© J.W. Rush 3-29-05

 

 

 

SOURCES FOR NEW AND HISTORICAL PHYSICS PAPERS AND BOOKS:

 

Initial list compiled by: J.W. Rush

 

Please feel free to make additional contributions and suggestions.

 

NOTES: (1) Some internet address links might occasionally be changed or removed from various websites. (2) Some computer-scanned or re-typed text might contain slight typing errors, when compared to photocopies of the original documents. (3) Occasionally, some original material is left out of later reproductions of early papers. For example, in the 1869 reproduction of the important 1868 Huggins paper, his letter from Maxwell is not included in the 1869 reproduction, but it was included in the 1868 original.

 

 

SPECIFIC BOOKS AND PAPERS:

 

“Quote marks” = papers, bold text = books

 

Max Abraham, “Relativitat und Gravitation. Erwiderung auf eine Bemerkung des Hrn. A. Einstein,” Annalen der Physik 38 (1912), pgs. 1056-1058. Early critique of SRT. Photocopies of paper available at: http://nausikaa2.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de:86/cgi-bin/toc/toc.x.cgi?dir=Abrah_Relat_01_1912&step=thumb

More Max Abraham papers here:

http://echo.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/content/relativityrevolution/gehrcke/offprints

 

Eugenio Beltrami, "Teoria Fondamentale Degli Spazii di Curvatura Costante," (“Fundamental theory of Space of Constant Curvature”), Annali di Matem., t. II. (1868-69), pgs. 232-255, also published in the Italian language in Opere Matematiche. Tomo Primo / di Eugenio Beltrami, 1902, pgs. 406-429. An early paper on non-Euclidean geometry regarding curved space:

http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-99432

 

Hastings Berkeley, Mysticism in Modern Mathematics, published by Henry Frowde, London, New York, 1910. A critique of mathematicians who tried to apply purely mathematical non-Euclidean geometry concepts to reality, such as Helmholtz’s two dimensional beings and multi-dimensional space (see page 213): http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=umhistmath;idno=AAS8341.0001.001

Marietta Blau, “On the photographic effects of natural H-rays,” Technical Note of the Institute of Radium research No. 179, Vienna, 1925, atomic theory paper:

http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~cwp/articles/blau/blau-rosenz.html

 

Arthur Cayley, “The British Association Inaugural Address,” The Living Age magazine, Oct. 20, 1883, pages 177-188. An early essay on Riemann non-Euclidean geometry of four-dimensional space and two-dimensional beings living on the surface of a sphere (see page 183):

http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABR0102-0159-5

 

Arthur Cayley, “On the Non-Euclidean Plane Geometry,” From the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Vol. XXXVII. (1884), pgs. 82-102, also in The Collected Mathematical Papers of Arthur Cayley, Vol. XII, 1897, pgs. 220-238. See Cayley’s discussion about a “pseudosphere” and multi-dimensional space of positive and negative curvature: http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=umhistmath;idno=ABS3153.0012.001

 

Arthur H. Compton, “A Quantum Theory of the Scattering of X-Rays by Light Elements,” The Physical Review, Vol. 21, No. 5, May 1923:

http://www.aip.org/history/gap/Compton/Compton.html#compton1

 

Mme. Marie Sklodowska Curie, Recherches sur les Substances Radioactives, Doctoral Dissertation, 1904, 155 pages: http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-62483

 

Mme. Marie Sklodowska Curie, “Radium and Radioactivity,” Century Magazine (January 1904), pgs. 461-466: http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~cwp/articles/curie.htm

 

Herbert Dingle, Science at the Crossroads, Martin, Brian and O'Keefe Ltd. 1972. A critique of SRT, occasionally available through booksellers at: http://www.trussel.com/f_books.htm

Full English text available at: http://russamos.narod.ru/l-dingle.htm#contents

 

Christian Doppler, “Uber das farbige Licht der Doppelsterne und einiger anderer Gestirne des Himmels,” Abhandlungen der Königliche Böhmischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Series V, Vol. II, Prague, 1842. Also published in ABHANDLUNGEN, by Christian Doppler, a collection of 11 important Doppler papers (in German), edited by H.A. Lorentz, published by Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig, 1907. Contains 36 original Doppler illustrations of the classical Doppler effect. Also contains a rare paper by Lorentz about Doppler’s theory. This hardback book is occasionally available through:

http://www.trussel.com/f_books.htm

 

