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STOKES, George Gabriel. "On the Change of Refrangibility of Light", in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. For the year MDCCCLII. Part II, London, 1852, vol 142 (though oddly there is no statement on vol number that I can find), printed by Taylor & Francis, pp. viii, 207-659, [1], 14, and with 25 plates (#s 21-35, complete), with the Stokes paper on pp 463-562. Original wrappers, mostly unopened. A lovely copy with just a few nicks here and there, but with the paper spine wonderfully intact. VG copy.[++] This is Stokes' paper on the discovery of fluorescence, for which he was awarded the Rumford Medal given for "an outstandingly important recent discovery in the field of thermal or optical properties of matter made by a scientist working in Europe"--"for his discovery of the change in the refrangibility of light" in the same year of publication of this announcement paper in 1852. [++] "Stokes s explanation of fluorescence, published in 1852, for which the Royal Society awarded him the Rumford Medal, arose from his investigations begun the previous year into the blue color exhibited at the surface of an otherwise colorless and transparent solution of sulfate of quinine when viewed by transmitted light. Sir John Herschel had described this phenomenon in 1845, and Sir David Brewster had also examined it. Stokes, who had started by repeating some of Herschel s experiments and then had devised his own, rapidly concluded that light of a higher refrangibility, which corresponded to light of a higher frequency, produced light of lower refrangibility in the solution. Thus the invisible ultraviolet rays were absorbed in the solution to produce blue light at the surface. Stokes named this phenomenon fluorescence. Always looking for applications of optics, he quickly devised a method for exhibiting the phenomenon that did not require direct sunlight and so would render a chemist independent of the fickle British weather in utilizing fluorescence to distinguish between various chemicals. In opening up the entire field of fluorescence to investigation, Stokes showed how it could be used to study the ultraviolet segment of the spectrum. By 1862 Stokes was using the spark from an induction coil to generate the spectra of various metals employed as electrodes. The invisible rays of the spectra were then examined and recorded systematically by means of fluorescence, although Stokes knew that photography was already beginning to replace fluorescence as a tool for mapping out spectra. Through his studies on fluorescence Stokes in 1862 began to collaborate with the Reverend W. Vernon Harcourt, who was one of the few people at that time attempting to vary the chemical composition of glass to produce new glasses with improved optical properties. Hoping to make glasses that would allow them to construct a perfectly achromatic combination, they collaborated until Harcourt s death in 1871. "--Complete DSB online. [++] "In 1852, in his famous paper on the change of wavelength of light, he described the phenomenon of fluorescence, as exhibited by fluorspar and uranium glass, materials which he viewed as having the power to convert invisible ultra-violet radiation into radiation of longer wavelengths that are visible. The 'Stokes shift', which describes this conversion, is named in Stokes's honour. A mechanical model, illustrating the dynamical principle of Stokes's explanation was shown. The offshoot of this, 'Stokes line', is the basis of Raman scattering"--Wikipedia. [++] Other interesting papers in this volume include: Albany Hancock and Dennis Embleton, "On the anatomy of Doris", pp 207-252; Arthur Cayley, "Analytical researches connected with Steiner s extension of Malfatti s problem", pp 253-278; James Booth, "Researches on the geometrical properties of elliptic integrals", pp 311-416; Edward Frankland, "On a new series of organic bodies containing metals", pp 417-444. Seller Inventory # ABE-1640880393898
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