Les Quantités élémentaires d’électricité ions, électrons, corpuscules

Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1905. FIRST EDITION. Original green publishers cloth, gilt printed spine, some wear to panels but a nice set overall. Two photographic plates. First edition of this compilation of scientific essays by the leading physicists of the era published by the Société Française de Physique. Assembled in order to facilitate further experimentation and provide reference for students, the papers herein describe the state of research on elementary particles, radiation, electricity, and ionization as it stood in the early twentieth century. Contributors include Marie Curie, Heinrich Hertz, J.J. Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, Thomas Edison, and many more.

Henri Abraham (1868-1943) was a physicist who pioneered research on radio waves. He was killed at Auschwitz Concentration Camp during World War II. Paul Langevin (1872-1946) developed a number of mathematical models and equations for molecular experimentation. He was a doctoral candidate of Pierre Curie, and later a lover of Marie Curie after Pierre’s death.