). debye's paper: pp. 789-839. Clean and fine.‎

‎First edition""In his second outstanding paper (the offered item) Debye treated a solid as a system of vibrating atoms and modified Einstein's theory of specific heats, which had been only partially successful. He showed that the solid could be characterized by a complete spectrum of eigen-frequencies and that the specific heat of a monatomic solid was a universal function of the ratio theta/T, were theta is a tempature characteristic of the particular solid and T is the absolute tempature. Now commonly called the Debye temperature, theta could be calculated from the elastic constants of the solid. The Debye equation, involving the then recently developed quantum theory, gave agreement with observed specific heat values. Aside from a numerical factor, it differed from the Einstein equation in containg both the compressibility and and Poisson's ratio."" - Dictionary of Scientific Biography, volume 3, p.619.‎

Référence libraire : 49780

‎"DEBYE, P. - THE DEBYE-FACTOR ANNOUNCED.‎

‎Interferenz von Röntgenstrahlen und Wärmebewegung.‎

‎Leipzig, Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1914. No wrappers. In: ""Annalen der Physik. Vierte Folge. Hrsg. von W. Wien und M. Planck."", Bd. 43. (Heft 1), No 1,1914. The entire issue offered. The block is punched in inner margins after cords.Titlepage to vol. 43. Small stamp at foot of titlepage. Pp. 1-168. Debye's paper: pp. 49-95.‎

‎"DEBYE, PETER. - THE DEBYE-TEMPERATURE.‎

‎Zur Theorie der spezifischen Wärmen.‎

‎(Leipzig, Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1912). No wrappers. In ""Annalen der Physik"", IV Folge, Bd. 39, No 14.Pp. 705-1072, textillustr. (entire issue (""Heft 14 (No. 14) offered). Debye's paper: pp. 789-839. Clean and fine but inner margins punched, with holes after binding strings.‎

‎"DICKE, R. H. [ROBERT HENRY].‎

‎Effect of Collisions upon the Doppler Width of Spectral Lines. - [FIRST PUBLICATION OF THE DICKE EFFECT]‎

‎Lancaster, American Institute of Physics, 1953. Lex8vo. Volume 89, January 15, No. 2, 1953 of ""The Physical Review"", Second Series. Entire volume offered in the original blue wrappers with previous owner´s stamps to front wrapper. A fine and clean copy. Pp. 472-73. [Entire issue: Pp. 343-530].‎

‎First publication of Dicke's influential paper in which the ""Dicke Effect"" is presented for the first time.""He [Dicke] contributed also notably to the field of Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer by means of predicting the phenomenon called Dicke narrowing [The Dicke Effect](aka. Collision narrowing): When the mean free path of an atom is much smaller than the wavelength of one of its radiation transitions, the atom changes velocity and direction many times during the emission or absorption of a photon. This causes an averaging over different Doppler states and results in an atomic linewidth that is much narrower than the Doppler width."" (Basu, Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Astrophysics, 2007, p. 91.)‎

Référence libraire : 43834

‎"DIRAC, P. A. M.‎

‎Quantized Singularities in the Electromagnetic Field. - [PREDICTION OF ANTI-MATTER]‎

‎London, Harrison and Sons, 1931. Royal8vo. Bound in contemporary full blue cloth with gilt lettering to spine. In ""Proceedings of the Royal Society"", Series A, Vol. 132 & 133, 1933. A very fine and clean copy. [Dirac in Vol 133:] Pp. 61-72. [Entire volume: V(1), 703-706, 701, (1), XIV, 695, IX pp.]‎

‎First printing of Dirac's seminal paper in which he predict anti-matter. ""The prediction and subsequent discovery of the positron rank among the great triumphs of modern physics"". (Pais, The Genius of Science). After Dirac in 1928 had published his famous relativistic wave equation for the electron, he spent the following years working on an interpretation of the negative energy solutions of the equation. In 1930 he published his hole-theory and tried to identify the holes with protons. But, as pointed out by several others, the theory required that these counter particles to the electron must have the same mass as the electron, and also would annihilate into pure energy upon colliding with the electron. In 1931 (in this article) Dirac bit the bullet and postulated: ""A hole, if there is one, would be a new kind of particle, unknown to experimental physics ... We may call such a particle an anti-electron ... Theory at present is quite unable to suggest a reason why there should be any differences between electron and protons"". Thus, Dirac had predicted the existance of both the positron and antiproton. ""Dirac was one of the greatest theoretical physicists in the twentieth century. He is best known for his important and elegant contributions to the formulation of quantum mechanics" for his quantum theory of the emission and absorption of radiation, which inaugurated quantum electrodynamics for his relativistic equation of the electron" for his ""prediction"" of the positron and of antimatter"" and for his ""large number hypothesis"" in cosmology. Not only his results but also his methods influenced the way much of theoretical physics is done today, extending or improving the mathematical formalism before looking for its systematic interpretation."" (DSB).In 1932 C. D. Anderson produced positrons in cloud chambers exposed to radiation. Antiprotons were observed in 1954 by E. G. Segrè and O. Chanberlain.‎

Référence libraire : 46940

‎"DIRAC, P.A.M. (PAUL ADRIEN MAURICE). - THE RADIATION THEORY, THE BIRTH OF QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS‎

‎The Quantum Theory of Emission and Absorption of Radiation. (+) The Quantum Theory of Dispersion. (2 Papers).‎

‎London, Harrison And Sons, Ltd., 1927. Royal8vo. Contemp. full cloth. A small stamp on verso of titlepage. In: ""Proceedings of the Royal Society of London"", Series A, Vol. 114. VI,IX,748 pp. (entire volume offered). Dirac's papers: pp. 243-265 a. pp. 710-728. Clean and fine.‎

‎First appearance of these milestone papers in Quantum Physics, constituting the first step in Quantum Field Theory and the invention of the Second Quantifization Method. By these papers Dirac ""gave the foundation for that theory, quantum electrodynamics""(Pais).""A New Radiation Theory. Dirac liked his transformation theory because it was the outcome of a planned line of research and not a fortuitous discovery. He forced his future investigations to fit it. The first results of this strategy were almost miraculous. First came his new radiation theory, in February 1927, which quantized for the first time James Clerk Maxwell’s radiation in interaction with atoms. Previous quantum-mechanical studies of radiation problems, except for Jordan’s unpopular attempt, retained purely classical fields. In late 1925 Jordan had applied Heisenberg’s rules of quantization to continuous free fields and obtained a light-quantum structure with the expected statistics (Bose Einstein) and dual fluctuation properties. Dirac further demonstrated that spontaneous emission and its characteristics—previously taken into account only by special postulates—followed from the interaction between atoms and the quantum field. Essential to this success was the fact that Dirac’s transformation theory eliminated from the interpretation of the quantum formalism every reference to classical emitted radiation, contrary to Heisenberg’s original point of view and also to Schrödinger’s concept of ? as a classical source of field.This work was done during Dirac’s visit to Copenhagen in the winter of 1927. Presumably to please Bohr, who insisted on wave-particle duality and equality, Dirac opposed the ""corpuscular point of view"" to the quantized electromagnetic ""wave point of view."" He started with a set of massless Bose particles described by symmetric ? waves in configuration space. As he discovered by’ playing with the equations, ’ this description was equivalent to a quantized Schrödinger equation in the space of one particle"" this’ second quantization’ was already known to Jordan, who during 1927 extended it into the basic modern quantum field representation of matter. Dirac limited his use of second quantization electromagnetic to radiation: to establish that the corpuscular point of view, once brought into this form, was equivalent to the wave point of view.""(DSB).‎

Référence libraire : 47023