Three Landmark Papers including Uber einen die Erzeugung und Verwandlung des Lichtes betreffenden heuristischen Gesichtspunkt; In Annalen der Physik, Band 17
Leipzig: Barth, 1905. First Edition. Hardcover. 1st edition (in German), the first appearance anywhere of 3 exalted papers by Einstein, each of them dealing with a different subject, each now recognized to be the beginning of a new branch of physics, and each now accredited to be a masterwork. Our 3rd paper (The Special Theory of Relativity) was followed by a 4th paper, later in 1905, that tied mass and energy together, and his General Theory of Relativity followed in 1915. Original cloth (?), complete with half–title and index, rubs to the spine tips still near fine, exceptional for this book and, unusually, without stamps or other marks. Half morocco case. All 3 papers are in this volume, as issued, and it’s superior to, and not comparable to, extractions, because everyone knows that torn out pages are not a book, Multiple copies of the offprints, of one or another of the 3 specific papers, have sold at auction since 1975, and individual issues are also seen, as well as extractions, but, surprisingly, it looks like RBH lists only 11 complete copies of our volume sold at auction in the last 47 years (most in poor condition or in later bindings), the most recent one in 2019 and, typically, that one was an ex–library copy, shaken, and with stamps on the pages and edges. Compared to the individual issues or the offprints, our book seems scarce enough when it’s complete, and yet, it is often wrongly thought of as available on demand, and it is nearly impossible to edify collectors about something that runs counter to what they suppose they already know. For instance: an atom smasher is really a subatomic particle accelerator, the origins of the Renaissance were not in Florence but in Padua, coyotes are actually 15 mph faster than roadrunners, and ignorance is not bliss or more people would be happy. Very good. Item #786
The first paper: Uber einen die Erzeugung und Verwandlung des Lichtes betreffenden heuristischen Gesichtspunkt [On a Heuristic Viewpoint Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light] March 1905 (pages 132–148).
Announcing his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect, an explanation for the emission of electrons from some solids when struck by light. He also proposes that light is composed of individual quanta (later named photons) with wavelike behavior demonstrating properties unique to particles. It is for this paper, and not for The Special Theory of Relativity (see our 3rd paper below), or for the later General Theory of Relativity in 1915, that Einstein was awarded his 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics. Here is the essential sentence from his introduction:
“According to the assumption to be contemplated here, when a light ray is spreading from a point, the energy is not distributed continuously over ever–increasing spaces, but consists of a finite number of energy quanta that are localized in points in space, move without dividing, and can be absorbed or generated only as a whole.”
The second paper: Ueber die von der molekularkinetischen Theorie der Waerme geforderte Bewegung von in ruhenden Fluessigkeiten suspendierten Teilchen
[On the Movement of Small Particles Suspended in a Stationary Liquid Demanded by the Molecular–kinetic Theory of Heat] May 1905 (pages 549–560).
A new view of the universe, proving (ultimately past argument) that there are atoms, the first proof that molecules exist, and providing the first mathematical model of the phenomena of Brownian motion, instigating the field of statistical mechanics (I think that sentence is right, but physics is not my best game, and, in fact, the only things I do well, these days, is sit, write, and plot revenge).
The third paper: Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Koerper [On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies] September 1905 (pages 891–921). Presenting The Special Theory of Relativity, a treatise beyond compare and without precedent, revolutionizing mechanics and generally thought to be the most consequential publication in physics since Newton’s Principia, saying that the laws of physics are invariant, and that the speed of light is fixed and not relative to the movement of the light’s source or the observer. It sets up e=mc2 (light speed is the c2), originally written
as m=L/c2, that went on to say that energy and mass are equivalent.
A scarce trio of papers when (as here) in their complete book. For one contrast of scarcity, RBH lists 10 copies of our 3rd article’s offprint sold at auction since 1975 (with a high price of $60,000). That compares to 11 copies of our complete volume, with all 3 papers, sold at auction in the same 47 years. Do you think it is our hype that these 3 tracts were unequaled in physics? In 2005, The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics commemorated the 100–year anniversary of Einstein’s 1905 papers as the “World Year of Physics,” but that was just confirmation by them because the physics community had long called 1905 “annus mirabilis” (the miracle year). See: Printing and the Mind of Man, 293, 371, and 408. If you want to start a physics collection, or think you just want one or 2 books, buy Newton’s Principia, then buy this book. The debate only begins over what would be third.
Price: $45,000.00