WILSON, HAROLD A. - FORERUNNER OF THE OIL-DROP EXPERIMENT.

On the Electrical Conductivity of Flames Conatining Salt Vapours. Communicated by J.J. Thomson. Received March 19,- Read April 27, 1899.

(London, Harrison and Sons, 1899). 4to. No wrappers as extracted from "Philosophical Transactions" Year 1899, Volume 192 - Series A. - Pp. 499-528, textillustr. Clean and fine.

First printing of Wilson's paper in which he investigated the mobility of ions in flames, studying the electrical discharge in rarified gases...and following J.J. Thomson, made an attempt to determine the charge of the electron by using the cloud chamber. The experiment, in which he observed the fall of the condensation drops in the vertical electric fiels and its absence, was a forerunner of the more precise technique developed by Robert Millikan. (DSB 18, supplement II, p. 992).

Order-nr.: 43600