HEVESY, George and Fritz PANETH. A Manual of Radioactivity. Oxford: University Press. 1926.
8vo. Publisher's green cloth, gilt lettering to spine, in scarce grey dustwrapper printed in black: pp. xix,[i[, 252, errata slip to p.1, seven photographic plates, text diagrams throughout; wrapper with short tears to hinges at head and faint toning, otherwise near fine.
First edition. Translated from the first German edition of 1923 by Robert Lawson. "In the hands of the translator and the Oxford University Press, the modest, beautifully printed 'Lehrbuch der Radioaktivität' of 1923 has become the imposing, beautifully finished, and handsome English edition of 1926; the little German two-seater is now a handsome blue Daimler saloon complete with coat-of-arms on door." (Nature 118, 475 [1926]).
The Vienna-based partnership of George de Hevesy (1885-1966) and Fritz Paneth (1887-1958) is known for three feats: the 1913 discovery of the radioactive tracer principle; the balloon rides with Victor Hess to test radiation at high altitudes; and the co-authoring of this book. It was the fundamental textbook on radioactive materials, isotopes and detection for the next generation of researchers, those who would take the science forward into the nuclear age. Each author went on to great further success. Paneth is credited with the discovery of "free radicals", unstable molecules with an unpaired electrons that can compromise organic cell stability. De Hevesy discovered the element hafnium and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1943 for his continuing work on isotopic tracing.
SKU: 2125151