“SECOND ONLY TO EINSTEIN”: FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF BOHR’S SPECTRA AND ATOMIC CONSTITUTION, THE HUNT FOR ELEMENT 72

BOHR, Niels. The Theory of Spectra and Atomic Constitution, Three Essays. Cambridge: University Press, 1922. Octavo, original maroon cloth. $950.

First edition in English of three fundamental essays on atomic theory by Nobel Laureate Bohr, originally published in Danish between 1918 and 1922.

In 1918, Niels Bohr was named the first director of the now-famous Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen. In 1922, he won the Nobel Prize in physics. "By 1918 Bohr had visualized, at least in outline, the whole theory of atomic phenomena;" these three essays were the first fruits of Bohr's revolutionary application of quantum theory to matters of atomic structure. "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). "Bohr's contributions to 20th-century physics would rank second only to Einstein's" (Richard Rhodes). The third essay, the text of an address Bohr delivered in 1921, dramatically highlights Bohr's refined methods in a discussion of the as-yet undiscovered 72nd element. Dauvillier had recently claimed to identify this element, which he called 'celtium.' Bohr here points out the problems posed by Dauvillier's claim (p. 114). Shortly after this address, in 1922, "under the direct guidance of Bohr's theoretical predictions of the properties of the element" (DSB), scientists at Bohr's institute correctly isolated the element with atomic number 72. They named it 'hafnium,' as we know it today, from the Latinized name of Copenhagen. Other essays include "On the Spectrum of Hydrogen," "On the Series Spectra of the Elements," and "The Structure of the Atom and the Physical and Chemical Properties of the Elements. Scientific 100, 15ff. See Norman 258. Owner signature on half title, small bookseller's label on rear pastedown.

Spine lightly sunned, corners bumped. Ab extremely good copy.