![[HARTREE, Douglas Rayner (1897-1958)]. A very extensive collection of offprints from some of the most prominent physicists of the 20th century, including many important papers in the history of modern physics from the years 1918-1932, collected and bound in 30 volumes by Douglas Rayner Hartree, V.p., v.d.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2002/NYR/2002_NYR_01174_0124_000(050404).jpg?w=1)
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[HARTREE, Douglas Rayner (1897-1958)]. A very extensive collection of offprints from some of the most prominent physicists of the 20th century, including many important papers in the history of modern physics from the years 1918-1932, collected and bound in 30 volumes by Douglas Rayner Hartree, V.p., v.d.
Together over 600 offprints in 30 volumes (numbered 1, 3-31 in gilt on spines), many original wrappers bound in. Various 4o and 8o. Blue cloth. Provenance: Douglas Rayner Hartree (signatures, annotations, inserted notes, etc.) -- Dr. Samuel Koslov (sale Christie's East, 12 November 1996, lot 256).
THE HARTREE COLLECTION OF OFFPRINTS: A THEORETICAL LABORATORY IN PRINT
Douglas Rayner Hartree's bound collection of offprints follows the years 1918-32, during which time Hartree was an undergraduate at St. John's College, Cambridge (1915-21, including a gap when he served in the war) and a Fellow at St. John's College (1924-27) and Christ's College (1927-29). His postgraduate work was conducted under R.H. Fowler, who with C.G. Darwin in 1922 published a series of important papers on statistical mechanics, developing methods for calculating the "partition functions" associated with the distribution of energy in quantum systems. In the early 1920s, Fowler was among the very few at Cambridge who maintained a continuing interest in the progress of quantum theory.
After Hartree's studies, he was appointed Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Manchester, holding this chair from 1929 until he moved to the chair of theoretical physics in 1937. After undertaking work with the Ministry of Supply during World War II, he was appointed Plummer Professor of Mathematical Physics at Cambridge. He held this post until his death.
Hartree's interests were primarily theoretical in nature, and he developed powerful methods in numerical mathematical analysis. His initial interest in numerical methods arose from his work on anti-aircraft gunnery in 1916-18. It was Niels Bohr's lecture course at Cambridge in 1921 that brought Hartree's research into focus, and he began his work on applications of numerical methods for integrating differential equations to calculate atomic wave functions. The collection begins with Bohr's important Copenhagen paper and includes many significant papers reflecting Hartree's specialization in numerical mathematical analysis of complex systems.
Hartree's "self-consistent field" method for many-electron atoms became the standard approach, or the "Hartree Model," that was later generalized by Foch as the "Hartree-Foch" method to solid-state problems. "Hartree developed ingenious approximation methods for the rather rapid evaluation of such self-consistent fields... Hartree was universally admired for the clarity of his lectures and writings. An outstanding trait was his unselfish generosity in giving aid to others working along similar lines of research throughout the world" (DSB). Hartree applied his methods to ballistics, atmospheric and stellar physics and hydrodynamics. Interested in machine calculation, he built the first differential analyzer in Britain and was a pioneer writer and commentator on the first two or three generations of electronic digital computers in the in the United Kingdom and United States.
Among the scientists included are Edward Arnold Milne, whose 39 offprints here reflect his stature as "one of the foremost pioneers of theoretical astrophysics and modern cosmology" (DSB); Niels Bohr (9); Max Born (4); William L. Bragg (20); C.G. Darwin (15); Paul Dirac (11); George Gamow (3); R.C. Gibbs (17); R.J. Havinghurst (9); Werner Heisenberg (6); J.C. McLennan (64); Ernest Rutherford (3); Erwin Schrödinger (1); Arnold Sommerfeld (3); Edmund Stoner (11); Harold Urey (1); as well as papers by Blackett, Kapitza, Kramers, Lennard-Jones, Mott, Narayan, Nuttall, Rayner, Slater, Stober, G.P. Thomson, Van Vleck, Wentzel. Hartree has included 14 of his own papers and 18 by his mentor Fowler.
A short-title list is available from the department.
