German Physicist (85 results)

First edition hard back binding in publisher's original grey paper covered boards, red metallic title and author lettering to the spine, pale grey end papers. 8vo. 9½'' x 6¼''. Contains 216 printed pages of text with monochrome photographs throughout. Small mark to the fore edge. Near Fine condition book in near Fine condition dust wrapper with one small nick to the centre of the spine, not price clipped. Dust wrapper supplied in archive acetate film protection. Member of the P.B.F.A. ISBN 0246131586 ESPIONAGE (Clandestine).

First edition hard back binding in publisher's original grey paper covered boards, red metallic title and author lettering to the spine, pale grey end papers. 8vo. 9½'' x 6¼''. Contains 216 printed pages of text with monochrome photographs. Minimal marking to the closed page edges, small dent to the fore edge first 5 pages. Near Fine condition book in near Fine condition dust wrapper with rubs and creases, not price clipped. Dust wrapper supplied in archive acetate film protection, it does not adhere to the book or to the dust wrapper. Member of the P.B.F.A. ISBN 0246131586 ESPIONAGE (Clandestine).

Pas de couverture. Condition: Bon. Authentic photo (laser print) signed in the 90s. Size : 14.5x21 cm. Condition : see scans please. Certificate of Authenticity and lifetime guarantee. Signé par l'auteur.

(2), 56 pp. Printed wrappers. 8vo. Offprint from Annalen der Physik (Series 4, Vol. 30). Cover inscribed "with cordial greetings". The adjacent signature "Born" is not in the author's hand.

176 x 128 mm, annotated in pencil on verso: "Albert Einstein pl credit Lotte Jacobi 2299-2". A contemplative pose of Einstein in his famous leather jacket, holding his pipe, taken by Lotte Jacobi during the 1938 photo session she undertook with the theoretical physicist for Life magazine. - From the collection of Kalman Talansky (1924-2021).

176 : 128 mm. Albert Einstein and his famous bomber jacket. A contemplative pose of Einstein holding his pipe taken by Lotte Jacobi during the 1938 photo session she undertook with the theoretical physicist for Life magazine. - Photograph by Lotte JACOBI (1896-1990), Princeton, 1938.Annotated in pencil on verso: "Albert Einstein pl. credit Lotte Jacobi 2299-2".

4to. 1 p. Blind embossed letterhead. To the young aspiring Romanian physicist Melanie Serbu (1909-1979), in German living now in Zurich, Switzerland."I believe that the concerns of colleague Wenzel are entirely justified. What I wrote to you was just an insight, casually expressed without knowledge of the relevant specialized literature. Of course, I also don't have the time to engage with this literature and can, therefore, take no responsibility for the matter. However, it would probably be best to choose the topic of the dissertation in line with a colleague there. This way, you can be sure that the work will be accepted if it is completed to his satisfaction, whereas otherwise, you might risk expending a lot of effort in vain."Ich glaube, dass die Bedenken des Kollegen Wenzel durchaus berechtigt sind. Was ich Ihnen schrieb, war nur ein apercu, leichthin ohne Kenntnisse der einschlägigen Spezal-Literatur geäussert. Ich habe natürlich auch nicht Zeit, mich mit dieser Literatur zu befassen und kann deshalb in der Sache keinerlei Verantwortung übernehmen. Es dürfte aber wohl das Beste sein, das Thema der Dissertation in Einklang mit einem dortigen Kollegen zu wählen. Dann sind Sie sicher, dass die Arbeit angenommen wird, wenn sie zu dessen Befriedigung vollendet wird, während Sie sonst riskieren würden, eine Fülle von Arbeit nutzlos aufzuwenden.

4to. 1 page. To the German-American mathematician Ernst Gabor Straus. Einstein refers to a work he has just written in which he resolves the equations of the gravitational field issues from Bianchi's identities; he also congratulates Straus on a beautiful mathematical discovery and invokes by comparison the proof of transcendence of numbers that the latter had simplified. - An assistant to Einstein from 1944 to 1948, Ernst Gabor Straus detected a computational error in one of Einstein's works and, in order to correct it, wrote a paper with him in 1946 entitled "A Generalization of the Relativistic Theory of Gravitation". In 1949, having left his position with Einstein at Princeton University, he published "Some Results in Einstein's Unified Field Theory". The two scientists remained in a working relationship afterwards. - On headed paper; perfectly preserved.

