“PRACTICALLY EVERY SCIENCE WAS IMPROVED”

(ROENTGEN, Wilhelm Konrad). Annalen der Physik und Chemie… Neue Folge. Band 64. Heft 1. Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1898. Octavo, original paper wrappers; housed in a custom clamshell box. $3600.

First combined appearance of all three papers announcing Roentgen's discovery of the x-ray, which earned him the first Nobel Prize in Physics, in the original paper wrappers.

Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen's first account of the discovery of X-rays showed "how supremely and rapidly he created order in a sphere which was entirely outside all previous human experience. It need only be added that nearly 20 years were to elapse before any palpable advance could be noted in our knowledge of the properties of X-radiation, over and above what Roentgen himself had obtained. The very important medical uses—the first photographs of skeletons were taken by Roentgen himself—were of course obvious and contributed more than anything else to spreading a general knowledge of this new remarkable radiation. In 1901, when the Swedish Academy of Sciences had to distribute the Nobel Prizes for the first time, it was natural that the choice for the Prize in Physics should fall on Roentgen. It may be said without exaggeration that a more worthy scientific achievement and one more in the spirit of the Nobel Prizes than Roentgen's cannot be imagined" (Nobel: the Man and His Prizes, 395-96). In addition to its supremely important medical uses, the X-ray "completely revolutionized the study of chemistry and physics. Laue and the Braggs used the X-rays to show us the atomic structure of crystals. Moseley reconstructed the periodic table of the elements. Becquerel was directly inspired by Roentgen's results to the investigation that discovered radio-activity. Finally J.J. Thomson enunciated the electron theory as a result of investigating the nature of the X-rays" (PMM 380). "Practically every science was improved by the new technique" (Dibner 162). Roentgen's first paper originally appeared in two parts in 1895 and 1896 in a journal chronicling the proceedings of the Würzburg Scientific Society; this printing in the renowned Annalen der Physik und Chemie adds his third and final communication on the subject, and marks the first complete appearance of all three papers in their original language. Contains "Ueber eine neue Art von Strahlen" (parts 1 and 2) and "Weitere Beobachtungen über die Eigenschaften der X-Strahlen." See: Grolier/Horblit 90; Garrison & Morton 2683; Norman 1841. Front wrapper blindstamped, with handwritten numeral in upper margin.

Contents clean; wrappers lightly worn, with spine and one edge taped. A very good copy, in the scarce original wrappers.