Berlin: Vieweg und Springer, 1923. 1st Edition. This paper, “On the Quantum Theory of the Radiative Equilibrium” introduces the expression “negative irradiance” ("negative Einstrahlung") for the emission of a quantum by action of irradiance (Calaprice, 121). Following his work on general relativity in 1916, Einstein continued searching for new ways..... More

Berlin: Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1922. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, COMMERCIAL OFFPRINT ISSUE, OF EINSTEIN’S THEORY OF THE LIGHT PROPAGATION IN DISPERSIVE MEDIA. WEIL 120. “After 1917 Einstein firmly believed that light-quanta were here to stay [thus] it is not surprising that he would look for new ways in..... More

New York: Ivison, Phinney, & Co., 1859-1860. 1st edition of FERREL’S 19th CENTURY “MAGNUM OPUS” PROPOSING THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE PHYSICAL THEORY OF THE ATMOSPHERE. Considered “the first really powerful intellect to focus sustained attention on meteorology,” the American meteorologist, William Ferrel here provides “the first general formulation of the equations..... More

Paris: Bachelier. First printing of a letter extracted from Comptes Rendus of a letter from Michael Faraday to another chemist Jean-Baptiste Dumas. In it, Faraday very clearly writes of his then nascent thoughts regarding the relationship between light, magnetism, and electricity, here specifically describing the magnetic rotation of light. Though..... More

New York: American Physical Society, 1963. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OF KERR’S LANDMARK 1963 PAPER DESCRIBING THE MATHEMATICS OF ROATATING BLACK HOLES, A WORK THAT EXACTLY SOLVED EINSTEIN’S EQUATIONS OF GENERAL RELATIVITY. Not infrequently, Kerr’s achievement is described without hyperbole as the most important exact solution to any equations in..... More

FIRST EDITION OF THE SEMINAL PAPER IN WHICH HUBBLE PRESENTS HIS CLASSIFICATION OF GALAXIES, ESTIMATES THEIR MEAN DENSITIES, & DERIVES FOR THE FIRST TIME THE MEAN MASS DENSITY IN GALAXIES IN THE UNIVERSE AS A WHOLE. THE PAPER IS “A MORE OR LESS COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF GALAXIES AS EXTRAGALACTIC SYSTEMS…..... More

Chicago: University of Chicago, 1929. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OF A WORK IN WHICH THE AMERICAN ASTRONOMER HENRY NORRIS RUSSELL CONCLUDES THAT HYDROGEN & HELIUM ARE THE LARGEST CONSTITUENTS OF THE SUN. Russell’s conclusions aren’t disputed, but they were shared and not wholly original to him. Russell was assigned to..... More

1st Edition. THE FOUR-COLOUR (Color) PROBLEM (OR THEOREM) IS “THE FIRST MAJOR THEOREM TO BE PROVED USING A COMPUTER” (Lamb, Having Fun with the 4-Color Theorem, Scientific American, March 1, 2013). Because the problem had “resisted the attempts of able mathematicians for over a century…when it was successfully proved in..... More

London: Royal Society, 1877. 1877. PRISTINE EXTRACT, 1st edition of the INVENTION OF THE SOLAR CELL. This printing is the true first and preceeds the Proceedings of the Royal Society printing which we offer separately]. ADAMS' & DAYS DEMONSTRATION THAT ELECTRICITY COULD BE PRODUCED FROM LIGHT WITHOUT MOVING PARTS AND..... More

Leipzig. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OF EINSTEIN’S 1st PAPER with 2nd EDITION OF PLANCK’S SEMINAL DOCUMENT, THE INVENTION OF THE QUANTUM THEORY. EINSTEIN: “Conclusions Drawn from the Phenomena of Capillarity,” Einstein’s first publication, is dated December 13, 1900, but was not published until the following March. “Using both thermodynamic and..... More

1963. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST OBSERVATION OF A QUASAR. While studying the light spectra of radio sources at the California Institute of Technology, Maarten Schmidt identified the visible object corresponding to a radio source known as 3C 273. While its star-like appearance suggested it was relatively nearby..... More

Edinburgh: W & A. K. Johnston, 1882. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION. 18 PLATES. Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819-1900) was a British astronomer known for his many innovations. He was Astronomer Royal for Scotland. [He was also] “professor of practical astronomy in the University of Edinburgh. His primarily interest was in experimental..... More

London: Harrison & Sons, 1929. 1st Edition. Handsomely rebound FIRST EDITION of 2 Important papers Atkinson & Houtermans’ SEMINAL PAPER CONCLUDING THAT QUANTUM TUNNELING MAY ALLOW FOR THE GENERATION OF ENERGY IN STARS THROUGH NUCLEAR FUSION with 1st ed. OF THE MOST ACCURATE ESTIMATE OF THE AGE OF THE EARTH..... More