Beschreibung:

BRAGG, William Henry (1862-1942) and William Lawrence BRAGG (1890-1971). A collection of eight offprints and one book, all FIRST EDITIONS, by the father and son team of physicists, the FOUNDERS OF X-RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHY, most reprinted from the Proceedings of the Royal Society ("PRS") volumes 88-89 (1913-1914), London: Harrison and Sons, [1913-1914]; 8 o except as noted, five (Norman numbers 312 and 314-317) in original printed wrappers (occasional minor soiling), the others as described. THE GROUP INCLUDES ALL OF THE BRAGGS' MOST IMPORTANT PAPERS ON THE X-RAY DETERMINATION OF CRYSTAL STRUCTURE, FOR WHICH THEY WERE JOINTLY AWARDED THE NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS FOR 1915. Contents : 1. BRAGG, W. L. The Diffraction of Short Electromagnetic Waves by a Crystal . Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society , 17, Part 1. Cambridge: University Press, January 10, 1913. Pages 43-57, one halftone plate. (Light dampstain to upper blank forecorners; wrappers slightly soiled.) Provenance : presentation copy to an unidentified recipient (inscription on upper wrapper "With the Authors Compliments"). PRESENTATION COPY of the first paper to announce the Braggs' important discovery of the application of X-rays to the analysis of crystal structure. Laue's announcement of his discovery of the "Laue-Friedrich-Knipping phenomenon," the regular pattern of black dots produced on a photographic plate by an X-ray beam passed through a crystal (see lot 1159), provoked heated discussion among fellow physicists. "William Henry Bragg, who advocated a corpuscular theory of X-rays, was greatly interested in Laue's work, despite the fact that the observed effect was observed in terms of and strongly supported Barkla's alternative wave theory of X-ray radiation". His son William Lawrence who was skeptical of the corpuscular theory, was able to show in the present paper, read to the Society on 11 November 1912, that the phenomenon is produced by electromagnetic radiation reflected from planes in the crystal that are "especially densely studded with atoms" (DSB). In support of his theory he devised a mathematical formula, the famous "Bragg relation," "connecting the wavelength of the X-ray with the glancing angle at which such a reflection could occur" (DSB), which provided the foundation for the systematic X-ray analysis of crystal structures. Bragg's work convinced his father to abandon his corpuscular theory of X-rays and to join his son in a "brilliant period of intense collaboration" (DSB) that lasted until World War I. Norman 311. 2. BRAGG, W. H. and W. L. The Reflection of X-rays by Crystals . Offprint from PRS 88 (1913), pp. 428-438, line block diagrams in text. Announcement of the Braggs' construction of the first X-ray spectrometer, using crystals as diffraction gratings. "Initially Bragg [Sr.] used [the spectrometer] to investigate the spectral distribution of the X rays, relations beteen wavelengths and Planck's constant... and so on. But very quickly he adopted his son's interest in the inversion of the Bragg relation: using a known wavelength to determine d , the distances between the atomic planes, and thus the structure, of the crystal mounted in the spectrometer... Before June 1912 it had not been possible to give the actual arrangement of the constituent atoms of any crystal... By the end of 1913 the Braggs had reduced the problem of crystal structure analysis to a standard procedure" (DSB). Norman 312. 3. BRAGG, W. H. The Reflection of X-rays by Crystals (II) . Offprint from PRS 89 (1913), pp. 246-248. An addendum to the previous paper. Norman 313. 4. BRAGG, W. L. The Structure of Some Crystals as Indicated by their Diffraction of X-rays . Offprint from PRS 89 (1913), half-title, pp. 248-277, numerous line block figures, one halftone plate. Author's marginal pencil annotation qualifying a statement on p. 250. (Slight wear to backstrip, short tear to upper wrapper.) Analysis of the structures of the simple alkaline h