RÖNTGEN, W.C. (WILHELM CONRAD ROENTGEN). - THE SECOND SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION BEGINS.

Ueber eine neue Art von Strahlen. (Erste- Zweite Mittheilung) + Weitere Betrachtungen über die Eigenschaften der X-Strahlen. (Dritte Mittheilung). 3 Papers (all).

Leipzig, Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1898. Contemp. hcloth, A small nick to boards on frontcover. Light wear to spine ends. Gilt lettering to spine. A stamp to verso of title-page. In Annalen der Physik und Chemie, Neue Folge, Band 64. VIII,(2),812 a. 2 plates. Röntgen's papers: 1. pp. 1-11, pp. 12-17 a. pp. 18-37. Internally clean and fine.

First full exposition of Röntgen's discovery of X-rays, the foundation stones of roentgenology, unveiling a new form of matter and offering a new revolutionary method for medical diagnosis.
In order to ensure priority for his discovery, Röntgen first published the two first papers (Erste-Zweite Mittheilung) as offprints from "Sitzungsberichte der Physikalisch-medicinischen Gesellschaft zu Würtzburg" in 1895-96, but his discovery only finds its full form in the offered papers, as "Dritte Mittheilung" appears here.

"Aside from its obvious applications, Roentgen's discovery galvanized the world of physics and led to a rash of further discoveries that so completely overturned the old concepts of the science, that the discovery of X-rays is sometimes considered the first stroke of the Second Scientific Revolution. (The First Scientific Revolution is, of course that which included Galileo and his experiments on falling bodies). Within a matter of months, investigations of X rays led to the discovery of radioactivity by Becquerel....The importence of the discovery was well recognized in its own time. In 1896 Roentgen shared the Rumford Medal with Lenard and in 1901, when Nobel Prizes were set up.the first to be honoured with a Nobel Prize in Physics was Roentgen." (Asimov).

Garrison & Morton No 2683 (only listing 1. paper) - PMM No 380 (listing only 2 parts) - Dibner: 162 (listing only 2 parts).

Order-nr.: 48742