Einstein, AlbertABAA
141 résultats
réf. 504141 First Edition journal issue. The brilliant follow-up to Einstein's landmark 1905 paper on the photoelectric effect. In the 1905 paper Einstein had explained the photoelectric effect-the emission of electrons from a metal when irradiated by light-by making the revolutionary proposal that light rather than consisting of continuous waves was instead made up of discrete particles of energy "light quanta" which transferred their entire payload of energy to an electron on impact. In the 1905 paper Einstein made use of Planck's mathematical formula for blackbody radiation which had introduced the concept of energy quanta but he was only able to derive part of the formula. In his 1906 paper Einstein "used his statistical mechanics to demonstrate that when light interacts with matter Planck's entire formula can arise only from the existence of light quanta-not from waves" Cassidy; emphasis ours. Einstein had realized as he stated in the present paper that "'Planck's theory makes implicit use of the . . . light-quantum hypothesis' . . . his acceptance of Planck's formula albeit as a hypothesis led to a major advance in his own work" Pais Subtle is the Lord p. 378. In 1921 Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the photoelectric effect. Cassidy David "Einstein on the Photoelectric Effect." Einstein: Image and Impact. American Institute of Physics n.d. Web. Accessed 09 July 2014. Shields "Writings of Albert Einstein" in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist 1948 pp. 689-758 no. 13; also included in Shields' "Chronological list of principal works" on p. 757. Weil Albert Einstein: A Bibliography no. 12. 2 First Edition journal issue of Einstein's second paper on the inertia of energy following his 1905 paper "Ist die Trägheit eines Körpers von seinem Energieinhalt abhängig" Is the inertia of a body dependent on its energy content. In the present paper Einstein presented another argument in support of the proposition that a body's energy depends on its energy content. "About a year after he first introduced the inertia of energy Einstein published a paper entitled "The Principle of the Conservation of the Center of Gravity and the Inertia of Energy" in which he showed that E = mc2 is necessary and sufficient to ensure that the center-of-mass theorem holds for systems in which 'not only mechanical but also electromagnetic processes take place' . . . As Einstein acknowledges his paper is similar to Poincaré's contribution to the Lorentz Festschrift 1900. Einstein showed that in order to avoid the kind of violations of the center-of-mass theorem discussed by Poincaré one has to assume that energy has inertia" Janssen pp. 39-40. Janssen "The Trouton experiment E = mc2 and a slice of Minkowski space-time" in Revisiting the Foundations of Relativistic Physics: Festschrift in Honor of John Stachel 2003 pp. 27-54. Weil Albert Einstein Bibliography 13. . unknown books
1907réf. 432971907. Einstein Albert 1879-1955. Berichtigung zu meiner Arbeit: "Die Plancksche Theorie der Strahlung etc." Offprint from Annalen der Physik 22 1907. Single sheet p. 800. Unbound as issued. 223 x 145 mm. Lower corner lightly creased but very good. First Edition Rare Offprint Issue. Einstein's important correction to his paper on specific heats "Die Plancksche Theorie der Strahlung und die Theorie der spezifischen Wärme" 1907; see Weil 15 which "made clear for the first time that quantum concepts have a far more general applicability" Pais p. 394. "Einstein initially believed that his oscillating lattice points in a three-dimensional crystal lattice were electrically charged ions. A few months later he published a correction to his paper in which he observed that this was an unnecessary assumption . . . Einstein's correction freed the quantum rules in passing one might say from any specific dependence on electromagnetism" Pais p. 396. Pais Subtle is the Lord pp. 394-396. Weil 15n. . unknown books
1907réf. 433121907. Offprint from "Zeitschrift für Elektrochemie" 1907. Single sheet pp. 41-42. 287 x 206 mm. Chipped several marginal tears some toning. Fair. First edition offprint issue. "In 1907 Einstein published a paper entitled 'Theoretical Observations on the Brownian Motion' in which he considered the instantaneous velocity of a Brownian particle. Einstein showed that by measuring this quantity one could prove that 'the kinetic energy of the motion of the center of gravity of a particle is independent of the size and nature of the particle and independent of the nature of its environment.' This is one of the basic tenets of statistical mechanics known as the equipartition theorem. However Einstein concluded that due to the very rapid randomization of the motion the instantaneous velocity of a Brownian particle would be impossible to measure in practice. "Einstein: The Formative Years. unknown books
