CROOKES, WILLIAM. - ARGON - THE FIRST OF THE INERT GASES.

On the Spectra of Argon. Received January 26, - Read January 31, 1895.

(London, Harrison and Sons, 1895). 4to. No wrappers as extracted from "Philosophical Transactions" 1895 - Vol. 186 - Series A, Part I. Pp. 243-251 and 1 plate (The Spectra of Argon). Clean and fine.

First appearance of a classic paper in which Crookes by his spectrographic methods confirms the discovery of argon by Ramsey and Rayleigh in 1895. The plate is the first to show the spectra of argon, the first of the inert gases to be discovered.
The paper first describes the spectra obtained by passing an electric discharge through argon at very low pressures,. Several specimens of argon (some containing traces of nitrogen) were invested. Crookes distinguished between the spectral lines attributable to argon and those of nitrogen and verified that the argon isolated by Lord rayleigh and William Ramsay was truly a new chemically inert element. (Neville I:p. 313).

Sir William Crookes (1832-1919) studied at the Royal College of Chemistry , London, and served there as an assistant to Hoffmann. In 1859 he founded the Chemical News and remained its proprietor and editor until his death. he early attracted attentuion by his discovery of the element thallium by spectroscopic methods. he was an active investigator in many fields of physics and contributed greatly to the advance of knowledge by his study of the radiometer and of the electric discharge in rarefied gases. -
(PMM: 386 describing J.J. Thomson's Cathode Rays). - Magee, Source Book in Physics p. 564 ff.

Order-nr.: 42531