Essentials of Astronomy (First Edition)

FIRST EDITION, first printing. Original full black cloth with gilt lettering on the spine. Modest wear. No previous owner's names, not exlibrary. Overall a VERY GOOD book. LLOYD MOTZ (June 5, 1909, Susquehanna, PennsylvaniaMarch 14, 2004, New York City) was an American astronomer. Born in Pennsylvania, Motz graduated from the City College of New York 1930 and earned a Ph.D. in physics from Columbia University in 1936. Motz began teaching at Columbia the same year he completed his Ph.D., but over the years also taught courses at the City College of New York, Queens College, Polytechnic University, and The New School. From 1959 to 1992 he mentored in a program he initiated, Columbia's Saturday Morning Science Honors Program for high school students. (His course for ninth graders on 'astronomy to the three-body problem' was known as "Motz for Tots.") College courses he taught included introductory astronomy, astronomical physics, and celestial mechanics. During the 1970s he hosted a television program, Exploration of the Universe. He founded the Phi Beta Kappa chapter at Columbia's School of General Studies. A scholarship was established at Columbia in Motz's honor in 1996. Motz was noted for having defeated Enrico Fermi in a tennis match, and then discussing not his strategy (which was to play the net), but to give a speech on how the conservation of momentum applied to tennis balls and the tightness of strings on the racquets. Size: 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.…