1923réf. 432881923. Einstein Albert 1879-1955 and Paul Ehrenfest 1880-1933. Zur Quantentheorie des Strahlungsgleichgewichts. Offprint from Zeitschrift für Physik 19 1923. 301-306pp. Original printed self-wrappers. 230 x 157 mm. Light toning but very good. First Edition Offprint Issue. In 1916 after publishing his great work on general relativity Einstein returned to the question of blackbody radiation. In November 1916 he wrote to his friend Besso that "a splendid light has dawned on me about the absorption and emission of radiation" quoted in Pais p. 405 one that led him to a new derivation of Planck's radiation law and convinced him of the reality of light-quanta photons. After publishing these results in three papers culminating with the famous "Zur Quantentheorie der Strahlung" 1917 Einstein kept looking for "new ways in which the existence of photons might lead to observable derivations from the classical picture" Pais p. 413. He found none until 1923 when Arthur Compton and Peter Debye independently derived the relativistic kinematics for the scattering of a photon off an electron at rest. The work of Compton and Debye led Wolfgang Pauli to extend Einstein's work of 1917 to the case of radiation in equilibrium with free electrons see Pais p. 414n. "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 p. 42. Lewis "Einstein's derivation of Planck's radiation law" American Journal of Physics 41 1973: 38-44. Pais Subtle is the Lord ch. 21. Weil Albert Einstein Bibliography 138. . unknown books
1915réf. 140945614Leipzig & Berlin: B.G. Teubner 1915. First edition. First edition. iv viii 762 8 pp. Bound in publisher's three quarter maroon cloth with marbled paper sides gilt spine lettering. Near Fine with rubbing along edges; a few marks to prelims text otherwise free of markings; hint of foxing to edges. Bookplate on paste down. A German-language physics review with the first book publication of two articles by Albert Einstein as well as work by a number of famous physicists of the early 20th century. B.G. Teubner unknown books
1923réf. 140949178London: Methuen & Co 1923. First Edition. Very Good. First British edition first printing. viii 216 8 ads pp. Bound in publisher's red cloth lettered in blind on front board and in gilt on spine; lacking the dust jacket. Very Good with fading light wear and soiling to covers. Evidence of bookplate removal to front pastedown offsetting to free endpapers rear hinge starting. Contents lightly toned with foxing to first and last few pages and textblock edges. An influential collection of eleven papers on relativity. Seven are authored by Einstein two by Henrik Lorentz and one each by Hermann Minkowski and Hermann Weyl. The first edition of this translation of Das Relativitaetsprinzip taken from the fourth German edition. Methuen & Co unknown books
1946réf. 376560Princeton New Jersey 1946. 1 1/2 pages on recto and verso of quarto sheet of letterhead for the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists. Folded for mailing else Fine. Folding green cloth slipcase. 1 1/2 pages on recto and verso of quarto sheet of letterhead for the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists. An invitation written in Einstein's capacity as Chairman of the Trustees of the Committee to Lesser to attend a three day conference in Princeton the following month and asking him to be his special guest at a luncheon on the 17th of November. Einstein writes Lesser "as one who shares with American scientists a sense of the responsibility and urgency with which this great new force has impressed upon our lives ." and notes that one of the chief aims of the conference will be for "the scientists to reach final agreement on our program of education for survival ." Perhaps it was in his capacity as film producer that Lesser was considered a potential contributor beyond simple monetary help. The letter is addressed to Lesser at the Paramount Building 1501 Broadway NYC. Lesser 1890-1980 was a successful film producer a career that spanned the silent era up through such productions as THUNDER OVER MEXICO 1939 and OUR TOWN 1940 to the long string of post 1943 Tarzan films when he once again reacquired the rights after having produced the Buster Crabbe serial of 1933. He received the 1960 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. unknown books
1923réf. 2203024Princeton University Press 1923. first. hardcover. very good. First edition with 1923 stated on title page. Book in very good condition minor rubbing at corners and spine ends rear end paper detached from binding but not loose and is attached to rear paste-down along gutter with small tear at bottom of paper. Princeton University Press unknown books