Albert Einstein, “Ether and the Theory of Relativity,” The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Paperback edition of Volume 7, beginning on page 160. Full text available at:

http://www.mountainman.com.au/aether_0.html

 

Albert Einstein, “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies”, 1923 English translation:

http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/www/

 

Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and General Theory, 1920 English translation of Einstein’s 1916 book, (missing the 5th Appendix): http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/einstein/works/1910s/relative/

 

Albert Einstein, PDF files of 49 Einstein papers (in German) as originally published in Annalen der Physik between 1901 and 1922; click on each paper’s code number for download of each one:

http://www.physik.uni-augsburg.de/annalen/history/Einstein-in-AdP.htm

 

Louis Essen, 1996, a critique of Special Relativity in Dr. Essen’s unpublished book chapter. Essen invented the first cesium atomic clock: http://www.btinternet.com/~time.lord/Relativity.html

 

Ernst Gehrcke collection of early Einstein newspaper clippings; Henry Poincaré letters; Einstein and Minkowski notes; Walter Zabel notes; David Hilbert papers:

http://echo.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/content/relativityrevolution

 

Oliver Heaviside, many late-19th and early 20th Century electrodynamics and electromagnetic wave papers, relative motion, comments on early Lorentz and Larmor theory, light speed. In three book volumes. See index of each volume listed at this website:

http://www.elibron.com/english/other/author_list.phtml?author_id=10010509

 

Joseph Henry, “On the Production of Currents and Sparks of Electricity from Magnetism,” The American Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. XXII, July 1832, and “On Electro-Dynamic Induction,” American Philosophical Society Transactions, vol. 6, 1839, p. 303-37, first 17 pages available here:

http://www.aip.org/history/gap/Henry/Henry.html#henry1

 

John F. Herschel, Outlines of Astronomy, Blanchard & Lea, Philadelphia, 1861:

http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=ABA9079.0001.001

John F. Herschel, Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects, G. Routledge & Sons, London, 1871, containing “Theories of Light” (page 268):
http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AJN1162.0001.001

 

Heinrich Hertz, “The Forces of Electric Oscillations, Treated According to the Maxwell Theory,” Weidemann’s Ann. 36, page 1, 1889, also in the book Electric Waves, 1893. Go to page 137 of the book to see the 1889 paper. Go to table of contents for a list of all papers in the book:

http://historical.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cul.cdl/docviewer?did=cdl334

 

Edwin Hubble, “A Relation Between Distance and Radial Velocity Among Extra-Galactic Nebulae,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 15 : March 15, 1929 : Number 3:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/diamond_jubilee/1996/hub_1929.html

 

William Huggins, “Further Observations on the Spectra of Some of the Stars and Nebulae, With an Attempt to Determine Therefrom Whether These Bodies are Moving Towards or From the Earth....,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 158 (1868) 529-564. Also published in Spectrum Analysis, Six Lectures, by Henry Roscoe, Appleton and Co., New York, pgs. 272-310 (1869). Huggins text available on Roscoe book page 272 at:

http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AJN2958.0001.001

Abbé Georges Lemaître, “A homogeneous universe of constant mass and increasing radius accounting for the radial velocity of extra-galactic nebulae,” Annales de la Société Scientifique de Bruxelles, Tome XLVII, série A,1927. English translation (with updated additions) published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 91, p.483-490, 1931. This is the first modern “big bang” theory: http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1931MNRAS..91..483L

 

Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Circular 173, Harvard College Observatory, March 3, 1912, about Cepheid variable stars: http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~cwp/articles/leavitt/leavitt.note.html

 

Gilbert N. Lewis, “The Conservation of Photons,” a letter to the journal Nature (London), 118 (Dec. 18, 1926), 874-875. Introduction of the word “photon” into the physics vocabulary in 1926:

http://www.nobeliefs.com/photon.htm

 

Oliver Lodge, The Ether of Space, Harper & Brothers, 1909. This and other bound photocopy reprints of Lodge books and papers on light are available through:

http://www.elibron.com/english/other/item_detail.phtml?msg_id=10005458

 

