Explaining Atom by Hecht Selig (12 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. Assumed first edition. No jacket. Cover edges scuffed and corners bumped. Especially worn top and bottom of spine. Owner's name inside. Otherwise in good condition.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Moderate edgewear on the boards. Moderate shelf wear. Please note the image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item. Book.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. Hardcover; fading and edge wear to exterior; fading to pages; otherwise in good condition with clean text, firm binding.

hardcover. Condition: very good. Illustrated. xiii + 205 pages, 8vo, cloth. New York: The Viking Press, 1949. A very good copy lacking dust wrapper.

Second printing (as stated upon copyright page). xiv, 205 pages. Hardcover: H 21.5cm x L 14.5cm. Dust jacket with colorful front panel illustration; 2.75cm deep chipping at front panel's lower right; various tears with old tape repairs along with lesser chips and creasing; front flap retains publisher's printed price at top right. Blue cloth; light bumping to spine ends and to boards' top fore-edge corners. Some toning to text block edges. Endpapers toned; past owner's personal bookplate affixed to front flyleaf verso with image transfer onto opposing half-title; interior leaves mostly remain clean. Binding is firm.…

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. First Edition. Name of the previous owner. Publication of 205 pages. The boards are a little shelf rubbed. Internally the pages are clean and complete. The binding is excellent. GK. Our orders are shipped using tracked courier delivery services.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. Wear commensurate with age and use. Clean unmarked copy. Bending and bumping to upper corner of boards and page block. Light scuffing and smudging to boards and spine strip. This could have light cosmetic flaws, but remains in good condition. Dust jacket condition is Good. This copy is the Revised Edition of the published work. Secure packaging for safe delivery. …

Hardcover. Condition: Good. xviii, 237, [1] pages. Periodic Table illustrated on endpapers. Illustrations. Some footnotes. Index. Some pencil marks and erasure residue. Cover has noticable wear and soiling. Selig Hecht (1892 - 1947) was an American physiologist who studied photochemistry in photoreceptor cells. Hecht was born in Austria, and immigrated to the USA at an early age. His studies and talents led to Columbia University making him professor of biophysics in 1928. Hecht began his study into light sensitivity with clams (Mya arenaria) and insects. His specialty was photochemistry, the kinetics of the reactions initiated by light in the receptors. He made contributions to the knowledge of dark adaptation, visual acuity, brightness discrimination, color vision, and the mechanism of the visual threshold. According to biographer Pirenne, Hecht was a "brilliant lecturer and expositor." When World War II ended with the use of atomic weapons which had been developed in secret by the Manhattan Project, Hecht was concerned that the American public was uninformed about the development of this new source of energy. He wrote a book Explaining the Atom (1947), to educate the public. He wrote, "So long as one supposes this business is mysterious and secret, one cannot have a just evaluation of our possessions and security. Only by understanding the basis and development of atomic energy can one judge the legislation and foreign policy that concern it." In a review in the New York Times (4/27/1947), Stephen Wheeler wrote that it was "by all odds the best book on atomic energy so far to be published for the ordinary reader." Similarly, James J. Jelinek wrote that it was an "invaluable contribution to the layman." He credits Hecht with "conveying to the layman the intellectual drama" of the development. Jelinek asserts that the book is "profoundly provocative in its political and sociological implications." After Hecht died, a second edition was issued in 1959 by Eugene Rabinowitch. Eugene Rabinowitch (1901-1973) was a Russian-born American biophysicist who is best known for his work in relation to nuclear weapons, especially as a co-author of the Franck Report and a co-founder in 1945 of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a global security and public policy magazine, which he edited until his death. When Rabinowitch arrived in New York City, he was assisted by Selig Hecht. During World War II, Rabinowitch worked in the Metallurgical Laboratory (or "Met Lab"), the Manhattan Project's division at the University of Chicago. At that time he was a member of the Committee on Political and Social Problems, chaired by James Franck. Rabinowitch wrote (with help from Leó Szilárd) what became known as the Franck Report. The report recommended that nuclear energy be brought under civilian rather than military control and argued that the United States should demonstrate the atomic bomb to world leaders in an uninhabited desert or barren island before using it in combat. The social and ethical concerns expressed in the Franck Report translated into the guiding principles of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, founded by Rabinowitch and fellow physicist Hyman Goldsmith. Over the years, Rabinowitch wrote more than 100 articles for the magazine, most of them editorials. Before the war, Rabinowitch passionately pursued research in photosynthesis, a field in which he was to become a leader. After World War II, Rabinowitch taught and researched botany as a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, continuing his photosynthesis work and publishing the three-volume Photosynthesis and Related Processes, as well as many other books. Revised and Enlarged Edition, with Four Additional Chapters.…

Paperback. Condition: Fair. No Jacket. Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.

Hard Cover. Condition: Very Good. Frayed DJ. First Edition. 205pp Illus ".actually makes the atom and it's energy comprehensible to the intelligent layman.".

Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Dj. Octavo, hardcover, pages very age toned else good in blue boards with red lettering and decorations. First published in 1947, this revised edition from 1955 has 4 additional chapters by Eugene Rabinowitch. 237 pp. preface to first and revised editions; prologue; then 12 chapters explaining the atom with many drawings and illustrations. Book is unmarked. Book. …

Trade Paperback. Condition: Very Good. 2nd Printing Jan 1966. 237 pp. Solidly bound copy with moderate external wear, crisp pages and clean text. Rudolph De Harak (Cover Design) (illustrator).