1949réf. 140941891Evanston IL: The Library of Living Philosophers Inc 1949. First Edition. Fine/Fine. First edition trade issue. xvi 781 pp. Bound in publisher's navy cloth with gilt spine lettering. Fine with offsetting to endpapers in a Fine dust jacket unfaded and unworn. A very sharp copy of a collectible volume all about the famous theoretical physicist. The Library of Living Philosophers, Inc unknown books
1918réf. 135751918. Mathematics Klein Felix. Autograph Letter Signed 10 November 1918 written in German to a former student and colleague directly references Einstein's recently published General Theory of Relativity and comments on the work of the International Mathematical Education Commission. Composed in the closing days of the First World War the letter places Klein within active scholarly exchange concerning the mathematical implications of relativity which had been formally presented in 1915 and widely disseminated by 1918. Klein long established for his foundational contributions to group theory non-Euclidean geometry and mathematical physics addresses questions raised by "Einstein's theory" noting that he required further reflection to clarify its implications for his own work. The document supports research in the history of relativity German mathematical networks scientific communication during wartime and the institutional organization of mathematics in the early twentieth century. Klein Felix. Autograph Letter Signed 10 November 1918. Two pages written on both sides of a single leaf. In German with accompanying English translation. Addressed to a former student the letter discusses the circulation of lecture manuscripts difficulties in securing copyists during wartime conditions and the intellectual demands posed by Einstein's theory: "A further exploration of my work does not exist yet as I had and still have more thinking to do about questions raised by Einstein's theory to clarify it for myself." Klein also comments critically on the IMUK observing that its published statements are "a display of wasted paper" while acknowledging the commission's broader social significance. He singles out contemporary educational treatises including studies by W. Trost Heinrich Emil Timerding and M. Girndt indicating his sustained engagement with mathematical pedagogy alongside theoretical research. The letter was written days before the November Revolution in Germany and at a moment when academic institutions faced political upheaval and material shortages. Klein's remarks regarding limited copyists and uncertainty about the coming months provide contemporaneous evidence of scholarly life under strained postwar conditions. His reference to Einstein situates the correspondence within the earliest phase of professional reception of general relativity among leading mathematicians while his comments on the International Mathematical Education Commission underscore his longstanding commitment to mathematical instruction and institutional reform. Clean and well preserved with strong legibility and a clear signature. Overall near fine condition. A substantive document of early relativity discourse and mathematical research at the end of the First World War. unknown books
réf. 35452Rockport ME: Two Ponds Press 2015. Fine. Number 35 of 75 copies signed and numbered by Joseph Goldyne. Joseph Goldyne was born in 1942 in Chicago IL. He came to prominence as an artist on the West Coast. He has been credited as one of the artists responsible for the rebirth of monotype and monoprint as valuable approaches to art. He is also known for his artist's books often done in collaboration with printer Peter Rutledge Koch. From the Prospectus: "Joseph Goldyne brought this project to our attention and the Press was convinced that this little-known oratory by George Bernard Shaw deserved wider recognition one that Goldyne thought a most unexpectedly wondrous and humorous introduction to Albert Einstein perhaps the most transformative and towering figure of the twentieth century. Goldyne's own introduction " An Introduction to an Introduction" speaks to his discovery of Shaw's speech its presentation Shaw's record of condemning anti-Semitism and his public support for Einstein. The full text of Shaw's speech is reprinted together with Einstein's response delivered in German and printed here in English translation. Goldyne illustrates the volume with five drypoint etchings created especially for this publication. They pay tribute to the featured speakers as well as to the sense of the event." Beautifully bound in cream paper covered boards with gilt dotted rulings and ornament on front cover of circle with initials "SE" in its center. Gray leather spine and trim along front edges with gilt titling on spine. Printed in Monotype Bembo and Gill Sans types on paper handmade at the Velké Losiny mill in the Czech Republic. Letterpress printing by Arthur Larson at Horton Tank Graphics with additional hand composition by Rose Ku'ulealoha Wisotzky. Design and typography planned by Michael Russem Housed in a slipcase covered in dark red cloth with "SE" symbol on spine. Accompanied by prospectus. A lovely book in fine condition. Measures 6.5 x 10 inches. 39 pages. PRI/112321. Two Ponds Press unknown books
