A treatise on the motion of vortex Rings

THOMSON, J.J.

Published by London: Macmillan, 1883, 1883

About this Item

FIRST EDITION. 8 vo. Orig. cloth. xix, (1), 124 pp. Fine, crisp copy. The first book by the 1906 Nobel laureate in physics, J.J. Thomson (1856-1940), was his ".earliest effort at designing models. stimulated by the subject set for the Adams Prize of 1882, 'a general investigation of the action upon each other of two closed vortices in a perfect incompressible fluid'. In his winning 'Treatise' Thomson carried the matter further than required, to an application which, for him, gave it 'the greater part of the interest it possessed', namely Kelvin's theory of the vortex atom (1867). Here the atoms of a gas are represented as reentrant vortices in a frictionless fluid, rather like smoke rings in air; but the vortices, unlike the rings, are eternal, and therefore could reproduce the permanence of the Victorian atom. .the theory of the vortex atom is perhaps the most fundamental ever started, for it hoped to make do with nothing besides the several perfections of its primitive fluid and pure mathematical analysis. 'The difficulties of this method are enormous', Maxwell had written, 'but the glory of surmounting them would be unique'. Thomson's 'Treatise' is perhaps the most glorious episode in this hopeless struggle." (D.S.B.). Roller & Goodman II.499. Scarce, especially in fine condition. Seller Inventory # 000133

Bibliographic Details

Title: A treatise on the motion of vortex Rings

Publisher: London: Macmillan, 1883

Publication Date: 1883

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Good

Edition: 1st Edition