A. Fowler, "The THird Line Spectrum of Oxygen", offprint from Monthly Notices of the R.A.S.

MERTON, Thomas Ralph. (T.R.) (The First "Q" of MI-6)

Publication Date: 1917

About this Item

Offprint; original wrappers. Fine copy. Pp 311-317. Stamped "T.R. Merton" in the upper right corner. [++] "Sir Thomas Ralph Merton KBE, DSc, FRS (12 January 1888 10 October 1969) was an English physicist, inventor and art collector. He is particularly noted for his work on spectroscopy and diffraction gratings. After 1913 a steady stream of papers came from Merton's private laboratory, in which he assembled the latest spectroscopic equipment. His early work was on the absorption spectra of solutions, but he soon changed to the spectra of gases and to astrophysics, which were to be the main fields of his investigations. His early papers were distinguished by the beauty and accuracy of his experimental techniques. In 1916 he obtained his DSc from Oxford and was appointed lecturer in spectroscopy at King's College London. In the same year his first joint paper with his friend J. W. Nicholson appeared. It was a fortunate chance which brought together Nicholson's brilliant mathematical analysis and Merton's experimental skill. The paper dealt with the broadening of spectral lines in a condensed discharge. By an ingenious technique Merton measured the discontinuities in the lines due to their partial breaking up into components under the influence of the magnetic field between adjacent atoms. The two men applied the same technique to the measurement of the spectra of hydrogen and helium, reproducing the distribution of intensity of some stellar lines in the laboratory for the first time."--Wikipedia (via the Royal Society publishing site, though unattributed) T.R. Merton was also the FIRST "Q" of MI6 (according to Sotheby's, which auctioned a great Renaissance masterpiece once owned by Merton).

Seller Inventory # ABE-1616205999389

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A. Fowler, "The THird Line Spectrum of Oxygen", offprint from Monthly Notices of the R.A.S.
• Publication Date: 1917
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Social History
  • Military