1911réf. 432921911. Einstein Albert 1879-1955. Berichtigung zu meiner Arbeit: "Eine neue Bestimmung der Moleküldimensionen." Offprint from Annalen der Physik 34 1911. 591-592pp. 224 x 146 mm. Original printed wrappers a little chipped splint in lower spine. Light toning but very good. First Edition Offprint Issue. Einstein's correction to his formula for the viscosity coefficient = 1 a key equation in his 1905 doctoral thesis in which he had presented a new theoretical method for determining molecular radii and Avogadro's number. In 1910 Jacques Bacelin a pupil of French physicist Jean-Baptiste Perrin obtained experimental results indicating a possible error in Einstein's formula. "That prompted Einstein after an unsuccessful attempt to find an error to ask his student and collaborator Ludwig Hopf to check his calculations and arguments . . . Hopf did find an error in the dissertation namely in the derivatives of some velocity components and obtained for a corrected coefficient 2.5 . . .In early 1911 Einstein submitted his correction for publication and recalculated Avogadro's number. He obtained a value of 6.56 x 1023 per mole a value that is close to those derived from kinetic theory and Planck's black-body radiation theory" Duplantier pp. 216-217. Duplantier "Brownian motion 'diverse and undulating'" in Einstein 1905-2005: Poincaré Seminar 2005 pp. 201-293. Pais Subtle is the Lord p. 92. Weil Albert Einstein Bibliography 41. . unknown books
1913réf. 43305Leipzig & Berlin: Teubner 1913. 38pp. 254 x 170 mm. Original printed wrappers chipped. Library stamps. Very good. First separate edition. "After his first discussions with Grossmann Einstein had found the correct starting point for general relativity. The real work could now begin . . . The Einstein-Grossmann paper published in 1913 contains profound physical insight into the nature of measurement some correct general relativistic equations some faulty reasoning and clumsy notation" Pais Subtle is the Lord p. 216. Weil Albert Einstein Bibliography 58. Teubner unknown books
1922réf. 432871922. Einstein Albert 1879-1955 and Paul Ehrenfest 1880-1933. Quantentheoretische Bemerkungen zum Experiment von Stern und Gerlach. Offprint from Zeitschrift für Physik 11 1922. 31-34pp. 229 x 155 mm. Original printed self-wrappers. Light toning but fine otherwise. First Edition Offprint Issue. In 1922 the physicists Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach conducted a now-classic experiment in which a beam of silver atoms was streamed through an inharmonious magnetic field in order to observe the atoms' deflection patterns. Rather than a random and continuous distribution as predicted by classical theory the atoms passing through the field were deflected up or down by a specific amount demonstrating that they had intrinsically quantum properties. The Stern-Gerlach experiment corroborated the Bohr-Sommerfeld model of the atom and strongly influenced later developments in 20th century physics. However the experiment also created some serious difficulties for quantum physicists in the period before the rise of the "new" quantum mechanics. Einstein and Ehrenfest addressed one of these difficulties-connected with space quantization-in their joint paper in which "they dealt in particular with the problem of how the orbits of the atom would obtain their discrete directions which they exhibit while passing through the inhomogeneous magnetic field. Under the assumption that the mechanism causing the orientation was provided by the interaction with the radiation field Einstein and Ehrenfest estimated that for a field strength of 10000 G a change in the direction of the orbit would take place in roughly 1011 s; this long time interval would be reduced in the presence of heat radiation at room temperature . . . to about 109 s. How could they asked the experimental situation be explained which implied that the discrete orientations of the orbits in silver atoms were obtained in less than 10-4 s. In order to deal with this evident puzzle Einstein and Ehrenfest proposed two alternatives: first that the silver atoms were always in the states of spatial quantization; second the orientations of the electron orbits arose from an interaction of the atoms with the radiation field which involved much smaller reaction times . . . However they found that both alternatives created considerable difficulties in the understanding of the atomic processes . . . Thus Einstein and Ehrenfest concluded: 'The difficulties mentioned above show how unsatisfactory are both interpretations of the results found by Stern and Gerlach'" Mehra & Rechenberg The Historical Development of Quantum Theory 1 pp. 443-444. Pais Subtle is the Lord p. 328. Weil Albert Einstein Bibliography 121. . unknown books