INCLUDING:
BOHR, Niels. On the Quantum Theory of Line-Spectra. Offprint from: D. Kgl. Danske Vidensk. Selsk. Skrifter, Naturvidensk, 8, IV.1. Copenhagen, 1918[-22]. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue, with annotations by Hartree. A KEY PAPER AS NOTED IN LOT 22.: "publication of which dragged over four years without being completed; the first three parts [published here] appeared between 1913 and 1922, and the fourth unfortunately, was never published... Bohr's theory of the periodic system of the elements, based essentially on the analysis of the evidence of the spectra, renewed the science of chemistry by putting at the chemists' disposal rational spectroscopic methods much more refined than the traditional ones" (DSB). [Vol. 1]
BOHR. The Effect of Electric and Magnetic Fields on Spectral Lines. London, 1922. FIRST EDITION, given as the seventh Guthrie Lecture at the Physical Society of London. [Vol. 16]
BOHR. "Über den Bau der Atome." In: Die Ersten Zehn Jahre der Theorie von Niels Bohr über den Bau der Atome. In: Die Naturwissenschaften, Erster Jahrgang, Heft 27. Berlin, 1923. FIRST EDITION, journal issue, including other important papers on Bohr's atomic theory by Planck, Born, Ehrenfest, Kramers and others. This is Bohr's Nobel Prize address on the structure of the atom, a revolutionary theory which laid an entirely new foundation for our understanding of the process within the world of matter. [Vol. 1]
BOHR. Atomic Theory and Mechanics. Offprint from: Nature. London, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 20]
BOHR. Über die Wirkung von Atomen bei Stössen. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 34, Heft 2/3. Berlin, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 20]
BORN, Max. Zur Quantenmechanik der Stossvorgänge. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 37, Heft 12. Berlin, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 12]
BORN. Quantenmechanik der Stossvorgänge. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 38, Heft 11/12. Berlin, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 12]
BORN. Das Adiabatenprinzip in der Quantenmechanik. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 40, Heft 3/4. Berlin, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 12]
BORN. Zur Wellenmechanik der Stossvorgänge. Offprint from: Nachrichten der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften. Göttingen, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 12]
DIRAC, Paul. The Adiabatic Hypothesis for Magnetic Fields. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, Vol. 109. London, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 12]
DIRAC. The Fundamental Equations of Quantum Mechanics. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 109. London, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. For this and the following paper see the annotation to the description of item number 67 in this auction catalogue. These two papers outline new mechanics in a complete formulation that was more general and useful than that of his contemporaries. Dirac went on to develop a quantum theory of radiation (the foundation of quantum electrodynamics) and to formulate his landmark relativistic theory of the electron. [Vol. 25]
DIRAC. Quantum Mechanics and a Preliminary Investigation of the Hydrogen Atom. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 110. London, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. Dirac introduces his "q-numbers" in this paper, as well as his independently discovered solution of the hydrogen atom, published just five days after Pauli's. [Vol. 25]
DIRAC. The Elimination of the Nodes in Quantum Mechanics. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 111. London, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 25]
DIRAC. Relativity Quantum Mechanics with an Application to Compton Scattering. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 111. London, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 25]
DIRAC. On the Theory of Quantum Mechanics. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 112. London, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 25] *
DIRAC. The Physical Interpretation of the Quantum Dynamics. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 113. London, 1927. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 25] "In 1927 Dirac introduced the idea of second quantization to quantum physics, pointing the way for the development of quantum field theory." (Gribbin p. 106).
DIRAC. The Quantum Theory of Dispersion. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 114. London, 1927. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 25]
DIRAC. The Quantum Theory of the Electron. Parts I and II. Offprints from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 117 and 118. London, 1928. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 25]
Dirac discovers the relativistic wave equation of the electron "What is widely regarded as his [Dirac's] greatest contribution to physics came in the following year [1928] , when he found an equation which incorporates both quantum physics and the requirements of the special theory of relativity to give a complete description of the electron. One of the most remarkable features of this equation was that it had two sets of solutions, corresponding to positive energy electrons; and negative energy electrons, the 'negative energy electrons' are now called positrons. Dirac predicted the existence of antimatter, although even Dirac was not entirely clear what the equations meant until the positron was discovered by Carl Anderson in 1932." (Gribbin p. 107).
