‎LAPORTE MARCEL‎
‎LE RADIUM‎

‎(Nine papers documenting the discovery of radioactivity, the discovery of Radium and Polonium:) 1. Becquerel: Sur les radiations émises par phosphorescence. 2. Becquerel: Sur les radiations invisibles émises par les corps phosphorescents. 3. Becq...‎

‎Paris, Gauthier-Villars, 1896 a. 1898. 4to. Bound in 2 contemp. hcloth, spines gilt and with gilt lettering. In: ""Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de L'Academie des Sciences"", Tome 122 a. 127. - 1633 pp. + 1302 pp. Both with halftitle and title-page. Title-pages with a punched stamp to lower margin. The papers (tome 122:) pp. 420-421, 501-503, 559-564, 689-694, 762-767, 1086-1088. (Tome 127:) pp. 175-178, 1215-1217, 1218. Internally clean and fine.‎

‎First appearance of the landmark papers in which Becquerel documents his discovery of Radio-activity, PROMPTING THE NUCLEAR AGE, and the papers which the Curies announced the discoveries of the 2 elements Polonium and Radium.Becquerel was an expert in fluorescence and phosphorescence, continuing the work of his father and grandfather. Follwing the discovery of X-rays by Röntgen, Bexquerel investigated fluorescent materials to see if they also emitted X-rays. He exposed a fluorescent uranium salt, pechblende, to light and then placed it on a wrapped photographic plate.He found that a faint image was left on the plate, which he believed was due to the pichblende emitting the light it had absorbed as a more penetrating radiation.. However, by chace, he left a sample that had not been exposed to light on top of a photographic plate in a drawer. he noticed that the photographic plate also had a a faint image of the pechblende. After several chemical tests he concluded that these ""Becquerel rays"" were a property of atoms. He had, by chace, discovered radio-activity and prompted thee beginning of the nuclear age. He shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 with Marie and Pierre Curie. The ""Becquerel Rays"" were later discovered to be a composite of three forms of emanation, distinguished by Rutherford as alpha, beta and gamma rays.Dibner: 163 (the later Mémoire from 1903) - PMM: 393 (1903- Mémoire) - Garrison & Morton: 2001 (only the first paper). - Magie ""A Sourve Book in Physics"" p. 610 ff. - Norman:157. ""The Curie's owned their success to an extremely sensitive electroscopic apparatus constructed by Pierre and his brother Jacques, which made possible a ""new method of chemical analysis based on the precise measurement of radium emitted, a method still in use.""(DSB).Becquerel's discovery of the radioactive properties of uranium (1896) inspired Marie and Pierre Curie to investigate radiation. They reported their researches in a series of papers from 1897 in the Comptes rendus. First they isolated a new substance about three hundred times as active as radium. This they called Polonium in honour of Marie's native Poland. A further examnination of the residue of Pitchblende after the removal of uranium and polonium disclosed residual radio-activity far greater than was possessed by either substance alone. To this material the name Radium was given. The radium was found to be about two million times as radio-active as uranium.Garrison & Morton: 2003. - Magie ""A Source Book in Physics"" p. 613 ff.‎

‎Sur une substance nouvelle radio-active dans la pechblende. Note de M.P. Curie et de Mme S. Curie, préséntée par M. Becquerel. (And) Sur une nouvelle substance fortement radio-active, contenue dans le pechblende. Note de M.P. Curie, de Mme P. Curie et... - [RADIUM & POLONIUM DISCOVERED.]‎

‎Paris, (1898). 4to. Uncut and unopened in marbled covers. Kept in a full cloth-box. Large copy, printed on better paper. pp. 175-178 and pp. 1215-17 and p. 1218 in: ""Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Academie des Sciences"" tome 127 No 3 and No 26 (comprising pp. 143-207 (no. 3) and pp. 1211-1218 (of No 26)).‎

‎First editions of the announcements of the discoveries of the 2 elements Polonium and Radium.""Inspired by the research of Becquerel (her teacher and friend) in radioactivity, Mme. Curie and her husband Pierre, worked in the laboratories of the Sorbonne upon uranium and thorium. They also observed that certain substances exhibited much greater radioactivity than the amount of these substances indicated. Further investigation led to the discovery of a new element, polonium, in pitchblende from Bohemia. In december 1898, it was disclosed that compounds of barium extracted from pitchblende contained a new radioactive substance a million times more active than that of the uranium of Becquerel"" it was named ""radium"". From several tons of pitchblende, they were able to extract a decigram of pure radium in 1902, and determined its atomic weight at 225. In the following year the Nobel prize was awarded jointly to Becquerel and the Curies."" (Bernt Dibner). In the last paper Eugene Demarcay spectroscopically examines the substance for the Curies and confirms the existence of a previously unknown element. - Garrison & Morton No 2003 (describing the use of radium in medicine) - Dibner no. 164 (the note) - Norman No 545 (sale no 994) - Grolier Medicine No 84 B.‎