1915réf. 432951915. Einstein Albert 1879-1955 and Wander Johann de Haas 1878-1960. Notiz zu unserer Arbeit "Experimenteller Nachweis der Ampèreschen Molekularströme." Offprint from Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft 17 1915. 1 sheet p. 420. 228 x 156 mm. Original printed wrappers. Fine copy. First Edition Offprint Issue. In 1915 Einstein and Dutch physicist Wander Johannes de Haas conducted gyromagnetic experiments leading to the discovery of the Einstein-de Haas effect which corresponds to the mechanical rotation induced in a ferromagnetic cylinder suspended inside a coil when an impulse of electric current is sent through the coil. Einstein was very enthusiastic about the experimental results stating that he and de Haas had "given firm proof of the existence of Ampère's molecular currents" quoted in Pais Subtle is the Lord pp. 245-246. Einstein and de Haas published their results in a paper published earlier in 1915 see Weil 73; the present "Notiz" is a response to a communication from American physicist Samuel Jackson Barnett who had begun performing similar experiments in 1909 and obtained results complementing those of Einstein and de Haas. Weil Albert Einstein Bibliography 73n. . unknown books
1923réf. 108095Princeton University Press 1923. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. First edition with Published 1922 on copyright page and 1923 on title page very good in the very rare dust jacket which has some wear and chips and a big tear at rear panel. Previous owner's bookplate attached to front paste-down. Housed in a custom-made collector's slipcase. Princeton University Press hardcover books
1923réf. 171111001Princeton: Princeton University Press 1923. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. First American edition first printing. Near Fine with slight fade to spine cloth gilt stamping very sharp on front cover. Previous owner bookplate to front paste down with patch of abrasion at nearby gutter. Pages toned with several hinges just slightly over-opened. In a Very Good dust jacket with a large chip and tear at the top of the spine toning to spine and edges and several small edge tears. A very nice copy in the scarce dust jacket. Princeton University Press hardcover books
1906réf. 432891906. Einstein Albert 1879-1955. Über eine Methode zur Bestimmung des Verhältnisses der transversalen und longitudinalen Masse des Elektrons. Offprint from Annalen der Physik 21 1906. 583-586pp. 223 x 145 mm. Original printed wrappers chipped spine splitting minor spotting. Light toning but very good. First Edition Rare Offprint Issue. In his landmark 1905 paper on special relativity Einstein used the velocity-dependent concepts of transverse and longitudinal mass for the moving electron these terms have now been replaced with the concept of relativistic mass first defined by Lewis and Tolman in 1909. In the present paper Einstein proposed an experimental method for determining the ratio of the transverse to the longitudinal mass and invited experimentalists to verify his special theory of relativity. Einstein later abandoned velocity-dependent mass concepts stating in 1948 that "it is better to introduce no other mass concept than the 'rest mass' m" quoted in L. B. Okun "The concept of mass" Physics Today 1989: 31-36. Lavenda A New Perspective on Relativity pp. 7-8. Weil Albert Einstein Bibliography 14. . unknown books
1908réf. 432171908. Einstein Albert 1879-1955 and Jakob Johann Laub 1884-1962. Über die elektromagnetischen Grundgleichungen für bewegter Körper. Offprint from Annalen der Physik 4th series 26 1908. 532-540pp. 225 x 146 mm. Original printed wrappers. Fine. First Edition Offprint Issue. Einstein's first paper written jointly with a collaborator on the relativistic electrodynamics of ponderable media. "In 1908 Laub wrote works together with Einstein on the basic electromagnetic equations which was aimed to replace the four-dimensional formulation of the electrodynamics by Minkowski by a simpler classical formulation. Both Laub and Einstein discounted the spacetime formalism as too complicated. However it turned out that Minkowski's spacetime formalism was fundamental for the further development of special relativity" Wikipedia. Pais Subtle is the Lord pp. 151 154. Shields 23. Weil 23. . unknown books