DIRAC. The Basis of Statistical Quantum Mechanics. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Cambidge Philosophical Society, Vol. XXV, Part 1. Cambridge, 1929. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 20]
EDDINGTON, Arthur. The Theory of Relativity and its Influence on Scientific Thought. Oxford, 1922. FIRST EDITION. [Vol. 4]
FOWLER, Ralph. Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics. Offprint from: Philosophical Magazine, Vol XLV. London, 1923. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 8]
FOWLER. On Dense Matter. Offprint from: Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. LXXXVII, No. 2. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 19]
GAMOW, George. Zur Quententheorie des Atomkernes. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 51, Heft 3 and 4. Berlin, 1928. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. Gamow "pointed out that alpha decay could be explained in terms of "tunneling." This was the first application of quantum mechanics to the understanding of nuclei" (Gribbin). [Vol. 23]
GAMOW. Zur Quantentheorie der Atomzertrümmerung. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 52, Heft 7 and 8. Berlin, 1928. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 23]
GAMOW and HOUTERMANS. Zur Quantenmechanik des radioaktiven Kerns. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 52, Heft 7 and 8. Berlin, 1928. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 23]
GURNEY, R.W. and E.U. CONDON. Quantum Mechanics and Radioactive Disintegration. Offprint from: Physical Review, Vol. 33, no. 2. Princeton, 1929. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. A highly significant paper, in which R.W. Gurney amd E.U. Condon ouline the application of quantum mechanics to the simple model of a nucleus, the result of which gives the phenomenon of radioactive disintegration. [Vol. 19]
HARTREE, Douglas R. On Atomic Structure and the Reflexion of X-Rays by Crystals. Offprint from: Philosophical Magazine, Vol. XLVI. London, 1923. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 5]
HARTREE. On Some Approximate Numerical Applications of Bohr's Theory of Spectra. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, Vol. XXI, Pt. VI. Cambridge, 1923. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 6]
HARTREE. The Atomic Structure Factor in the Intensity of Reflexion of X-Rays by Crystals. Offprint from: Philosophical Magazine, Vol. 1. London, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 11]
HEISENBERG, Werner. Über eine Abänderung der formalen Regeln der Quantentheorie beim Problem der anomalen Zeemaneffekte. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 26, Heft 4/5. Berlin, 1924. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 12] After submitting his work to the criticisms of Pauli, Landé and Bohr, Heisenberg wrote the present paper entitled "On an alteration of the formal rules of quantum theory in the problem of anomalous Zeeman effects"; the paper was received by the Zeitschrift für Physik in June 1924, and was published in the August issue. "In this paper Heisenberg gave an account of the consequences of the basic ideas, as conceived in fall 1923, for solving the problem of the anomalous Zeeman effects of complex atoms. . . . With [the present paper] on the anomalous Zeeman effects Heisenberg hoped to have come closer to the two goals which he had had in mind since fall 1923: to describe the available empirical data by a set of specific theoretical rules and to relate these rules to the general changes that were necessary in the existing atomic theory" (Mehra & Rechenberg II, pp. 120-22). Heisenberg's modification of quantum theory marks an important step toward the creation of the new matrix mechanics, formulated by Born, Heisenberg and Jordan in the fall of 1925; see Cassidy, Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg, pp. 176-80.
