Beyond the Hundredth Meridian (association copy)

Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1954. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/No Jacket. An important Silicon Valley association copy, inscribed on the title page: "For Artemas and Ed, in friendship. Wallace Stegner." On the rear of the foldout map, a gift inscription from these owners, passing the book on, reads: "To George + Sue Varian, their families and Jane Lowenthal, Christmas 1989. [from] Artemas + Ed Ginzton." Physicist and entrepreneur Ed Ginzton lived in Los Altos Hills like Stegner and, also like the author, holds an important place in Stanford and Bay Area history. This from the Stanford press release upon his death: "In the lore of Silicon Valley, Edward Ginzton is not as well known as William Hewlett and David Packard, who started their electronics company in a Palo Alto garage. Nor is he as well known as William Shockley, who headed the group of Stanford scientists who were trying to commercialize the transistor. But perhaps he should be." Ginzton came to Stanford where he collaborated with Russell and Sigurd Varian, William Hansen, and others in the physics department who were doing pioneering work in the field of microwave technology. During WWII, he worked on the klystron, a powerful new kind of radio tube invented by the Varians and incorporated in radar. "After the end of the war, Ginzton returned to Stanford, where he continued to work in the microwave field, including incorporation of klystron tubes in linear accelerators used to probe the basic structure of subatomic matter. In the 1950s he headed a team of Stanford physicists who designed a one billion electron volt particle accelerator that was housed in the Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory. When it was completed, it was the most powerful machine of its type in the world. He also played an important role in obtaining federal funding for the 2-mile linear accelerator that forms the backbone of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and served as SLAC's director during the research and development phase of the project, known at that time as 'Project M.'" In 1948, he also co-found the influential Varian Associates company with the Varian brothers, which among other major successes developed MRI technology. This book was passed down to the son of one of the Varian brothers. A very good book, lacking the dust jacket: A mild bump to lower edge of front board. Corners firm with only light wear. Two swaths of brown staining to bottom of text block (each about the size of a quarter) and some spotting/dust soiling to upper face of text block. A unique association copy linking two major figures in the early days of Stanford and Silicon Valley. // Wood (+) River (=) Books specializes in place-based and environmental literature, with a special passion for association copies and notable inscriptions.