1920réf. 140949340London: Methuen & Co 1920. First Edition. Near Fine. First British edition first printing. xiii 3 138 2 8 pp. Bound in publisher's red cloth lettered in blind on front board and gilt on spine. Near Fine with light wear and fading to covers light foxing to upper textblock edge. Light foxing and offsetting to endpapers bookseller ticket to back pastedown and light toning to contents. Binding starting at pp. 33 and 97. A much nicer copy than normally found. The first British edition of Einstein's seminal work translated by Robert W. Lawson from the third German edition. Einstein's introduction to his revolutionary theory was written to be accessible to the general public. Methuen & Co unknown books
1914réf. 2124Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1914. FIRST EDITION OFFPRINT. Original wrappers. Fine. FIRST EDITION COMMERCIAL OFFPRINT ISSUE of Einstein's important 1914 paper on the development of general relativity. "In summer 1914 Einstein felt that the new theory general relativity should be presented in a comprehensive review. He also felt that a mathematical derivation of the field equations that would determine them uniquely was still missing. "Both tasks are addressed in a long paper presented in October 1914 to the Prussian Academy for publication in its Sitzungsberichte. It is entitled 'The formal foundation of the general theory of relativity'; here for the first time Einstein gave the new theory of relativity the epithet 'general' in lieu of the more cautious 'generalized' that he had used for the Entwurf" Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics 1640-1940. "According to John Norton 'How Einstein Found His Field Equations' this major review article was intended to convey the full content of the 1913 'Entwurf' theory: 'The principal novelty lies in the mathematical formulation of the theory. Drawing on earlier work with Marcel Grossman Einstein formulated his gravitational field equations using a variation principle. Using this richer mathematical structure Einstein offered a proof purporting to demonstrate that his theory had the maximum covariance compatible with the hole argument; that is covariance under 'justified' transformation between the 'adapted coordinate systems' he had introduced with Grossman'" Calaprice The Einstein Almanac. Offprint from: Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften XLI 19 November 1914 pp. 1030-1085. Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1914. Octavo original wrappers; custom box. Neat early ownership name on front wrapper. Only the slightest wear; a fine copy. Rare. Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften unknown books
1927réf. 49047Berlin: Ernst Wasmuth A.-G 1927. First edition. Good- to fine condition. 176/330. 41 1pp. 42 plates with printed tissue guards. Original quarter vellum over brown paper-covered boards with gilt vignette on cover gilt lettering on spine. Title page with publisher's device and black double frame. Cover design by Lucian Zabel. With an introduction on Russian culture the tradition of ballet and theater set and costume design by Carl Einstein. Many of the plates with dates ranging from 1910 to 1923 including motifs created during the war. The motifs of the plates range from close-up figure drawings to simple folk costumes elaborate gowns for members of the Court mystical figures and various set designs. Illustrated with forty-two plates nineteen of them fully or partially colored by hand or pochoir some heightened in gilt or silver three b/w one sepia-toned lithograph and nineteen plates reproduced in high quality offset printing. The title page calls for forty-two plates and six illustrations in the text. Our copy is illustrated with seven tipped-in color offset reproductions and one b/w lithograph as endpiece on page seventeen. In addition the work is extra-illustrated with five color offset reproductions: one full-page embossed color plate with extensive hand-applied gilt overlay facing page seven Le Roi a full-page embossed color offset reproduction with extensive silver overlay facing plate one Phedre Thesee dated 1923 and three full page color offset reproductions facing plates fifteen L'Amazone with black overprinting twenty-five Scheherazade embossed and heightened in silver and Lampe d'Aladin multicolor overprint and thirty-six La Sultane embossed and overprinted in gilt facing the same image though with greater detail. The copies listed in OCLC vary in publication dates all calling for 42 plates and six in-text illustrations. Auction records call for 1925. One auction record for the 1925 edition calls for the lithograph line drawing in the text. Our copy contains two plates dated 1922 in addition to others dated 1917. We've been unable to find any bibliographic record that describes seven in-text illustrations or the five additional illustrations facing four of the plates and the first page of the text as described. Text in German. Binding with light wear along edges but vellum smudged and variously discolored. Block lightly starting at a few plates 11 15 19 27 30 42. A couples of tissue guards for plates loose but present. Binding in overall good- plates in very good to fine condition. Leon Bakst 1866-1924 was a Russian painter costume and set designer. Bakst studied art at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and was a member of the Sergei Diaghilev circle. In 1893 he moved to Paris for four years studying at the Academy Julian. He founded the magazine 'Mir Iskusstva World of Art' with his friends Alexander Benois Sergei Diaghilev and Valentin Serov. Bakst is best known for his work in set and costume design for the Ballet Russes. Ernst Wasmuth A.-G unknown books
