Introduction to Modern Physics — F. K. Richtmyer, 1934

F. K. Richtmyer — McGraw-Hill, 1934. Second Edition, Sixth Impression. Hardcover.

Richtmyer's Introduction to Modern Physics occupies a singular place in the history of science education. First published in 1928 — just two years after Schrödinger's wave equation and one year after Heisenberg's uncertainty principle — it was among the very first textbooks to bring the revolutionary ideas of quantum mechanics to an English-speaking audience. The second edition of 1934 arrived as the quantum revolution was consolidating: Dirac had published his relativistic electron equation, Chadwick had discovered the neutron, and the theoretical framework of modern physics was snapping into place. For a generation of American physicists trained in the 1930s and 1940s, Richtmyer was the gateway text. To hold this sixth impression is to hold a piece of that pivotal moment.

Topics Covered

• Origins of quantum theory: blackbody radiation, photoelectric effect, atomic spectra
• Bohr model and the old quantum theory
• Wave mechanics and the Schrödinger equation
• X-rays, radioactivity, and nuclear structure
• Relativity and its implications for modern physics

An exceptional find for collectors of scientific history, physics educators, and anyone drawn to the literature of one of science's most dramatic intellectual revolutions.