4to. 1 p. Signature and one handwritten correction in green ink. In German. Framed, matted and glazed (46 x 62 cm) with a photographic portrait. To the Russian-French hydrodynamic engineer Wsevolode Grünberg in New York City, concerning a contested inheritance matter in which Einstein had reluctantly agreed to assist. From 1939, Einstein acted as a go-between for Grünberg and his friend János Plesch, an important Hungarian physician who had emigrated to England. "Concerning the inheritance matter", Einstein writes, "I regret having to report that we were not successful in getting my friend to England, as the War prevented it. Nor can I imagine that any hindrance remains to proceeding with the final settlement. I intend once more to encourage Mr. Plesch to put everything in order. As regards your inventions, I suggest that you send them for evaluation to my friend Professor Karman at the California Institute of Technology, who is a first-class expert and has influential connections to the realm of construction and practical implementation in the field. I enclose a letter to him [.]" (transl.). - Wsevolode Grünberg was the nephew of the Russian orthodontist and collector Josef Grünberg, a close friend of both Albert Einstein, who gave him the nickname "Bolshie", and János Plesch during their time in Berlin. It appears that Einstein and his second wife Elsa had become acquainted with Wsevolode Grünberg shortly before their friend's death in 1932. Travelling to America in 1939, Grünberg approached Einstein for an introduction to fellow engineers in the U.S. and help with his inheritance issue back in Europe. The two men met in June 1939 at the home of Irving Lehman in Port Chester, New York, and Einstein subsequently did what he could for Grünberg. In the early 1940s, Grünberg's important hydrofoil designs were used by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to build a seaplane model that was successfully tested at Langley, VA. Ironically, the classification of the project prevented the French citizen Grünberg from seeing the results of the tests until years after the war. Grünberg later became a U.S. citizen, changing his name to Waldemar A. Craig. - Traces of folds. On Einstein's embossed Princeton stationery.

4to. One page, 279 x 216mm. Blind embossed letterhead. In German. 'The controversy about the foundations of the physics of probability'. Einstein is sending in a separate packet the volume printed for his 70th birthday (Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist). 'I am sending it to you as I think that the controversy about the foundations of the physics of probability will perhaps interest you'. Once Bergmann has finished with the book, Einstein asks him to pass it to Rosa Dukas, sister of Einstein's assistant, Helen. Einstein has been discussing the problems of the Hebrew University with the recently-elected president, Selig Brodetzky, who has visited. Selig Brodetzky (1888-1954) was second president of the Hebrew University during a turbulent period, marked by the forced abandonment of the campus on Mount Scopus and disputes with the University Senate.

4to. 1 page. Einstein on the value of relativity for philosophy. Einstein writes to Hans Reichenbach, the philosopher of science and an influential expositor of Relativity. In part (translation): "I am really very pleased that you want to dedicate your excellent brochure to me, but even more so that you give me such high marks as a lecturer and thinker. The value of the th.[eory] of rel.[ativity] for philosophy seems to me to be that it exposed the dubiousness of certain concepts that even in philosophy were recognized as small change. Concepts are simply empty when they stop being firmly linked to experiences. They resemble upstarts who are ashamed of their origins and want to disown them." The letter was published in the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, vol 10, doc 66, pp 323-324 (CPAE Translation, vol 10, doc 66, p 201). Slightly uneven toning, a few spots in upper margin, two-hole punch at left margin, folding creases.

8vo. 1 p. on bifolium. Fine letter of the "father of acoustics" to his publisher Breitkopf & Härtel concerning two articles for the periodical "Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung" ("General music journal"), one of which is a review of Dalberg's work which was published in this year. His review, Chladni demands, shall be printed beyond his name; however, he was not successful for it was printed anonymously (vol. III, 1801, col. 196-200). - The second article (which was in fact "Ueber die wahre Ursache des Consonirens und Dissonirens") can be divided into two parts due to his lenght (col. 337-343 and 353-359). Moreover, he promises to send his review of Grétrys "Versuche über die Musik" ("Experiments in music"). - Tiny folding, and somewhat browned.

Pas de couverture. Condition: Bon. Authentic card signed in 2002. + Photo 10x15 cm (recent print). Size : 7.5x12.5 cm. Condition : see scans please. Certificate of Authenticity and lifetime guarantee. Signé par l'auteur.