HEISENBERG. Über den Einfluss der Deformierbarkeit der Ionen auf optische und chemische Konstanten. II. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 26. Berlin, 1924. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. "In this paper Heisenberg gave an account of the consequences of the basic ideas, as conceived in Fall 1923, for solving a problem of the anomalous Zeeman effects of complex atoms... With [the present paper] on the anomalous Zeeman effects Heisenberg hoped to have come closer to the two goals which he had in mind since fall 1923: to describe the available empirical data by a set of specific theoretical rules and to relate these rules to the general changes that were necessary in the existing atomic theory" (Mehra & Rechenberg II, pp.120-22). [Vol. 4]
HEISENBERG. Über eine Anwendung des Korrespondenzprinzips auf die Frage nach der Polarisation des Fluoreszenzlichtes. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 31, Heft 7,8. Berlin, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [vol4]
HEISENBERG. Zur Quantentheorie der Multiplettstruktur und der anomalen Zeemaneffekte. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 32, Heft 11/12. Berlin, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [vol. 12]
HEISENBERG. Über die Spektra von Atomsystemen mit zwei Elektronen. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 39, Heft 7/8. Berlin, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [vol. 12]
HEISENBERG. Mehrkörperprobleme und Resonanz in der Quantenmechanik. II. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 41, Heft 4/5. Berlin, 1927. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. Heisenberg's calculation of the energy states of the helium atom, based on the new matrix mechanics and Goudsmit and Uhlenbeck's discovery of electron spin. Heisenberg undertook this work immediately after joining Bohr's Institute of Theoretical Atomic Physics in Copenhagen; within days of his arrival there, he was writing to Pauli to report his progress (see Mehra & Rechenberg, Historical Development of Quantum Theory, III, p. 286, quoting Heisenberg's letter to Pauli of May 5, 1926). Heisenberg found the key to the solution of the helium problem by taking into account not only electron spin but the Coulomb repulsion of the helium atom's two electrons, which gave rise to a new strong force that accounted for helium's large singlet-triplet splitting. "Between 5 May, when he wrote to Pauli about his initial thoughts, and 26 May, when he sketched the scheme in [a] letter to Born, Heisenberg developed the method for calculating the energy states of the helium atom. . . . Heisenberg informed Born: 'The line of thought is totally linked with your calculation for two originally identical systems in Quantum Mechanics II [1926]. Your result was that for two similar systems both the states, which emerge by exchanging the electrons between each other, split into two separate terms; only for originally equivalent orbits does there remain one state' (Heisenberg to Born, 26 May 1926). . . . About two weeks after he had written the [May 26] letter to Born, [Heisenberg] submitted a paper entitled Mehrkörperproblem und Resonanz in der Quantenmechanik (Many-body problem and resonance in quantum mechanics) in which he gave a full discussion of the points he had mentioned to Born. . . . [Heisenberg's] helium calculation opened the path towards an understanding of complex atomic systems" (Mehra & Rechenberg, pp. 291-301, also containing a detailed technical discussion of the helium calculation omitted here). According to Cassidy, Heisenberg's 1926 work on helium spectra enabled him to predict allotropic forms of hydrogen, which "constituted the official grounds for awarding him the Nobel Prize for physics seven years later" (Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg, p. 211 [vol. 12]
KRAMERS, H.A. La diffusion de la lumière par les atomes. Offprint from: Atti del Congresso Internazionale dei Fisici. Bologna, 1928. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 19]
PAULI, Wolfgang and Pascual JORDAN. Zur Quantenelektrodynamik ladungsfreier Felder. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 47, Heft 3 and 4. Berlin, 1928. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 20]
PLANCK, Max. The Origin and Development of the Quantum Theory. Trans. by H.T. Clarke and L. Silberstein. Oxford, 1922. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. [Vol. 4]
RUTHERFORD, Edward and James CHADWICK. Further Experiments on the Artificial Disintegration of Elements. Offprint from: "Proceedings" of the Physical Society of London, Vol. 36, Part, 5. London, 1924. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 15]
RUTHERFORD. Anniversary Address delivered before the Royal Society of London. November 30th, 1928. London, [1928?]. FIRST EDITION, presumably an offprint from the Proceedings. [Vol. 29]
RUTHERFORD. Discussion on the Structure of Atomic Nuclei. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 123. London, 1929. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 29]
SCHRÖDINGER, Erwin. Bemerkungen über die statistische Entropiedefinition beim idealen Gas. Offprint from: Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, XXIV. Berlin, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. This is Schrödinger's second attack on the entropy problem, after his 1921 paper. This is a non-mathematical paper sent to Planck for submission to the Sitzungsberichte of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. "Schrödinger, who in 1925 was also [along with Einstein] investigating problems of quantum statistics, was 'suddenly confronted with the importance of de Broglie's ideas' in reading Einstein's 'Quantenthrorie des einatomigen idealen Gases. 2 Abhandlung,' which appeared on 9 February in Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. He recognized that Einstein had introduced a fundamental new approach, but he sought to 'recast it in a more pleasing form, to liberate it from Bose's statistics,' which he deeply disliked" (DSB). The present paper was published on July 13, and Schrödinger's "Zur Einsteinschen Gastheorie" was finished in December. [Vol. 15]
SOMMERFELD, Arnold and A. UNSÖLD. Über das Spektrum des Wasserstoffs. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 36, Heft 4. Berlin, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY SOMMERFELD TO HARTREE. [Vol. 12]. (30)
Together over 600 offprints in 30 volumes (numbered 1, 3-31 in gilt on spines), many original wrappers bound in. Various 4
THE HARTREE COLLECTION OF OFFPRINTS: A THEORETICAL LABORATORY IN PRINT
Douglas Rayner Hartree's bound collection of offprints follows the years 1918-32, during which time Hartree was an undergraduate at St. John's College, Cambridge (1915-21, including a gap when he served in the war) and a Fellow at St. John's College (1924-27) and Christ's College (1927-29). His postgraduate work was conducted under R.H. Fowler, who with C.G. Darwin in 1922 published a series of important papers on statistical mechanics, developing methods for calculating the "partition functions" associated with the distribution of energy in quantum systems. In the early 1920s, Fowler was among the very few at Cambridge who maintained a continuing interest in the progress of quantum theory.
