BRAGG, W.H. - THE CORPUSCULAR NATURE OF X-RAYS AND GAMMA-RAYS.

The Consequences of the Corpuscular Hypothesis of the (gamma) and X-rays, and the Range of ß Rays.

(London, 1910). No wrappers. In: "The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science", (Sixth Series), September 1910. Pp. 385-544 a. 6 folded plates. (Entire Sept.-issue offered). Bragg's paper: pp. 385-416.

First printing of the paper in which Bragg discloses the corpuscular nature of Gamma- and X-Rays.

"Considering gamma and X rays to be of the same nature, he declared the evidence in favor of the ether pulse theory to be "overrated," and emphasized that theory was unable to account for the large quantity of energy and momentum that remained in the ray regardless of the distance from its source, and that could all be delivered to a single electron. During the following five years Bragg backed off somewhat from this concrete model of the gamma ray, emphasizing its "corpuscular" rather than its "material" nature. but did not abandon the general concept of an electron-with-its-charge-neutralized until after the discovery of X-ray diffraction in 1912. Thus, initially without being aware of the views of Einstein and Stark, Bragg became the first, and remained the foremost, English-language advocate of a view of X rays that stressed their "quantal" properties. (DSB).

Order-nr.: 45123