Pas de couverture. Condition: Bon. Authentic photo signed in the 90s. Size : 9x15 cm. Condition : see scans please. Certificate of Authenticity and lifetime guarantee. Signé par l'auteur.

12mo: 2 pp. Very good. Addressed to 'Mr. W. Phillips' on otherwise-blank second leaf of bifolium, which carries traces of previous mount. Acknowledges 'the obliging present' of Phillips's 'valuable work on mineralogy' (the influential 'Outline of the Geology of England and Wales', 1822, written with William Conybeare). 'I have been for some time anxiously expecting the appearance of this new Edition [an earlier version had appeared in 1818] as I had given my last copy to a friend.' He is 'sorry the authorities are not sufficient to warrant the publication of the list I did myself the pleasure of sending you as an extensive table arranged in the order of specific gravities is I imagine, still a desideratum.'.

Pas de couverture. Condition: Bon. Authentic card signed in 1999. + Photo 15x15 cm (recent print). Size : 7.5x12.5 cm. Condition : see scans please. Certificate of Authenticity and lifetime guarantee. Signé par l'auteur.

One page, 8vo, two tiny closed tears, sl. dulled, mainly good condition. "I am trying to arrange a subscription for the Times and find that my newsagent cannot supply this unless an extra copy is allocated to him. I find it is essential for me to have the Times to keep sufficiently informed on what is going on. You have already been very helpful in arranging for a copy to be sent out to the British group, of which I was then in charge, at Santa Fe, New Mexico, and I would be very grateful for anything tou can do to accelerate the supply of a copy to me." He concludes with information about his newsagent. See Image.

Pas de couverture. Condition: Bon. Authentic photo signed in the 2000s. Size : 15x10.5 cm. Condition : see scans please. Certificate of Authenticity and lifetime guarantee. Signé par l'auteur.

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. With date stamp of the RSA. In response to a letter from Wood, he writes that he is 'highly honoured by the election to the membership of the Council of your Society', but that he is 'obliged to communicate to you my inability to accept it'. He explains: 'My work at the Royal Society has, in consequence of the War, increased to such an extent that I do not feel justified in undertaking any additional duties'. He notes that 'the meeting of Council are generally held on Mondays, that being almost the only day I have at present at home for the conduct of my private correspondence and outside work'.

2pp., 12mo. 37 lines of text. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. The first sentence reads: 'Gegen das Projekt einer elektrischen Strassenbahn mit Erdleitung habe ich Einspruch erhoben und das Projekt ist von dem Polizei-Praesidium und von dem Ministerium fur offentliche Arbeiten untersagt worden.' The last paragraph refers to 'die Reichs-Telegraphic', 'Telephon', and 'Linien mit Erdleitung in Berlin', and contains a bar of music.

8vo. 1 p. Printed letterhead Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft". To Mr. Ancell: This is to draw your attention to the fact tht - to be sure - you'll find a lot of books about the method of measuring X-rays wave lengths in the Physical Dept. of your University of Albuquerque. []" - Laue was a German physicist who was awarded the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals. In addition to his scientific endeavors with contributions in optics, crystallography, quantum theory, superconductivity, and the theory of relativity, Laue had a number of administrative positions which advanced and guided German scientific research and development during four decades. A strong objector to Nazism, he was instrumental in re-establishing and organizing German science after World War II.

4to. 1 p. Printed letterhead Research Institutes | The University of Chicago". To Robert ancell in Albuquerque: The only proposal I can make to you is to try to get the yearly appearing reports of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science on the Novel festivity of each year. In these little books you will find also pictures and a brief biography of each Nobel Prize winner at the timethey received the Prize. I am sure you will find these books in every great university library or, at least, in the Library of Congress in Washington." - Franck was a German-American physicist who shared the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics with Gustav Ludwig Hertz "for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom". He completed his doctorate in 1906 and his habilitation in 1911 at the Frederick William University in Berlin, where he lectured and taught until 1918, having reached the position of professor extraordinarius. He served as a volunteer in the German Army during World War I. He was seriously injured in 1917 in a gas attack and was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class.

125 : 175 mm. Mounted to larger album page. Nice head and shoulders photograph of the physicist. - Maria Goeppert Mayer was a German-American atomic and nuclear physicist who shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics with J. Hans D. Jensen and Eugene Wigner. One half of the prize was awarded jointly to Goeppert Mayer and Jensen for their model of the atomic nucleus. She was the second woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics, the first being Marie Curie in 1903. In 1986, the Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award for early-career women physicists was established in her honor.