After Hartree's studies, he was appointed Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Manchester, holding this chair from 1929 until he moved to the chair of theoretical physics in 1937. After undertaking work with the Ministry of Supply during World War II, he was appointed Plummer Professor of Mathematical Physics at Cambridge. He held this post until his death.
Hartree's interests were primarily theoretical in nature, and he developed powerful methods in numerical mathematical analysis. His initial interest in numerical methods arose from his work on anti-aircraft gunnery in 1916-18. It was Niels Bohr's lecture course at Cambridge in 1921 that brought Hartree's research into focus, and he began his work on applications of numerical methods for integrating differential equations to calculate atomic wave functions. The collection begins with Bohr's important Copenhagen paper and includes many significant papers reflecting Hartree's specialization in numerical mathematical analysis of complex systems.
Hartree's "self-consistent field" method for many-electron atoms became the standard approach, or the "Hartree Model," that was later generalized by Foch as the "Hartree-Foch" method to solid-state problems. "Hartree developed ingenious approximation methods for the rather rapid evaluation of such self-consistent fields... Hartree was universally admired for the clarity of his lectures and writings. An outstanding trait was his unselfish generosity in giving aid to others working along similar lines of research throughout the world" (DSB). Hartree applied his methods to ballistics, atmospheric and stellar physics and hydrodynamics. Interested in machine calculation, he built the first differential analyzer in Britain and was a pioneer writer and commentator on the first two or three generations of electronic digital computers in the in the United Kingdom and United States.
Among the scientists included are Edward Arnold Milne, whose 39 offprints here reflect his stature as "one of the foremost pioneers of theoretical astrophysics and modern cosmology" (DSB); Niels Bohr (9); Max Born (4); William L. Bragg (20); C.G. Darwin (15); Paul Dirac (11); George Gamow (3); R.C. Gibbs (17); R.J. Havinghurst (9); Werner Heisenberg (6); J.C. McLennan (64); Ernest Rutherford (3); Erwin Schrödinger (1); Arnold Sommerfeld (3); Edmund Stoner (11); Harold Urey (1); as well as papers by Blackett, Kapitza, Kramers, Lennard-Jones, Mott, Narayan, Nuttall, Rayner, Slater, Stober, G.P. Thomson, Van Vleck, Wentzel. Hartree has included 14 of his own papers and 18 by his mentor Fowler.
A short-title list is available from the department.