‎Action physiologique des rayons du radium. (The physiological Actions of Radium Rays).‎

‎(Paris, Gauthier-Villars), 1901. 4to. No wrappers. In: ""Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de L'Academie des Sciences"", Tome 132, No 22.. Pp. (1277-) 1375. (Entire issue offered). The paper: pp. 1289-1291.‎

‎First printing of a milestone paper in medical physiology as the report given of the physiological effects (radiactive burns) on his own arm lead directly to study the actions of radium on different diseases and its medical use in general. Radium's use gave promising results as it destroyed diseased cells, tumors and some cancers. The therapeutic method was to be called ""Curietherapy"".""The German scientists Walkhoff and Giesel announced in 1900 that the new substance had certain physiological effects" Pierre Curie at once applied the technique which seemed to him most practical. Indifferent to danger, he exposed his arm to the action of radium. To his joy, a lesion appeared. He watched over it, followed its evolution and, in a report to the Academy, phlegmatically described the symptoms observed (the offered paper).After the action of the rays, the skin became red over a surface of six square centimetres the appearance was that of a burn, but the skin was not painful, or barely so. At the end of several days the redness, without growing larger, began to increase in intensity on the twentieth day it formed scabs, and then a wound which was dressed with bandages" on the forty-second day the epidermis began to form again on the edges, working toward the centre, and fifty-two days after the action of the rays there was still a surface of one square centimetre in the condition of a wound, which assumed a greyish appearance indicating deeper mortification."" (Third Millenium Library. Biohistory).‎

‎Sur la radio-activité des sels de radium. (+) Sur la radio-activité provoquée par des sels de radium. (These 2 with Debierne). (+) Sur la constante de temps caractéristique de la disparition de la radioactivité induite par leradium dansune enceinte fe...‎

‎(Paris, Gauthier-Villars), 1901. 4to. No wrappers. In: ""Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de L'Academie des Sciences"", Tome 133, No 5 and No 23. Pp. (969-) 1044 and pp. (909-) 966. The papers: pp. 276-279 + pp. 931-934 (both from vol. 133, and entire issues offered) + Tome 135, No 20. Pp. (821-) 880. (Entire issue offered). The paper: pp. 857-59. + Tome 136, No 4. Pp. (181-) 262. (Entire issue offered). The paper: pp. 223-226.‎

‎First printing of these four papers, constituting a revolution in time measuring, as Pierre Curie here defined a STANDARD FOR THE ABSOLUTE MEASURING OF TIME ON THE BASIS OF RADIOACTIVITY, and hereby departing from the relative measurements in geology and archaeology.After the discovery of Polonium and Actinium (1898 a. 1899 ) further discoveries followed. ""First came the announcement in 1899 by Marie Curie of induced radioactivity, brought about by the action of polonium or radium on inactive substances. The induced radioactivity persisted over a considerable period of time, a phenomenon of great concern to Pierre Curie. He took up the question with Debierne, with whom he published two papers in 1901(the first two papers offered)"" their experiments could be explained by Rutherford’s theory of emanation (radon), a radioactive gas emitted by radium. With J. Danne, Curie measured the diffusion coefficient of radium emanation in the air and proved, as Rutherford had done, that it liquefies at - 150°C. In order to clarify the nature of the emanation he studied the law of diminution of the activity of a solid after having removed it from a chamber in which a radium salt was present. In two notes presented to the Academy on 17 November 1902 and 26 January 1903 (the third and fourth papers offered), Curie showed that this activity diminishes according to an exponential law characterized by a time constant that, for the emanation, is equal to 5,752 days, regardless of the conditions of the experiment. The importance of this discovery, which marks the point of departure for all modern measurements of archaeological and geological dating, did not escape his, for at a meeting of the Société Française de Physidque in 1902 he defined a standard for the absolute measurement of time on the basis of radioactivity. Almost immediately Rutherford and Soddy showed that the exponential diminution was caused by the transmutation of radioactive elements."" (DSB. Pierre Curie).‎

‎Soddy Fr. Radium. Public Lectures on the Nature of Radium given at the Universit‎

‎Soddy Fr. Radium. Public Lectures on the Nature of Radium given at the University of Glasgow in 1908 In Russian (ask us if in doubt)/Soddi Fr. Radiy. Obshchedostupnye lektsii o prirode radiya chitannye v universitete v Glazgo v 1908 godu. Short description: In Russian (ask us if in doubt).With illustrations in the text and on separate sheets. We have thousands of titles and often several copies of each title may be available. Please feel free to contact us for a detailed description of the copies available. SKUalb3dd1aa9dc1702744‎