Black and white photograph, 100 x 150 mm. Heisenberg was one of the founders of quantum mechanics and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933. - The signature is written in blue ink below the photograph by the well-known German photographer Tita Binz (1903-70), bearing the stamp of her Munich studio on the reverse: "Tita Binz / 8 München 22 / Schackstr. 1". Accompanied by a blank white envelope. - Photograph and autograph in excellent condition.

4to (280 x 216 mm). 1½ pages. Dated (likely in the hand of Helen Dukas) in pencil at upper and lower right. The manuscript comprises approximately 31 lines of mathematical workings. Einstein devoted the last thirty years of his life to the quest to combine general relativity and Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism into a single physical and mathematical framework which would account for all of the then-known fundamental forces of nature - a "unified field theory". Although his early attempts in the 1920s focused on "distant parallelism", he later concentrated on an approach treating both the metric tensor and the affine connection as fundamental fields, often introducing an element of asymmetry (in variance to the theory of general relativity). Einstein often complained of the heavy mathematical burden imposed by this approach, as demonstrated in the present manuscript. - In mint condition. - Sotheby's, 30 May 1979, lot 49 (part).

4to. 1 page. In German. On blindstamped headed stationery. To the Hungarian-born physicist Cornelius Lanczos (1893-1974) at Purdue University, Lafyette, Indiana, about Lanczos's wave tensor, pointing out that it is indeed invariant in special-relativistic terms, but not the way in which it is constituted from individual waves of different frequencies; adding that his own research on complex space is not yet finished: "Nun noch eine Bemerkung über Ihren Wellen-Tensor: Es ist zwar richtig, dass dieser als Ganzes genommen spezial-relativistisch invariant ist, nicht aber die Art und Weise wie er aus Einzelwellen verschiedener Frequenz konstituiert ist [.] Meine Untersuchungen über den komplexen Raum sind noch nicht fertig". - Einstein further discusses his suffering from "bilious attacks", along with the challenges theoretical physicists face in finding defence work, and advises Lanczos to remain at Purdue University, as getting a job at the Institute for Advanced Study or elsewhere might prove difficult due to the lack of money there, compounded by xenophobia: "Ich glaube aber, dass Leute, die vorwiegend theoretisch gearbeitet haben, nicht so viel begehrt sind, besonders wenn noch die Xenophobie in Frage kommt". - Einstein's remarks about defence work are poignant: although the Einstein-Szilard letter to F. D. Roosevelt on 2 August 1939 effectively launched the Manhattan Project to construct an atomic bomb, he was himself denied clearance to work on it in July 1940, in part because of his pacifist views. In June 1943 he was, however, reported to be advising the Ordnance Bureau of the U.S. Navy on the theory of explosives. - Small tear to left margin.

4to. 1 page. In German. To the Hungarian-born physicist Cornelius Lanczos (1893-1974) with thanks for sending him a copy of his book "The Variational Principles of Mechanics" (1949) and for his having dedicated it to him, pointing out that it has freed him for the time being from the burden of being a passionate non-reader. Einstein ironically adds that despite everything he has learned so far about the American people he hopes the work will gradually find general distribution in U.S. universities: "Sie wissen, dass ich ein leidenschaftlicher Nichtleser bin. Aber Ihr Buch wird mich für eine Zeit von diesem Laster befreien [.] Ich zweifle nicht, dass dies Buch allmählich eine allgemeine Verbreitung in den hiesigen Universitäten finden wird, trotz allem was ich von unseren neuen Landsleuten allmählich in Erfahrung gebracht habe". - Returning to their shared obsession with gravitational theory, Einstein provides three equations which he now feels certain constitute the "overdetermined system" which is "the only natural generalisation of the gravitational equations". The reasoning that has brought him to this conclusion appears as an appendix in "the new edition of my old relativity book", which he will send Lanczos as soon as he has a copy. - Very well preserved.

