Lignes Doubles Et Triples Dans le Spectre, Produites Sous L'influence D'un Champ Magnétique Extérieur AND Recherches sur les rayons uraniques WITH Sur la loi de la décharge dans l'air de l'uranium électrisé WITH Explication de quelques experiences de M. G. Le Bon AND Sur les systèmes de nombres complexes in Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences 124, 1897, pp. 438-444; pp. 800-803; pp. 984-988; pp. 1444-1445; pp. 1217-1220

Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1897. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OF A PAPER BY ZEEMAN OFFERING THE FIRST GLIMPSE AT THE ELECTRON, 3 PAPERS BY BECQUEREL ON THE NEWLY DISCOVERED RADIOACTIVITY, AND A PAPER BY THE INFLUENTIAL MATHEMATICIAN, ELIE CARTAN.

In 1897, Becquerel's research led him to the newly discovered X-rays and to how uranium salts were influenced by light - work reported in the papers offered herewith. "By accident, he discovered that the uranium salts spontaneously emitted a penetrating radiation that could be registered on a photographic plate. Further studies made it clear that this radiation was something new - not the same type as X-rays. He had discovered a new phenomenon - [spontaneous] radioactivity" (Nobel Prize Website Portal].

ALSO INCLUDED: Zeeman's observation of the splittle of the spectral lines into doubles and triplets. This was published in the same year as the first edition in English. Zeeman's paper marks the first of a charged particle lighter than an atom, the first glimpse at the electron. "In the spring of 1897... Zeeman resolved a magnetically ‘broadened' spectral line into the triplet of distinct polarized components that the Lorentz theory predicted for a sufficiently intense magnetic field. This in a very real sense was the peak of the Zeeman-Lorentz investigation of the Zeeman effect" (DSB, XIV, 598).

In 1902, the Nobel Prize was awarded jointly to Lorentz and Zeeman ‘in recognition of the extraordinary service they rendered by their researches into the influence of magnetism upon radiation phenomena" (Nobel Prize Committee).

ALSO INCLUDED: First edition of a paper by the influential French mathematician, Élie Cartan. Cartan "made significant contributions to mathematical physics, differential geometry, and group theory" (Wikipedia). This paper, ‘On real systems of complex numbers' regards the classification of simple and semi-simple associative algebras. CONDITION & DETAILS: Complete volume. Ex-libris bearing only a de-accessioned stamp on the back of the title page and slight ghosting at the spine where a spine level has been removed. 4to (11 x 8 inches; 275 x 200mm). [2], 1399, [2]. Bound in clean full blue cloth, gilt-lettered at the spine; ghosting from the removal of a label at the spine; stamp on the rear of the title page.