H.A. Lorentz, Versuch Einer Theorie Der Elektrischen Und Optischen Erscheinungen In Bewegten Körpern, E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1895. The forerunner of 20th Century “relativity” books. Reprint available through: http://www.elibron.com/english/other/item_detail.phtml?msg_id=10017783

 

H.A. Lorentz, “Considerations Concerning the Influence of a Magnetic Field on the Radiation of Light,” Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 9, page 37-46, 1899, about the Zeeman Effect:

http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1899ApJ.....9...37L

 

H.A. Lorentz, A. Einstein, H. Minkowski, A. Sommerfeld, Das Relativitätsprinzip, the original 1913 German edition of “The Principle of Relativity.” See Table of Contents:

http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=umhistmath;idno=ATE6002.0002.001

Lise Meitner, O.R. Frisch, “Disintegration of Uranium by Neutrons: A New Type of Nuclear Reaction,” Nature, 143, 239-240, (Feb. 11, 1939):

http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/Begin/Nature_Meitner.shtml

 

Albert Michelson and Edward Morley, “On the Relative Motion of the Earth and the Luminiferous Ether,” The American Journal of Science, Vol. 34, No. 203, Nov. 1887, pgs. 333-345. Photocopy available at: http://www.aip.org/history/gap/Michelson/Michelson.html#michelson1

 

Albert Michelson, H.A. Lorentz, et al., “Conference on the Michelson-Morley Experiment Held at Mount Wilson, February, 1927,” Astrophysical Journal, vol. 68, Number 5, pg. 341-402, 1928:

http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1928ApJ....68..341M

 

Isaac Newton, portions of Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (the Principia):

http://members.tripod.com/~gravitee/toc.htm

 

Isaac Newton, PDF downloads of editions of Newton’s Opticks:

http://dibinst.mit.edu/BURNDY/Collections/Babson/OnlineNewton/Opticks.htm

 

Max Planck, “On the Law of Distribution of Energy in the Normal Spectrum”, Annalen der Physik,
vol. 4, p. 553 ff (1901). English translation of one of Planck’s “light quantum” papers:

http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/webdocs/Chem-History/Planck-1901/Planck-1901.html

 

Edgar Allen Poe, Eureka – An Essay On the Physical and Metaphysical Universe, G.P. Putnam, 1848. Poe’s attempt to deduce through philosophy and logic whether or not the universe was projected outward into space from a point and is still expanding or is collapsing back toward that point. Based on information gleaned from the writings of Newton, Laplace, Humboldt, and others. See Poe’s remarks about universal matter being “radiated” from a center, in Sections 2, 3, 4, and 5:

Reproduced here: http://www.eapoe.org/works/editions/eurekac.htm

Also available here: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/poe/eureka.html

 

Henry Poincaré, Maxwell’s Theory and Hertzian Oscillations, 1904; also contains The Principles of Wireless Telegraphy, by Frederick Vreeland. A two-part book, overall title: Maxwell’s Theory and Wireless Telegraphy, by both Poincaré and Vreeland about light and radio wave theory. Go to Table of Contents pages iii – vii: http://historical.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cul.cdl/docviewer?did=cdl217

 

Richard Proctor, “Dream-Space”, The Living Age magazine, Jan., 1884, pgs. 228-234, an early critique of Professor Arthur Cayley’s four-dimensional non-Euclidean geometry theories, including a critique of Cayley’s two-dimensional beings living on the surface of a sphere:

http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABR0102-0160-6

 

George Gabriel Stokes, “On the Aberration of Light,” The Philosophical Magazine, July 1845, Vol. XXVII, p. 9, also in Mathematical and Physical Papers by G.G. Stokes, Vol. 1, 1880, pages 134-140. About the possibility of an earth-fixed local “ether”:

http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/b/bib/bibperm?q1=AAT0146

Also see Volumes 2-5 of George Stokes’ papers at the same website.