4to. 1½ pp. In German. On blindstamped headed stationery. To the Hungarian-born physicist Cornelius Lanczos (1893-1974) on the intolerant and megalomaniac character of Erwin Schrödinger. Einstein considers him "intuitively extraordinarily gifted man" who suffers from so stormy a temperament that it makes him argue entirely contradictory opinions in short succession, so that one could quite frequently refute Schrödinger with Schrödinger: "Er ist ein intuitiv ausserordentlich begabter Mensch mit einem stürmischen Temperament und nicht frei von cäsarischen Anwandlungen. Das Temperament bringt ihn dazu, sich zu einer Zeit mit einer Auffassung A zu identifizieren und nach einiger Zeit mit der damit unverträglichen Auffassung B, sodass man meistens Schrödinger mit Schrödinger am schlagendsten widerlegen könnte". - Further, Einstein disapproves of Lanczos's intention to leave his position in Dublin, not least because finding a position in America where one can "immerse oneself in problems" is not at all easy; he urges his friend not to be too suspicious of others' attitudes towards him, even if strong nationalism is a well-known phenomenon among the Irish. - Lanczos had taken over Schrödinger's post at the School of Theoretical Physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in 1952, and in spite of some early difficulties was to remain there for the rest of his life. Einstein himself would pass away only two months after the present letter. - Two small tears near lower left corner and left margin.

4to. 1 page. In German. To the Hungarian-born physicist Cornelius Lanczos (1893-1974), approving of his philosophical lecture, with a snappy remark about the Austrian philosopher Otto Weininger (1880-1903). Einstein comments that positivists and pragmatists appear as "bearers of a world-feeling" in the same way that the Epicureans must have seemed to pious Jews and Christians, or the way "the female" appeared to the misogynic Weininger, pointing out that "unmusical engineering souls" obsessed with sense-data have lost their understanding for questions of philosophy: "Die Positivisten und Pragmatisten erscheinen da so ähnlich als Träger eines Weltgefühls wie die Epicuräer den frommen Juden und Christen erschienen, oder das Weibliche dem Weininger. Es ist aber etwas Wahres daran, nämlich, dass diese philosophischen Richtungen mit auf die Sens-data starrendem Blick, das Verständnis für das Wunder der Begreiflichkeit des nur so indirekt Gegebenen verloren haben, unmusikalische Ingenieur-Seelen". - Einstein concludes that Lanczos's reasoning seems quite "un-American" and wonders how the learned people in the United States reacted to such thoughts, considering it a kind of "psychological test": "Es würde mich interessieren zu erfahren, wie so was Unamerikanisches auf das hiesige gelehrte Volk wirkt. Haben Sie diesbezügliche Erfahrungen gesammelt? Es würde eine Art psychologischer 'test'". - Einstein's use of the word "un-American" in relation to Lanczos's philosophical exploration is prophetic, as Lanczos would indeed be suspected of "Un-American" leanings during the McCarthy-era. - Lower left corner slightly worn, otherwise very well preserved.

4to. 1 page. In German. Greek letter psi added by hand. On blindstamped headed stationery. To the Hungarian-born physicist Cornelius Lanczos (1893-1974) on the difficulties of finding one's way in life, discussing his ongoing dispute with Erwin Schrödinger and Max Born over the "Copenhagen Interpretation" of quantum mechanics. - Einstein is happy to hear that Lanczos is content in his new position in Dublin and no longer considers fleeing to Brazil, an idea Einstein found rather amusing. He compares the struggle of existence with living in the midst of a herd of buffalos, always under threat of being trampled: "Dies ist schon das Beste, was unsereinem erreichbar ist: man ist in eine Büffelherde geboren und muss froh sein, wenn man nicht vorzeitig zertrampelt wird. Die Idee einer Flucht nach Brasilien fand ich etwas drollig". - Turning to scientific matters, Einstein comments on Schrödinger's "desperate attempt" to dismiss the Born rule in favour of the wave function as a stand-alone description of the facts: "Schrödinger hat neuestens den verzw[e]ifelten Versuch unternommen, die Born'sche Interpretation zu verwerfen und die [psi] Funktion unmittelbar als die volls[t]ändige Beschreibung der realen Tatbestände zu proklamieren". - Lanczos had come under suspicion for possible communist affinities in McCarthyite America, and this appears to have caused his move to Ireland in 1952, where he took over Erwin Schrödinger's position at the School of Theoretical Physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Einstein's long-standing objection to the predominance of statistics in the Copenhagen Interpretation was famously summed up in his dictum 'God does not play dice'. The psi function represents the amplitude of the wave in Schrödinger's time wave equation.