Search Results: Authors starting with E from Atticus Rare Books

The Institute of Radio Engineers, 1949. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS OF A PAPER BY PRESPER ECKERT, et al. DESCRIBING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HIGH-SPEED MERCURY DELAY LINE MEMORY FOR COMPUTER APPLICATIONS. The acoustic delay line was invented by William Shockley in 1942 and developed by Presper Eckert in 1943 using mercury for a radar application. It was later developed for use in computers by Eckert and became the first widely accepted computer memory system. "A delay line stores information in serial form by continuously circulating data through a liquid or solid medium. A piezo-electric transducer converts a digital electronic signal into a series of pulses that travel through the line. A second transducer receives and amplifies the signal for transmission back to the source. Information is recirculated until accessed or changed by the computer. The physical length of a line determines the amount of information that may be stored. John Adam Presper Eckert Jr. (1919-1995) was… Read More

London: Macmillan, 1924. 1st Edition. Full volume. FIRST EDITION OF EDDINGTON'S PAPER PROPOSING A CHANGE IN COORDINATE SYSTEMS THAT WILL ELIMINATE THE SCHWARZSCHILD SINGULARITY. The physical significance of this singularity, and whether this singularity could ever occur in nature, was debated for many decades" until the possibility of a black hole was accepted in the second half of the 20th century (Wikipedia). In this paper, Eddington made a coordinate change which transformed the Schwarzchild metric into a form which was not singular, thereby rejecting Schwarzchild's implication of relativistic quantum mechanics rather than accept the possibility of black holes. ALSO INCLUDED: FIRST EDITION OF KRAMERS' LAW OF DISPERSION, A FORMULATION THAT CAME CLOSE TO PROVIDING A FORMULATION OF QUANTUM MECHANICS, BUT DID NOT DO SO. Prior to the development of matrix mechanics, a number of papers on the quantum theory of radiation and its dispersion came close to providing a formulation of quantum mechanics,… Read More

London: Royal Society, 1938. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST CORRECT "SOLUTION TO THE MANY-BODY PROBLEM IN CELESTIAL MECHANICS UNDER EINSTEIN'S THEORY OF GRAVITY FOR THE SPECIAL CASE OF POINT MASSES" (History of Physics: The Wenner Collection). Eddington and Clark's equations "are now frequently used for high precision tracking of planetary orbits and spacecraft movements within the Solar System" (ibid). "The problem of the secular acceleration of the center of mass of binary systems has a checkered history. Levi-Civita (1937) first pointed out that general relativity predicted a secular acceleration in the direction of the periastron of the orbit, and found a binary system candidate in which he felt the effect might one day be observable. Eddington and Clark (1938) repeated the calculation using de Sitter's (1916) n-body equations of motion. After first finding a secular acceleration of opposite sign to that of Levi-Civita, they then discovered an error in de Sitter's equations, and… Read More

Berlin: Julius Springer, 1920. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS OF EINSTEIN'S LEIDEN LECTURE EXPLAINING AT LENGTH HIS THEORY OF THE ETHER ALONG WITH THOSE OF LORENTZ & MAXWELL. Very good + condition. "Einstein's lecture at the University of Leiden on the occasion of his appointment as a visiting professor summarized his current views on the ether and retrospectively looked at the development of his opinions on the physical properties of space" (Calaprice, The Einstein Almanac, 86). In this lecture, Einstein recanted his earlier denial of the ether, writing: "Recapitulating, we may say that according to the general theory of relativity space is endowed with physical qualities; in this sense, therefore, there exists an ether. According to the general theory of relativity space without ether is unthinkable; for in such space there not only would be no propagation of light, but also no possibility of existence for standards of space and time (measuring-rods and clocks), nor therefore any… Read More

Berlin: Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1920. 1st Edition. First edition bound extract of a paper, The Propagation of Sound in Partially Dissociated Gases, "that is a bit off the beaten track for Einstein though its subject, fluids (liquids and gases) is one he dabbled in throughout his life" (Calaprice, Einstein Almanac). Weil 110; Boni 119. Recognizing that while the "chemical equilibrium properties of gases were well understood, precise knowledge of the velocity of gas reactions was not sufficiently available," Einstein sought to establish a method for the calculation of the rate of chemical reactions in a gas by means of observations on the propagation of sound (Mason, Physical Acoustics, 13). CONDITION & DETAILS: Berlin: Akademie der Wissenschaften. Octavo. First edition, bound extract. The binding is marbled paper boards over black cloth. Inside and out, near fine condition.

