Eight papers on the discovery and properties of superfluidity in liquid helium. Contained in five issues of Nature in original printed wrappers, 1937-1938

First editions, journal issues in original printed wrappers, of the papers which reported the discovery and properties of superfluid liquid helium. 1. ALLEN, J. F., PEIERLS, R. & ZAKI UDDEN, M. Heat conduction in liquid Helium, pp. 62-3 in Vol. 140, No. 3532, July 10, 1937. "Studies on heat conduction by J. F. Allen, R. Peierls, and M. Zaki Uddin at Cambridge University in 1937 showed that the classical law of conduction does not hold, so that it is not clear how to define a coefficient of thermal conductivity" (Trigg, Landmark Experiments in Twentieth Century Physics, p. 64). 2/3. KAPITZA, P. Viscosity of liquid Helium below the λ-point, p. 74 [AND] ALLEN, J. F. & MISENER, A. D. Flow of liquid Helium II, p. 75, in Vol. 141, No. 3558, January 8, 1938. The discovery of superfluidity. "Kapitza observed that He II flowed between two closely spaced parallel plates extremely rapidly compared to He I, for the same pressure difference. This result, published in Nature on 8 January 1938, showed unambiguously that here was a new and mysterious kind of liquid - one with almost no viscosity. On the page facing Kapitza's one-page paper was another by the young Canadian physicists Jack Allen and Donald Misener, with essentially equivalent results on helium flow on long capillary tubes. It was submitted two weeks after Kapitza's, but both papers are the standard reference for the discovery of superfluidity". (Griffin, A Century of Nature, 2003, p. 52). Kapitza received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1984 "for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics". The other half did not go to Allen and Misener. 4. ALLEN, J. F. & JONES, H. New phenomena connected with heat flow in Helium II, pp. 243-4 in Vol. 141, No. 3562, February 5, 1938. The discovery of the Fountain Effect, made in the course of extending of the work of Allen, Peierls, and Zaki Uddin on heat conductivity" (Trigg, p. 69). Heating liquid helium below 2 K causes it to rise up the sides of open containers and when it escapes from the open end can produce a jet of helium. This converts heat into mechanical motion by means of a machine with no moving parts - but working only below 2 K. 5-7. DAUNT, J. G. & MENDELSSOHN, K. Transfer of Helium II on glass, pp. 911-2 [with] KIKOIN, A. K. & LASAREW, B. G. Experiments with liquid Helium II, pp. 912-3 [with] TISZA, L. Transport phenomena in Helium II, p. 913, in Vol. 141 (Supplement), No. 3577, May 21, 1938. Discovery of the film transfer phenomenon of liquid helium. Any liquid will coat the sides of a dish in which it sits thanks again to the slight attraction between atoms but the liquid's internal friction limits how far the coating may spread. In superfluid helium, the frictionless film slithers over the whole container, creating a sort of arena through which the superfluid can flow. If the liquid has somewhere to fall after it climbs out of the dish, it will drip from the bottom of the container until it siphons out all the superfluid pooled above it (Scientific American). 8. ALLEN, J. F. & MISENER, A. D. Flow phenomena in liquid Helium II, pp. 643-4 in Vol. 142, No. 3597, October 8, 1938. Together five issues of Nature in original printed wrappers (stamp of Royal Geographical Society on upper wrapper of No. 3558). Generally very good. …