WHY SMASH ATOMS? (First UK edition - first printing - PBO - Penguin Cat. No. A141)

Pelican Books - Penguin Cat. No. A141 ***A first printing of the first UK edition - published on October 1945 as a paperback original in the Pelican series of non-fiction titles. With 37 photographic plates and illustrations in the text by Katherine Campbell Duff. The book was first published in the USA in 1940. ***A very good copy in the iconic Penguin designed light blue and white card covers used for the Pelican Books series. The covers have some marks and creasing commensurate with age and handling, but are remarkably clean and undamaged for such a fragile book now almost 80 years old. Edges of covers slightly rubbed and creased. No reading creases to the spine. No tears. Covers very clean. Internally also very good, with no inscriptions but please note a previous owner has clipped the top corner of the front free endpaper. The book is published to War Economy standards, and the paper used is very thin, but there are no serious creases or tears, and the pages are very clean without any foxing. The pages are internally stapled. ***160 pages including a Glossary, section of Notes and Index at the back of the book. 180mm x 110mm. ***'What we today call atom-smashing, the scientists of the Middle Ages called transmutation, a change in the kernel of the atom so violent that its elementary nature is altered. In the Middle Ages the problem was the conversion of metals into gold, the creation of riches from poverty. Unfortunately, the forces required are so great that the alchemists could not possibly have been successful. It was not until 1919 that a scientist, Lord Rutherford, at Cambridge University, for the first time, actually broke through the impenetrable barrier around the atomic kernel and succeeded in making one element from another, in altering the basic nature of one atom so completely that it became a different atom.' (Quote taken from the inside front cover) ***A first printing of the first UK edition of this Pelican book - published as a paperback original shortly after the end of the Second World War. Unusual to find in such nice collectable condition - a very fragile book. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.…