Berlin: Königlich Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1927. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OFFPRINT IN FINE CONDITION OF EINSTEIN'S TWO-PART 1927 COMMENTARY ON KALUZA'S THEORY INVOLVING FIELD EQUATIONS IN FIVE-DIMENSIONAL SPACE. Weil 156. Boni 170. Theodor Franz Eduard Kaluza "attempted to unify Einstein's theory of gravity with Maxwell's theory of light by mixing them in a fifth dimension" (Calaprice, Einstein Almanac, 135). Kaluza was able to solve "Einstein's equations for general relativity using five dimensions, and — once again — Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism emerged" (History of Physics: The Wenner Collection). Kaluza worked with Oskar Benjamin Klein who had "independently developed a five-dimensional theory similar to Kaluza's but in more detail and with the calculation that the fourth spatial dimension is so small (10 30 cm) that it could not be detected. Klein's idea of a small extra dimension was subsequently picked up by string theory and M-theory" (ibid). Together, Kaluza and… Read More

Paris: Paul Gaultier, de l'Institut, 1934. 1st Edition. Paul Gaultier, de l'Institut. 13 x 19.5cm. 258pp. Handsome illustrated cover. How I see the World. Judaism, Politics and Pacifism in Germany 1933. Translated from the German by Colonel Cros. Content: Comment je vois le Monde - Politique et Pacifisme - Allemagne - Le Judaisme - Science. Minor wear at edges and spine Bright and clean inside and out. Very good condition.

Braunschweig: Druck und Verlag von Friedr. Vieweg and Son, 1916. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OF AN IMPORTANT WORK BY EINSTEIN: HIS FIRST PAPER ON THE DERIVATION OF PLANCK'S LAW, HERE INTRODUCING THE THEORY OF THE STIMULATED EMISSION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION INTO THE QUANTUM THEORY. "EINSTEIN'S CONCEPT OF STIMULATED EMISSION IS THE OPERATING PRINCIPLE OF THE NOW UBIQUITOUS LASER" (Brandt, Harvest of the Century, 136). In 1900, Max Planck laid the foundation for quantum theory with his publication of Planck's law. Though Einstein commended Planck, in his own "light-quantum hypothesis of 1905, [he, Einstein] postulated that the energy quantization is a property of the radiation field itself and not due to the material resonators [as Planck believed]" (ibid). "Einstein found a similarity between a cavity filled with radiation consisting of quanta and a vessel filled with gas consisting of atoms" (Brandt, Harvest of the Century, 136). Einstein believed that "although either part of Planck's… Read More

Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1925. First French edition of Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Korper (On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies) and 1st die Tragheit eines Korpers von seinem Energieinhalt abhangig? (Does the Inertia of a Body Depend on its Energy Content?). Both 1905 treatises are "beyond compare and without precedent, one of the greatest scientific achievements in content and one of the most brilliant in style" (Gosling, Albert Einstein). The first paper is "a landmark in the development of physics, one of the two papers that laid out the theory of special relativity, formulated a new conception of time. By assuming that the speed of light is the same to every observer moving at a constant velocity, Einstein showed that space and time were not independent: spacetime was born. According to Hermann Weyl in 1918, this theory ‘led to the discovery that time is associated as a fourth coordinate on an equal footing with the other three coordinates of space, and that the scene of material events,… Read More

Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1918. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OF EINSTEIN'S DISCUSSION OF MACH'S PRINCIPLE, a theory Einstein names and one which was historically important to the inspiration that would lead to general relativity. Mach's principle states that "local physical laws are determined by the large-scale structure of the universe" (Wikipedia). To Einstein, Mach's principle posited the belief that inertia originates in a kind of interaction between bodies. "So strongly did Einstein believe at that time in the relativity of inertia that [in this paper] he stated [it] as being on equal footing three principles on which a satisfactory theory of gravitation should rest: (1.) The principle of relativity as expressed by general covariance. (2.) The principle of equivalence. (3.) Mach's principle (the first time this term entered the literature)" (Pais, The Science of Albert Einstein, 287). Einstein brought Mach's principle into mainstream physics while working on general relativity. Indeed… Read More