INCLUDING:
BOHR, Niels. On the Quantum Theory of Line-Spectra. Offprint from: D. Kgl. Danske Vidensk. Selsk. Skrifter, Naturvidensk, 8, IV.1. Copenhagen, 1918[-22]. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue, with annotations by Hartree. A KEY PAPER AS NOTED IN LOT 22.: "publication of which dragged over four years without being completed; the first three parts [published here] appeared between 1913 and 1922, and the fourth unfortunately, was never published... Bohr's theory of the periodic system of the elements, based essentially on the analysis of the evidence of the spectra, renewed the science of chemistry by putting at the chemists' disposal rational spectroscopic methods much more refined than the traditional ones" (DSB). [Vol. 1]
BOHR. The Effect of Electric and Magnetic Fields on Spectral Lines. London, 1922. FIRST EDITION, given as the seventh Guthrie Lecture at the Physical Society of London. [Vol. 16]
BOHR. "Über den Bau der Atome." In: Die Ersten Zehn Jahre der Theorie von Niels Bohr über den Bau der Atome. In: Die Naturwissenschaften, Erster Jahrgang, Heft 27. Berlin, 1923. FIRST EDITION, journal issue, including other important papers on Bohr's atomic theory by Planck, Born, Ehrenfest, Kramers and others. This is Bohr's Nobel Prize address on the structure of the atom, a revolutionary theory which laid an entirely new foundation for our understanding of the process within the world of matter. [Vol. 1]
BOHR. Atomic Theory and Mechanics. Offprint from: Nature. London, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 20]
BOHR. Über die Wirkung von Atomen bei Stössen. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 34, Heft 2/3. Berlin, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 20]
BORN, Max. Zur Quantenmechanik der Stossvorgänge. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 37, Heft 12. Berlin, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 12]
BORN. Quantenmechanik der Stossvorgänge. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 38, Heft 11/12. Berlin, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 12]
BORN. Das Adiabatenprinzip in der Quantenmechanik. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 40, Heft 3/4. Berlin, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 12]
BORN. Zur Wellenmechanik der Stossvorgänge. Offprint from: Nachrichten der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften. Göttingen, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 12]
DIRAC, Paul. The Adiabatic Hypothesis for Magnetic Fields. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, Vol. 109. London, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 12]
DIRAC. The Fundamental Equations of Quantum Mechanics. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 109. London, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. For this and the following paper see the annotation to the description of item number 67 in this auction catalogue. These two papers outline new mechanics in a complete formulation that was more general and useful than that of his contemporaries. Dirac went on to develop a quantum theory of radiation (the foundation of quantum electrodynamics) and to formulate his landmark relativistic theory of the electron. [Vol. 25]
DIRAC. Quantum Mechanics and a Preliminary Investigation of the Hydrogen Atom. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 110. London, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. Dirac introduces his "q-numbers" in this paper, as well as his independently discovered solution of the hydrogen atom, published just five days after Pauli's. [Vol. 25]
DIRAC. The Elimination of the Nodes in Quantum Mechanics. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 111. London, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 25]
DIRAC. Relativity Quantum Mechanics with an Application to Compton Scattering. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 111. London, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 25]
DIRAC. On the Theory of Quantum Mechanics. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 112. London, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 25] *
DIRAC. The Physical Interpretation of the Quantum Dynamics. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 113. London, 1927. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 25] "In 1927 Dirac introduced the idea of second quantization to quantum physics, pointing the way for the development of quantum field theory." (Gribbin p. 106).
DIRAC. The Quantum Theory of Dispersion. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 114. London, 1927. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 25]
DIRAC. The Quantum Theory of the Electron. Parts I and II. Offprints from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 117 and 118. London, 1928. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 25]
Dirac discovers the relativistic wave equation of the electron "What is widely regarded as his [Dirac's] greatest contribution to physics came in the following year [1928] , when he found an equation which incorporates both quantum physics and the requirements of the special theory of relativity to give a complete description of the electron. One of the most remarkable features of this equation was that it had two sets of solutions, corresponding to positive energy electrons; and negative energy electrons, the 'negative energy electrons' are now called positrons. Dirac predicted the existence of antimatter, although even Dirac was not entirely clear what the equations meant until the positron was discovered by Carl Anderson in 1932." (Gribbin p. 107).
