Argon, a new constituent of the atmosphere

Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1896. Text figures. Original printed wrappers. A very good copy. First edition. This memoir was submitted by Raleigh and Ramsay, in competition for one of the Hodgkins fund prizes offered by the Smithsonian. “Rayleigh and Ramsay had noted that nitrogen obtained from the air had a density greater than that of nitrogen liberated from its compounds by about one-half percent. This led to the isolation of the first of the inert gases which they called argon” (Dibner). Both authors received the Nobel Prize in 1904.

Rayleigh (1842-1919) formally John Strutt, and Ramsay (1852-1916), were joint discovers of argon. A revised version was printed the prior year in the Philosophical Transactions.

Dibner, 50; Nobel, the Man & His Prizes, p. 299.