Berlin: Verlag der Akademie der Wiss, 1927. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, OFFPRINT ISSUE IN ORIGINAL PAPER WRAPS, VERY GOOD CONDITION. "Einstein and Grommer's work [treats] the particle as a singularity in the field, and attempts[s] to obtain the equations of motion by imposing conditions on the exterior field in the neighborhood of the singularity" (Stachel, Einstein from ‘B' to'Z', pp. 507). Weil 155. In 1927, Einstein's research "concentrated on a new approach to the problem of the motion of particles in a general field theory" (Mehra, The Golden Age of Theoretical Physics, 997). He presented his work, conducted with Jakob Grommer in this report. Einstein and Grommer here show that ‘in the case of a pure gravitational field the mechanical behavior of singularities can be derived,' a result which in Einstein's opinion ‘opened the possibility to obtain, on the basis of the field equations, a theory of matter characterized as discontinuities in space' (ibid, 997; Einstein and Grommer, 1927).… Read More

Lancaster: American Physical Society, 1946. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPS OF SIGNIFICANT CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS BY EINSTEIN & STRAUS TO AN IMPORTANT PAPER; AS WELL, A PAPER BY CHANDRASEKHAR ON THE ORIGIN OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. In 1945 Albert Einstein and Ernst G. Straus introduced their Swiss cheese model of the universe in a paper entitled "The Influence of the Expansion of Space on the Gravitation Fields Surrounding the Individual Stars". (Weil 216). The following year they published "Corrections and Additional Remarks to Our Paper" (the 1945 paper), the paper offered here. In early 1945, Einstein returned to long held cosmological questions as he sought to try to understand whether the expansion of the universe caused the solar system to expand as well — or more specifically, the influence of the expansion of space on the gravitational field in the neighborhood of a star. Working with Straus, the two began studying the effect of inhomogeneities in an expanding model. "By the… Read More

New York: Hartsdale, 1947. The ownership signature, address of Buckminster Fuller appear on the front pastedown. Fuller also dated his entry (March 12th, 1948).This is his personal copy. Buckminster Fuller was a renowned inventor, philosopher, futurist architect, writer, social activist, designer, inventor, "intellectual outlaw," and author of more than thirty books (The New Yorker, In the Outlaw Area, Tomkins, 12.31.1965). Among many honors, Fuller (1895-1983), was selected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. EINSTEIN'S WRITING OF THIS BOOK: "After submitting the final version of his general theory of relativity in November 1915, Einstein began to write a comprehensive summary of the theory for the scientific community. At that time he was already thinking about writing a popular book on relativity—both the special and the general—as he indicated in a letter to his close friend Michele Besso, quoted in the epigraph.… Read More

Braunschweig: Druck und Vieweg. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION (FULL VOLUME) OF THE PAPER IN WHICH EINSTEIN PROVIDES THE FIRST DESCRIPTION OF THE NATURE OF THE REFRACTIVE INDEX FOR X-RAYS, here clearly demonstrating that phase contrast effects are significant. "Inspired by the presence of fringes at the edges of objects in early X-ray images and by considerations of optical dispersion theory, Einstein suggested in 1918 that the real part of the index of refraction for X-rays in matter is slightly less than unity. This was confirmed in 1924 by Larsson et al. in measurements of wavelength-dependent refraction of X-rays by a prism" (Hornberger, Quantitative Amplitude, 1). "A century later, most x-ray microscopy and nearly all medical imaging remains based on absorption contrast, even though phase contrast offers orders of magnitude improvements in contrast and reduced radiation exposure at multi-keV x-ray energies"(ResearchGate, November 2015). Weil 104. Note that we offer this paper separately in its… Read More

Berlin: Vieweg und Springer, 1924. 1st Edition. BOUND FIRST EDITION OF EINSTEIN'S 1924 PAPER ON THE PHYSICS OF RADIOMETERS; EINSTEIN'S TRANSLATION OF BOSE'S SECOND PAPER ON THE BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATE (WITH UNTITLED ADDENDUM BY EINSTEIN); & WENTZEL'S SECOND PROPHETIC PAPER ANTICIPATING FEYNMAN'S PATH INTEGRAL APPROACH TO QUANTUM MECHANICS. This volume bears the ownership stamp of Friedrich Hermann Hund, a physicist well-known for his work on atoms and molecules. The Einstein authored paper, Zur Theorie der Radiometerkräfte [On the Theory of Radiometric Forces] presents Einstein's theory on the cause of radiometric forces (the physics of radiometers). His paper finds that radiometric forces act also on surfaces normal to the temperature gradient, in other words, also on horizontal surfaces. Weil 139, 143a. ALSO INCLUDED: "Zur Quantentheorie des Röntgenbremsspektr ums" by Gregor Wentzel. "Unbeknownst to Feynmann, Wiener, or Dirac, Wentzel had anticipated several of the most important features of… Read More

Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1921. 1st French. FRENCH TRANSLATIONS of this "popular" exposition of the theory of relativity, The Theory of Restricted and General Relativity. Also included is Einstein's Relativity and the Space Problem. CONDITION & DETAILS: 1954. Paris, Gauthier-Villars, 1954. Ex-libris from The Franklin Institute with no spine markings. Rebacked with original printed wrappers. VI,180 pp.

Berlin: Slawo [Slovo], 1923. 1st Edition. 1922 FIRST RUSSIAN EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPS OF EINSTEIN'S FOUR LECTURES ON RELATIVITY DELIVERED AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY IN THE SPRING OF 1921 (Norman 697; Weil 124g). Bears the ownership stamp of the Russian/Jewish logician-philosopher Gregorius Itelson. Itelson lived in Berlin and was beaten to death in 1926 by an anti-Semitic crowd. The introduction was written by Albert Einstein. The English titles of Einstein's four lectures are: "Space and Time in Pre-Relativity Physics", "The Theory of Special Relativity", "The General Theory of Relativity I", "The General Theory of Relativity II" CONDITION & DETAILS: Berlin: Slawo [Slovo], 8vo. (8.75 x 6 inches; 219 x 150mm). [106], 2. Slightly spotted original wraps; removal of early price sticker from upper right corner (see scan). Minor chipping at the head and foot of the spine. The front wrap is loosening but the binding is holding solidly. Handsome wide margins, clean and bright throughout.

Zurich: Europa Verlag, 1953. First published in 1934, this volume was published in 1953 and is bound in handsome white linen boards gilt-lettered on the front board and at the spine. It is a collection gleaned from Einstein's speeches and letters across a wide span of his career. The subjects are as varied as science, life, Jadaism, pacifism, and politics. Not ex-libris. 275pp. Tightly and solidly bound. Bright, very clean inside and out. Near fine condition.

McGraw-Hill, 1946. 1st Edition. IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS, THE FIRST PUBLICATION BY EINSTEIN OF THE FAMILIAR EQUATION, E=mc2, IN THAT SPECIFIC FORM. Eight months after Hiroshima, the editors of Science Illustrated turned to Albert Einstein to explain "the form of the energy that destroyed Hiroshima;" "to explain in his own words what takes place in the operation of his law" (Science Illustrated 1, 1, pp. 17, April 1946). The editors believed that given the deployment of two nuclear weapons, "average citizen(s)," wanted at least a layman's understanding of the mathematical law that enabled atomic explosions so that they were better able to understand the destruction the bombs unleashed (ibid). The mathematical equation, or law, in question was one Einstein published in 1905 in his Theory of Special Relativity, but the form in which it was then written was longer and more complex. In the paper offered here, Einstein presents the equation we all now know, a shorter, more understandable derivation of his… Read More

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950. Third Edition. FIRST PRINTED OF THE THIRD & EXTENDED EDITION, COMPLETE WITH ORIGINAL DUST JACKET of four lectures Einstein delivered at Princeton University in May 1921. The lectures, intended as further explanation of Einstein's famous theory of relativity and its developments, were titled 'Space and Time in Pre-Relativity Physics,' 'The Theory of Special Relativity,' The General Theory of Relativity,' 'The General Theory of Relativity II.' "This edition contains both an appendix discussing certain advances in the theory of relativity since 1921 and a new appendix on his generalized theory of gravitation. According to the Weil bibliography of Einstein's works, this is Weil 124a. CONDITION & DETAILS: Large 12mo (7.5 x 5.25 inches, 187 x 131mm). [8], 145, [3]. The dust-jacket is not price-clipped; small closed tear at the foot of the front wraps and head of rear wraps, both small and minor. Very good condition, safe in archival mylar. Bound in tan cloth,… Read More