Uber eine methode zur bestimmung des verhaltnisses der transversalen und longitudinalen masse des elektrons. In Annalen der Physik 21. Lord Rayleigh's copy

1906. Einstein, Albert (1879-1955). Über eine Methode zur Bestimmung des Verhältnisses der transversalen und longitudinalen Masse des Elektrons. In Annalen der Physik 21 (1906). 583-586pp. Figs. Text-illust. (214 x 140 mm.) Laid-in item: notecard with penciled notes, probably in the hand of Lord Rayleigh. Red cloth, gilt spine. Frontis, portrait of P. Curie (d. 1906). [Whole volume: viii, 1056pp. 9 plates (5 b/w silver photos, 4 folding)]. Small cut on spine, starting approximately two inches from the head, and is about three inches in length -very thin-, (truncated) otherwise Very Good.

First Edition, Whole Volume. In his landmark 1905 paper on special relativity, Einstein used the velocity-dependent concepts of transverse and longitudinal mass for the moving electron (these terms have now been replaced with the concept of relativistic mass, first defined by Lewis and Tolman in 1909). In the present paper Einstein proposed an experimental method for determining the ratio of the transverse to the longitudinal mass, and invited experimentalists to verify his special theory of relativity. Einstein later abandoned velocity-dependent mass concepts, stating in 1948 that “it is better to introduce no other mass concept than the rest mass” (quoted in L. B. Okun, “The concept of mass,” Physics Today (1989): 31-36). Lavenda, A New Perspective on Relativity, pp. 7-8.

Weil's Einstein Bibliography, no. 14.
Boni's Einstein Checklist, no. 14

John William Strutt, third Baron Rayleigh [Lord Rayleigh] (1842-1919) was a british mathematician and physicist; he was one of the very few members of higher nobility who won fame as an outstanding scientist. Rayleigh was born as the son of John James Strutt, second Baron, and his wife Clara Elizabeth La Touche, eldest daughter of Captain Richard Vicars, R.E. Lord Rayleigh was awarded the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies." Rayleigh provided the first theoretical treatment of the elastic scattering of light by particles much smaller than the light's wavelength, now known as "Rayleigh scattering" - a process which notably explains why the sky is blue. He also made extensive contributions to fluid dynamics (e.g. the Rayleigh number, critereon for the stability of the Taylor-Couette flow, etc.). Rayleigh also formulated the circulation theory of aerodynamic lift. His derivation of the Rayleigh-Jeans law for classical black body radiation played an important role in the birth of quantum mechanics (i.e., the Ultraviolet catastrophe). During the first World War he was president of the United Kingdom government's Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Notable students of the 3rd Lord Rayleigh include J.J. Thomson (1856-1940) and Sir William Ramsay (1852-1916), who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the elements in air." In 1871 he married Evelyn Balfour, sister of the future prime minister, the Earl of Balfour, and daughter of James Maitland Balfour and his wide, Blanche, the daughter of the second Marquis of Salisbury. They had three sons, the eldest of whom [Robert John Strutt (1875-1946)] was to become Professor of Physics at Imperial College of Science and Technology, London. Strutt inherited the title of fourth Baron Rayleigh after his father's death in 1919. (nobelprize.org).


Also in this volume: Einthoven, Willem (1860-1927). Weitere mitteilungen ueber das saitengalvanometer. Analyse der saitengalvanometrischen kurven. Masse und spannung des quarzfadens und widerstand gegen die fadenbewengung. Erster teil. In Annalen der Physik , ser. 4, 21 (1906). 483-514 pp.
Willem Einthoven (1860-1927) was a Dutch doctor and physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1924 "for his discovery of the mechanism of the electrocardiogram" (nobelprize.org). . (Inventory #: 50413)