Search Results: Titles starting with W from Atticus Rare Books

London: Macmillan & Sons, 1974. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS of Stephen Salter's influential paper on a wave energy converter (WEC) he invented known, the celebrated and eponymous "nodding duck," commonly called Salter's Duck. In the 1970s, alternative energy was beginning to gain a lot of hype due to the oil crisis, Salter's design was the most exciting possibility. Note: Information on Darbyshire's discovery appears at the end of this write-up. Stephen Salter is Emeritus Professor of Engineering Design at the University of Edinburgh and inventor of the eponymous Salter duck wave energy device. He is also a proponent of geoengineering and is responsible for creating the concept of the mechanical enhancement of clouds to achieve cloud reflectivity enhancement. Salter is responsible for the design and invention of the wide tank at the University of Edinburgh, the world's first multi-directional wave tank equipped with absorbing wavemakers. With the aim of providing a renewable… Read More

1964. Journal issue in original wrappers. After first demonstrating three dimensional holography in 1962, Emmett Leith & Juris Upatnieks were, in this paper, the first to introduce the possibility of using holograms to record three-dimensional (3D) objects as well as the first to describe how to realize multicolor wavefront reconstruction (holography). The journal is in its original wrappers and the paper is profusely illustrated with both photographs and technical figures. "Emmett and Upatnieks introduced display holography to the world in fall 1964" at the Optical Society of America (Emmett Leith, Inventor of Practical Holography). Their presentation demonstrated the possibility of recording transmission holograms of 3D objects... At the meeting, they introduced the off-axis reference beam technique and used it to display their hologram of a model railroad engine. This laser-illuminated hologram displayed a very realistic-looking 3D image [and] had a huge impact on the participants at the… Read More

Berlin: Julius Springer. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST APPLICATION OF WAVE MECHANICS TO THE THEORY OF CHEMICAL BONDING. "In 1927 the Heitler-London theory was formulated which for the first time enabled the calculation of bonding properties of the hydrogen molecule based on quantum mechanical considerations. Specifically, Walter Heitler determined how to use Schrödinger's wave equation (1925) to show how two hydrogen atom wavefunctions join together, with plus, minus, and exchange terms, to form a covalent bond. He then called up his associate Fritz London and they worked out the details of the theory over the course of the night" (Wikipedia). ALSO PRESENT: "Zur quantenmechanik einfacher bewegungstypen" by E. H. Kennard - the first mathematically correct formulation of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Kennard derived the formula for uncertainty of position and momentum a few months after Heisenberg stated his principle in general terms. CONDITION & DETAILS: Berlin: Julius Springer.… Read More

London: Macmillan, 2004. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, ORIGINAL PRINTED WRAPS, OF A 2004 ESSAY BY THE NOBEL PRIZE WINNING ENGLISH GENETICIST, PAUL NURSE. The essay is discusses both a personal and scientific turning point, relating to "how a tiny observation turned out to have a controlling influence" on his 1974 research. "Paul Nurse has helped to show how the cell cycle is controlled. Through studies of yeast in the mid-1970s, he was able to show that a special gene plays a decisive role in several of the cell cycle's phases. In 1987 he identified a corresponding human gene" and in 2001, Nurse won the Nobel Prize "for their discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle", contributing to a revolution in cell biology and cancer research. CONDITION & DETAILS: London: Macmillan. Original wraps. 4to. (11 x 8.25 inches; 275 x 206mm. Mailing label on front wrap; very slight rubbing at the edges. The wraps are tight and solid. Bright and clean inside and out. Near fine.

New York: AAAS, 2006. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPS OF STEINHARDT & TUROK'S EXPLANATION OF HOW THEIR 2002 CYCLIC THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE CAN RESOLVE THE COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT PROBLEM. Steinhardt and Turok's 2002 cyclic universe theory is a model of cosmic evolution according to which the universe undergoes endless cycles of expansion and cooling, each beginning with a "big bang" and ending in a "big crunch" (Steinhardt, Cyclic Universe Theory, 2009). In the paper offered here, the 2006 paper, the two show "how the cyclic model could naturally incorporate a mechanism for relaxing the cosmological constant to very small values, consistent with current observations" (WP). We separately offer a second copy of both the 2002 paper and the 2002 paper together with the 2006. The model has also been known as the ekpyrotic cyclic universe theory. Paul Joseph Steinhart is an American theoretical physicist and cosmologist, currently the Albert Einstein Professor in Science at Princeton University.… Read More

London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1877. 1st Edition. First English edition a comprehensive, scientifically oriented work - by which I mean this is not a "popular" history. As the mathematician and astronomer, James Glaisher notes in the preface, no work prior to this one had covered all the ground that Guillemin's did. Profusely illustrated with beautiful chromolithographic plates of Donati's Comet, Cheseaux's Comet, and the Large Comet of 1843, 2 reproductions of Warren De La Rue's photos of the Great Comet of 1861; in total there are 4 plates, this volume also includes 5 whole-page woodcuts, 1 large fold-out, & 75 figures and tables. "Written in 1877 by the French journalist Amédée Guillemin (1826-1893), this volume appeared on British bookshelves at a time of intense interest in space, the solar system and stars. In the same year, Schiaparelli made his infamous 'discovery' of Martian canals, whetting the public's appetite for all things astronomical. Guillemin's account of… Read More