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PLANCK, MAX. 1858-1947. "Zur Theorie des Gesetzes der Energieverteilung im Normalspectrum" [On the Theory of the Law of Energy Distribution in the Continuous Spectrum]. In: Verhandlung der Deutschen Physikalishcen Gesellschaft in Jahre 1900. Jahrg. 2, No. 17, pp 237-252. Leipzig: Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1900. image 1
PLANCK, MAX. 1858-1947. "Zur Theorie des Gesetzes der Energieverteilung im Normalspectrum" [On the Theory of the Law of Energy Distribution in the Continuous Spectrum]. In: Verhandlung der Deutschen Physikalishcen Gesellschaft in Jahre 1900. Jahrg. 2, No. 17, pp 237-252. Leipzig: Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1900. image 2
Lot 139

PLANCK, MAX. 1858-1947.
"Zur Theorie des Gesetzes der Energieverteilung im Normalspectrum" [On the Theory of the Law of Energy Distribution in the Continuous Spectrum]. In: Verhandlung der Deutschen Physikalishcen Gesellschaft in Jahre 1900. Jahrg. 2, No. 17, pp 237-252. Leipzig: Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1900.

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PLANCK, MAX. 1858-1947.

"Zur Theorie des Gesetzes der Energieverteilung im Normalspectrum" [On the Theory of the Law of Energy Distribution in the Continuous Spectrum]. In: Verhandlung der Deutschen Physikalishcen Gesellschaft in Jahre 1900. Jahrg. 2, No. 17, pp 237-252. Leipzig: Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1900.
8vo. Whole number. Original printed wrappers, bound into half calf and marbled boards. Some light dust-soiling to wrappers, else fine.
BOUND WITH: Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft im Jahre 1900 nos. 1-16.

RARE FIRST PRINTING OF THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF PLANCK'S REVOLUTIONARY QUANTUM THEORY, for which Planck went on to be awarded the 1918 Nobel prize for Physics. Planck's constant h, the quantum of action, explained the pattern of light intensity which was emitted from a black body at any given frequency. "In this important paper he stated that energy flowed not in continuous, indefinitely divisible currents, but in pulses or bursts of action [or quanta]" (Dibner). Planck's theory "contradicted the mechanics of Newton and the electromagnetics of Faraday and Maxwell. Moreover it challenged the notion of the continuity of nature" (PMM). Planck's new theory was baffling to other scientists, but it gained acceptance after Niels Bohr applied it to the the principle of the atom, and after Einstein used his constant h to determine the photoelectric effect. Dibner Heralds of Science 166; Evans 47; Grolier/Horblit 26a; Norman 1713; Printing and the Mind of Man 391a; Sparrow 162.

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