1948réf. 2327Princeton NJ: np 1948. framed. Fine. ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED IMAGES OF EINSTEIN SIGNED BY MASTER PHOTOGRAPHER YOUSUF KARSH. On February 11 1948 Yousuf Karsh perhaps the most accomplished portrait photographer of his generation visited The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton to fulfill a dream of his: to photograph Albert Einstein. As he later explained: "Among the tasks that life as a photographer had set me a portrait of Albert Einstein had always seemed a 'must' - not only because this greatest refugee of our century has been accounted by all the world as the most outstanding scientist since Newton but because his face in all its rough grandeur invited and challenged the camera." Karsh: Beyond the Camera David Travis ed. "At Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study I found Einstein a simple kindly almost childlike man too great for any of the postures of eminence. One did not have to understand his science to feel the power of his mind or the force of his personality" official Karsh website. "Awed before this unique intellect I yet ventured to ask Einstein his views on human immortality. He mused for a moment and then replied 'What I believe of immortality There are two kinds. The first lives in the imagination of people and is thus an illusion. There is a relative immortality which may conserve the memory of an individual for some generations. But there is only one true immortality on a cosmic scale ant that is the immortality of the cosmos itself. There is no other.' "He spoke of these ultimate mysteries as calmly as he might a student's question about mathematics - with such an air of quiet confidence indeed that I found his answer profoundly disturbing to one who held other views. Knowing him to be an accomplished violinist I turned the conversation and asked if there were any connection between music and mathematics. 'In art he said 'and in the higher ranges of science there is a feeling of harmony which underlies all endeavour. There is no true greatness in art or science without that sense of harmony. He who lacks it can never be more than a great technician in either field.' "Was he optimistic about the future harmony of mankind itself He appeared to ponder deeply and remarked in graver tones: 'Optimistic No. But if mankind fails to find a harmonious solution than there will be disaster on a dimension beyond anyone's imagination.' To what source should we look for the hope of the world's future 'To ourselves' said Einstein. He spoke sadly yet serenely as one who had looked into the universe far past mankind's small affairs. In this humor my camera caught him. the portrait of a man who had traveled beyond hope or despair." Yousuf Karsh Regarding Heroes. Opening quote from: Colin Naylor ed. Contemporary Photographers. Silver print. Photo taken Princeton 1948. Printed later. Signed by Karsh in full beneath the image on photographer's mount. With Karsh's original calling "card" - a 4x10 inch cardboard slip - included. Image: 8x9 inches. Framed to an overall size of 12x15 inches. Fine condition. np unknown books
1950réf. 2896Princeton: np 1950. Very Good. A beautiful photo of Einstein at work in his study seemingly absorbed with his thoughts. The photographer Hermann Landshoff like Einstein was a German-Jewish émigré who settled in the United States in the 1930s. His large body of work encompasses portraits of some of the most influential figures of the century. Landshoff was highly respected by his peers with his work prompting the American photographer Richard Avedon to claim "I owe everything to Landshoff." Landshoff visited Einstein to photograph him several times in the 1940s and early 1950s showing Einstein in quieter moments at his home or study in Princeton. With Landshoff's copyright stamp on verso marking this as a "Sample copy" and "Not for sale or reproduction." Also with Landshoff's signature on the original matte board. The original non-archival matte was removed during framing to better preserve the photo but the signature was preserved and is now displayed on verso. Gelatin silver print with sepia tones. Taken c.1950 likely a contemporary or early printing. Approx. 9.25 x 10.5 in 235 x 263 mm. Archivally framed under museum glass to a size of 16 x 17.5 in. A few tiny spots to image generally in fine condition handsomely framed. np unknown books
