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DOPPLER, Johann Christian (1803-1853). Ueber das farbige Licht der Doppelsterne und einiger anderer Gestirne des Himmels. Offprint from: Abhandlungen der k. bohm. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, 5th series, vol. 2 (1842). Prague: Borrosch & Andra, 1842.
First edition, offprint issue, containing the first statement of the Doppler principle, a fundamental tool of modern astronomy. The principle ‘relates the observed frequency of a wave to the motion of the source or the observer relative to the medium in which the wave is propagated’ (DSB). In his paper, read to the Prague Gesellschaft für Wissenschaft on 25 May 1842, Doppler noted the application of the principle to both acoustics and optics, specifically to the coloured appearance of double stars and to the fluctuation of novae. Although Doppler, ‘the earliest important physicist in Austria in the nineteenth century’, made some incorrect assumptions about the nature of stellar light, due largely to the isolation in which he worked, his theory was soon borne out through experimentation. ‘Since then the technique has provided the science of astrophysics with one of its most important tools for measuring the size and the structure of the universe’ (ibid.) Norman 651.
Quarto (267 x 215mm). 18pp. Lithographed plate (faint browning at margin extremes). Original green printed wrappers (insignificant creasing to the whole). Provenance: a few pencil inscriptions to wrappers and title.
First edition, offprint issue, containing the first statement of the Doppler principle, a fundamental tool of modern astronomy. The principle ‘relates the observed frequency of a wave to the motion of the source or the observer relative to the medium in which the wave is propagated’ (DSB). In his paper, read to the Prague Gesellschaft für Wissenschaft on 25 May 1842, Doppler noted the application of the principle to both acoustics and optics, specifically to the coloured appearance of double stars and to the fluctuation of novae. Although Doppler, ‘the earliest important physicist in Austria in the nineteenth century’, made some incorrect assumptions about the nature of stellar light, due largely to the isolation in which he worked, his theory was soon borne out through experimentation. ‘Since then the technique has provided the science of astrophysics with one of its most important tools for measuring the size and the structure of the universe’ (ibid.) Norman 651.
Quarto (267 x 215mm). 18pp. Lithographed plate (faint browning at margin extremes). Original green printed wrappers (insignificant creasing to the whole). Provenance: a few pencil inscriptions to wrappers and title.
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