 

J.J. Thompson, “Electromagnetic Theory of Light,” in the book Notes on Recent Researches in Electricity and Magnetism, 1893. Go to page 42, also see Table of Contents for other papers by J.J. Thompson: http://historical.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cul.cdl/docviewer?did=cdl022

 

Pieter Zeeman, “On the Influence of Magnetism on the Nature of the Light Emitted by a Substance,” Astrophysical Journal, vol. 5, p.332-347, 1897:

http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1897ApJ.....5..332Z

 

 

 

COLLECTIONS OF FULL TEXT ON-LINE BOOKS AND PAPERS:

 

PDF files of rare 20th Century physics and quantum mechanics papers from The Physical Review. See the Indexes:

http://fangio.magnet.fsu.edu/%7Evlad/pr100/

 

Text files of several classic rare old papers:

http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/papers.html

 

Early papers by American physicists:

http://www.aip.org/history/gap/index.html

 

NASA and Harvard collection of modern and historical scientific papers. Use the “search” or “browse” feature: http://adswww.harvard.edu/

 

Los Alamos directory of many modern physics and astronomy papers:

http://xxx.lanl.gov/find/astro-ph

 

Cornell Library search engine for rare 19th Century science topics, books, articles, and authors:

http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/moa_adv.html

 

Cornell University Library, Historical Math Monographs, various authors and languages; Poincaré, Lagrange, Riemann, others:

http://historical.library.cornell.edu/math/browse.html

 

eBooks, digital book index, search several science topics, see Astronomy, History of Science, Physics, Science, and search engine, Main Index:

http://www.digitalbookindex.com/_search/search011t-rev.asp

 

The University of Michigan Historical Mathematics Collection:

http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=umhistmath;sid=44b841cf73cea8d5e7785ced56416ad2;tpl=home.tpl;cc=umhistmath

 

University of Pennsylvania Library on-line books, see Science category and search engine:

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/callover?key=QC1%20%2eR414-QC173%2e59%20%2eS65

 

List of text of modern science papers:

http://arxiv.org/

 

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 1832 – 1934, English text, French search engine:

http://gallica.bnf.fr/Catalogue/noticesInd/FRBNF37572031.htm

 

Annalen der Physik, many issues between 1799 – 1930, German text, French search engine:

http://gallica.bnf.fr/Catalogue/noticesInd/FRBNF34462944.htm#listeUC

 

Gallica, French library search engine; click on “Recherche” to search:

http://gallica.bnf.fr/

 

Faraday lectures, Helmholtz, Kelvin wave theory of light, Newcomb, Geikie:

http://www.bartleby.com/30/

 

Digital Library of India, rare science books in Indian languages, English, and other languages:

http://www.dli.ernet.in/

 

Many links to Asian, European, and other world-wide library sources for on-line books, papers, and journal sources; also see list of Asian Digital Libraries, Asian National Libraries, and Asian University Libraries: http://www.aardvarknet.info/user/subject19/index.cfm?all=All

 

Goettingen DigitizationCenter, new German digital paper archives:

http://gdz-srv3.sub.uni-goettingen.de/sub/digbib/asearch

 

The Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek EZB, archives of many new and old science journals in several languages; some are free, some charge a fee:

http://rzblx1.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/index.phtml?lang=en

 

Google Scholar, modern paper archives; on the main page also see “Scholar Preferences” for specific university archives: http://scholar.google.com/

 

 

 

SOURCES FOR RARE HARD-COPY PRINTS OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY BOOKS:

 

A major list of old and rare book sources and search engines for books in several languages; try ABE and UsedBookSearch for largest lists of rare old science books at lowest cost:

http://www.trussel.com/f_books.htm

 

Non-English book sources, new and used:

http://www.trussel.com/books/foreign.htm

 

Rare old original physics and science books; see Astronomy, Physics:

http://www.allthingsconnected.com/wconnect/wc.dll?jnorman1~jnsearch~1G30JD3WY

 

Rare astronomy and astrophysics books; use “Search” and “Browse” feature:

http://www.abebooks.com/home/KNOLLWOODBOOKS/

 

Reprints of rare science books in English and other languages; search by author or title, and language; for example, search for “Maxwell” in English and “Lorentz” in German; also search “Sciences,” and on the “Sciences” page search “Astronomy,” “Mathematics,” and “Physics”:

http://www.elibron.com/english/books/index.phtml

 

Links to physics books in the Russian language (originals and translations of other languages into Russian): http://www.kolmogorov.com/lib4.html