RUTHERFORD, Ernest, Lord.

Cambridge: University Press,1904

8vo, pp. (ii)blank, viii, (ii), 399, 1 plate. Two leaves of advertisements inserted at the end. Original green cloth. Paper very slightly browned in the margins, but a very good copy. A few annotations in the margins and numerous annotations on p. 326.

FIRST EDITION. The first textbook on the subject, recognised as a classic at its publication (DSB). “After the discovery of thorium emanations in 1900, new concepts of atomic structure followed from the brilliant experiments of Rutherford. A new theory of atomic disintegration was proposed, then the nuclear nature of the atom. He discovered and named alpha, beta, and gamma rays emitted from radioactive salts and predicted that disintegration of some radioactive elements would generate helium. He also produced in the laboratory the first artificial transmutation of one element into another” (Dibner 51). Horblit 91. Norman Catalogue 1870.

Unsure of some of these terms? Click here to download a copy of Carter & Barker, ABC for Book Collectors (2006), which has full explanations.