Mémoire sur les équations du mouvement relatif des systèmes de corps by Gustave de Coriolis (Bound extract of Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences 2 pp. 172-174, 15 February 1836)
Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1836. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, bound extract, OF THE PAPER IN WHICH GUSTAVE CORIOLIS DEFINES THE CORIOLIS EFFECT -- a phenomenon of the rotation of the earth causing weather phenomena to rise and move in a curved trajectory rather than progress a straight line. The Coriolis effect is the curling motion perceived by an observer in a rotating frame of reference (e.g., the Earth). An illusion of perspective, as the surface of the earth rotates, it appears to someone on that surface that weather patterns are moving in a curve. From the vantage point of space it is clear that the earth is rotating, not the weather.
What is typically referred to as the Coriolis effect in weather is actually three effects working together, only one of which was proposed by French mathematician Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis.
Because the Earth rotates, an object moving in a straight line appears to someone on the Earth to deviate from a straight path in three ways: (1) Vertical motion shifts horizontally; (2) horizontal motion shifts vertically; and (3) horizontal motion shifts horizontally (the effect that is commonly attributed to Coriolis).
As is true for many concepts in physics, the Coriolis effect (as applied to weather) is misnamed. Coriolis developed his equation in 1835 to explain a force on rotating machinery and never applied it to weather (History of Physics, The Wenner Collection). Item #1331
CONDITION & DETAILS: Bound extract of Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences 2 pp. 172-174, 15 February 1836. Quarto (10.75 by 8.25 inches). Handsomely bound in half brown calf with green boards. Gilt-lettered and ruled at the spine. Gilt-lettered as well on the front board. Fine condition.
Price: $700.00