1912réf. 2508Paris: Gauthier-Villars 1912. First edition. Original wrappers custom box. Very Good. RARE FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS OF THE REPORTS FROM THE HISTORIC FIRST SOLVAY CONFERENCE "THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN PHYSICS EVER ORGANIZED" AND A CRITICAL MOMENT IN THE BIRTH OF QUANTUM PHYSICS. In the short time that followed Planck's hypothesis of the universal constant that would bear his name the greatest minds in physics were largely at a loss about how to deal with the bizarre theoretical results that followed let alone the experimental results which confirmed them!. Much of the focus at the time was on black-body radiation including work by Planck himself as well as Lorentz Rayleigh and Jeans. However shortly before the first Solvay conference a young Einstein had also started investigating the related question of materials' specific heat. Kuhn. "The purpose of the first Solvay Conference was thus two-fold: first there was the need to examine whether classical theories molecular-kinetic theory and electrodynamics could in some undiscovered ways provide an explanation of the problem of black-body radiation and of the specific heat of polyatomic substances at low temperatures; secondly to consider phenomena in which the theory of quanta could be successfully used." Mehra. Underlying these questions was the more fundamental mystery of how to interpret the existence of the Planck constant. There were two camps both of which were represented at the conference. Planck's took the constant to indicate some fundamental constraint on the radiative processes of emission and absorption. For example "Sommerfeld introduced a version of the quantum hypothesis which he considered to be compatible with classical electrodynamics. He postulated that in 'every purely molecular process' a quantized quantity of action is exchanged." Staumann. Einstein's camp on the other hand took the quantum of action to represent the physicality of a perhaps pseudo-corpuscular theory of energy exchange - his photons of light. Although the debates that followed the lectures included in the proceedings did not rise to the famous heated exchange that Einstein would have with Bohr at the 1927 Solvay conference we do see some of the young Einstein's hotheadedness as he opens the debate following Planck's plenary lecture: "What I find strange about the way Mr. Planck applies Boltzmann's equation is that he introduces a state probability W without giving this quantity a physical definition. If one proceeds in such a way then to begin with Boltzmann's equation does not have a physical meaning." As translated by Straumann. It would take another 14 years for quantum mechanics to be fully formalized but the first Solvay conference represents a pivotal point in quantum history: "During 1911 the situation changed quickly. Articles that applied the quantum to other topics then outnumbered those on blackbody radiation for the first time and some were backed by impressive experimental evidence. In part because of that evidence physicists like Planck and Lorentz who had previously taken the constant h to be characteristic only of the radiation problem began to consider additional areas in which others had earlier staked quantum claims." Kuhn. Albert Einstein and the Solvay Conference: Among the most renown scientists of the day - including Ernest Rutherford Marie Curie and Max Planck - Einstein made quite an impression. At age 32 he was the second youngest participant in the conference. The youngest was British physicist Frederick Lindemann later to become scientific adviser to Winston Churchill. Although "Einstein had already published so many masterpieces none had actually been put to the test and his theories were looked on rather as tours de force than as definitive additions to knowledge. But his pre-eminence among the twelve greatest theoretical physicists of the day was clear to any unprejudiced observer." Frederick Lindemann quoted in Brian. References: Headline quote from the Solvay Institute website. Kuhn T. 1978 Black Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity 1894-1912. University of Chicago Press. Mehra J. 1975 The Solvay Conferences on Physics: Aspects of the Development of Physics Since 1911. Straumann N. 2011. On the first Solvay Congress in 1911. The European Physical Journal H 363 379-399. Denis Brian Einstein: A Life p.82. Paris: Gauthier-Villars 1912. Octavo original wrappers; custom box. Splits to top and bottom joint of upper wrapper two creases to front wrapper. Text in fine condition largely unopened. FIRST PRINTINGS IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS ARE EXTREMELY SCARCE. Gauthier-Villars unknown books
