X-Rays and Electrons [with] X-Rays in Theory and Experiment.

annotated by a colleague

Both the first and the second edition of Nobel laureate Arthur Holly Compton's first book, X-Rays and Electrons, from the library of Stanford physicist David Locke Webster, whose early work on x-rays was related to Compton's. With Webster's ownership inscriptions and extensive manuscript notes in the text.

Compton's most important contribution to physics was his 1923 discovery of Compton scattering, which demonstrated for the first time the particle nature of electromagnetic radiation. This was a shocking result given that light was already known to be a wave, and as Compton later explained, 'When I presented my results at a meeting of the American Physical Society in 1923 it initiated the most hotly contested scientific controversy that I have ever known' (Johnston, The Cosmos of Arthur Holly Compton, p. 36). He also studied x-ray diffraction, correctly identified cosmic rays as being charged particles, and was a leading figure on the Manhattan Project.

The owner of these volumes, David Locke Webster (1888-1976) was a professor of physics at Harvard, MIT, and Stanford. Early in his career, he conducted studies that supported the Parson magneton model of the electron, a subject that Compton also worked on.

Webster has made significant manuscript notes of a scientific, mathematical, and editorial nature in this set. The second volume is particularly heavily annotated in preparation for a review, with Webster writing on page one, 'In the book review note that this chapter does a mighty good job for any student with a general knowledge of physics'. Next to a sentence about one of Schrödinger's equations on page 66 he states, 'Wrong! Simpler than saying it right but puzzling to one who thinks'. And on page 97 there is the simple statement, 'A mighty good job'.

First and second edition; 8vo; illustrations throughout the texts, ownership inscriptions and manuscript notes to the contents, particularly the second volume, some loosely inserted manuscript notes; original buff cloth, titles to spines in gilt on black grounds, publisher's devices to upper boards in blind, cloth a little rubbed and marked with some wear at the extremities, a few small bumps, very good condition; 403 & 828pp.