DIRAC. The Basis of Statistical Quantum Mechanics. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Cambidge Philosophical Society, Vol. XXV, Part 1. Cambridge, 1929. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 20]
EDDINGTON, Arthur. The Theory of Relativity and its Influence on Scientific Thought. Oxford, 1922. FIRST EDITION. [Vol. 4]
FOWLER, Ralph. Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics. Offprint from: Philosophical Magazine, Vol XLV. London, 1923. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 8]
FOWLER. On Dense Matter. Offprint from: Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. LXXXVII, No. 2. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 19]
GAMOW, George. Zur Quententheorie des Atomkernes. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 51, Heft 3 and 4. Berlin, 1928. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. Gamow "pointed out that alpha decay could be explained in terms of "tunneling." This was the first application of quantum mechanics to the understanding of nuclei" (Gribbin). [Vol. 23]
GAMOW. Zur Quantentheorie der Atomzertrümmerung. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 52, Heft 7 and 8. Berlin, 1928. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 23]
GAMOW and HOUTERMANS. Zur Quantenmechanik des radioaktiven Kerns. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 52, Heft 7 and 8. Berlin, 1928. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 23]
GURNEY, R.W. and E.U. CONDON. Quantum Mechanics and Radioactive Disintegration. Offprint from: Physical Review, Vol. 33, no. 2. Princeton, 1929. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. A highly significant paper, in which R.W. Gurney amd E.U. Condon ouline the application of quantum mechanics to the simple model of a nucleus, the result of which gives the phenomenon of radioactive disintegration. [Vol. 19]
HARTREE, Douglas R. On Atomic Structure and the Reflexion of X-Rays by Crystals. Offprint from: Philosophical Magazine, Vol. XLVI. London, 1923. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 5]
HARTREE. On Some Approximate Numerical Applications of Bohr's Theory of Spectra. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, Vol. XXI, Pt. VI. Cambridge, 1923. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 6]
HARTREE. The Atomic Structure Factor in the Intensity of Reflexion of X-Rays by Crystals. Offprint from: Philosophical Magazine, Vol. 1. London, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 11]
HEISENBERG, Werner. Über eine Abänderung der formalen Regeln der Quantentheorie beim Problem der anomalen Zeemaneffekte. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 26, Heft 4/5. Berlin, 1924. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 12] After submitting his work to the criticisms of Pauli, Landé and Bohr, Heisenberg wrote the present paper entitled "On an alteration of the formal rules of quantum theory in the problem of anomalous Zeeman effects"; the paper was received by the Zeitschrift für Physik in June 1924, and was published in the August issue. "In this paper Heisenberg gave an account of the consequences of the basic ideas, as conceived in fall 1923, for solving the problem of the anomalous Zeeman effects of complex atoms. . . . With [the present paper] on the anomalous Zeeman effects Heisenberg hoped to have come closer to the two goals which he had had in mind since fall 1923: to describe the available empirical data by a set of specific theoretical rules and to relate these rules to the general changes that were necessary in the existing atomic theory" (Mehra & Rechenberg II, pp. 120-22). Heisenberg's modification of quantum theory marks an important step toward the creation of the new matrix mechanics, formulated by Born, Heisenberg and Jordan in the fall of 1925; see Cassidy, Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg, pp. 176-80.
HEISENBERG. Über den Einfluss der Deformierbarkeit der Ionen auf optische und chemische Konstanten. II. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 26. Berlin, 1924. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. "In this paper Heisenberg gave an account of the consequences of the basic ideas, as conceived in Fall 1923, for solving a problem of the anomalous Zeeman effects of complex atoms... With [the present paper] on the anomalous Zeeman effects Heisenberg hoped to have come closer to the two goals which he had in mind since fall 1923: to describe the available empirical data by a set of specific theoretical rules and to relate these rules to the general changes that were necessary in the existing atomic theory" (Mehra & Rechenberg II, pp.120-22). [Vol. 4]
HEISENBERG. Über eine Anwendung des Korrespondenzprinzips auf die Frage nach der Polarisation des Fluoreszenzlichtes. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 31, Heft 7,8. Berlin, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [vol4]
HEISENBERG. Zur Quantentheorie der Multiplettstruktur und der anomalen Zeemaneffekte. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 32, Heft 11/12. Berlin, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [vol. 12]
