The Mechanics of the Atom

London: Bell, 1927. Hard Cover. Dust Jacket. (London: G. Bell and Sons Ltd 1927). Translated by J. W. Fisher and revised by D. R. Hartree. 8vo, XVI + 317 pages (+ 1 blank) + 2 pages of adds. Publisher's brick-red boards lettered in gilt to the spine. A neat former owner's name (David H. Parkinson) and date Nov. 1945 to the front paste-down together with a tiny bookseller's ticket. [David H. Parkinson, also a physicist, was the co-author of "The Generation of High Magnetic Fields". A VG++ copy (slightly dusty and mildly foxed to the top-edge; and with spine tips softened). Clean interior. In the RARE VG++ DUSTWRAPPER priced 18s net to the inside flap (as called for). The dustwrapper is toned to the spine with shallow loss at the head (not affecting any lettering). First published in Germany in 1924 this English translation of Professor Max Born's pioneering work on quantum mechanics is a classical work by an atomic physics pioneer. The Mechanics of the Atom by Max Born (1882-1970) is not an elementary textbook, but supposes the reader to have some knowledge of the experimental facts and their explanation. NB: Professor Born was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics, the Stokes Medal and the 1950 Hughes Medal. NNB: In the 1920's Max Born was a Professor at the University of Gottingen and, along with his long-term friend and colleague James Franck, Born helped to make Göttingen one of the World's foremost centres for Physics. In 1925 Born and Werner Heisenberg formulated the matrix mechanics representation of quantum mechanics. The following year, he formulated the now-standard interpretation of the probability density function for ?*? in the Schrodinger equation for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1954. "Born's works found worldwide recognition, and gifted young researchers flocked to work under him. The 'Born school' at Göttingen was as important to the flowering of theoretical physics as the schools of Bohr at Copenhagen and of Arnold Sommerfield at Munich." Born's students and associates included John von Neumann, Yakov Frenkel, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Norbert Weiner and Enrico Fermi. (DSB, vol. 15, p. 43). Photographs/scans available upon request.