HEISENBERG. Über die Spektra von Atomsystemen mit zwei Elektronen. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 39, Heft 7/8. Berlin, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [vol. 12]
HEISENBERG. Mehrkörperprobleme und Resonanz in der Quantenmechanik. II. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 41, Heft 4/5. Berlin, 1927. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. Heisenberg's calculation of the energy states of the helium atom, based on the new matrix mechanics and Goudsmit and Uhlenbeck's discovery of electron spin. Heisenberg undertook this work immediately after joining Bohr's Institute of Theoretical Atomic Physics in Copenhagen; within days of his arrival there, he was writing to Pauli to report his progress (see Mehra & Rechenberg, Historical Development of Quantum Theory, III, p. 286, quoting Heisenberg's letter to Pauli of May 5, 1926). Heisenberg found the key to the solution of the helium problem by taking into account not only electron spin but the Coulomb repulsion of the helium atom's two electrons, which gave rise to a new strong force that accounted for helium's large singlet-triplet splitting. "Between 5 May, when he wrote to Pauli about his initial thoughts, and 26 May, when he sketched the scheme in [a] letter to Born, Heisenberg developed the method for calculating the energy states of the helium atom. . . . Heisenberg informed Born: 'The line of thought is totally linked with your calculation for two originally identical systems in Quantum Mechanics II [1926]. Your result was that for two similar systems both the states, which emerge by exchanging the electrons between each other, split into two separate terms; only for originally equivalent orbits does there remain one state' (Heisenberg to Born, 26 May 1926). . . . About two weeks after he had written the [May 26] letter to Born, [Heisenberg] submitted a paper entitled Mehrkörperproblem und Resonanz in der Quantenmechanik (Many-body problem and resonance in quantum mechanics) in which he gave a full discussion of the points he had mentioned to Born. . . . [Heisenberg's] helium calculation opened the path towards an understanding of complex atomic systems" (Mehra & Rechenberg, pp. 291-301, also containing a detailed technical discussion of the helium calculation omitted here). According to Cassidy, Heisenberg's 1926 work on helium spectra enabled him to predict allotropic forms of hydrogen, which "constituted the official grounds for awarding him the Nobel Prize for physics seven years later" (Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg, p. 211 [vol. 12]
KRAMERS, H.A. La diffusion de la lumière par les atomes. Offprint from: Atti del Congresso Internazionale dei Fisici. Bologna, 1928. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 19]
PAULI, Wolfgang and Pascual JORDAN. Zur Quantenelektrodynamik ladungsfreier Felder. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 47, Heft 3 and 4. Berlin, 1928. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 20]
PLANCK, Max. The Origin and Development of the Quantum Theory. Trans. by H.T. Clarke and L. Silberstein. Oxford, 1922. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. [Vol. 4]
RUTHERFORD, Edward and James CHADWICK. Further Experiments on the Artificial Disintegration of Elements. Offprint from: "Proceedings" of the Physical Society of London, Vol. 36, Part, 5. London, 1924. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 15]
RUTHERFORD. Anniversary Address delivered before the Royal Society of London. November 30th, 1928. London, [1928?]. FIRST EDITION, presumably an offprint from the Proceedings. [Vol. 29]
RUTHERFORD. Discussion on the Structure of Atomic Nuclei. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, Vol. 123. London, 1929. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. [Vol. 29]
SCHRÖDINGER, Erwin. Bemerkungen über die statistische Entropiedefinition beim idealen Gas. Offprint from: Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, XXIV. Berlin, 1925. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. This is Schrödinger's second attack on the entropy problem, after his 1921 paper. This is a non-mathematical paper sent to Planck for submission to the Sitzungsberichte of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. "Schrödinger, who in 1925 was also [along with Einstein] investigating problems of quantum statistics, was 'suddenly confronted with the importance of de Broglie's ideas' in reading Einstein's 'Quantenthrorie des einatomigen idealen Gases. 2 Abhandlung,' which appeared on 9 February in Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. He recognized that Einstein had introduced a fundamental new approach, but he sought to 'recast it in a more pleasing form, to liberate it from Bose's statistics,' which he deeply disliked" (DSB). The present paper was published on July 13, and Schrödinger's "Zur Einsteinschen Gastheorie" was finished in December. [Vol. 15]
SOMMERFELD, Arnold and A. UNSÖLD. Über das Spektrum des Wasserstoffs. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 36, Heft 4. Berlin, 1926. FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY SOMMERFELD TO HARTREE. [Vol. 12]. (30)