Anders Jonas Angström (1814-1874).
Recherches sur le spectre solaire [Atlas contenant les longeurs d'onde des raies Frauenhofériennes données en 1/10,000000 de millimètre]. Uppsala: W. Schultz, 1868.
First edition of a classic work on the solar system in which Angström demonstrates the presence of hydrogen and a number of other elements in the sun. Solar spectroscopy provided the first scientific evidence (other than the occasional meteorite) that the elements known on earth are also present elsewhere in the universe. Angström also established a scale of wave-lengths for measuring spectral lines, replacing Kirchoff's arbitrary scale. Angström's system was based on a unit of one ten millionth of a millimetre, named the ‘Angstrom unit’. DSB p. 166; Norman 56.

2 volumes, comprising one text volume, large quarto (307 x 238mm) and one atlas, oblong folio (325 x 508mm). Text with lithographic frontispiece showing Ångström's spectrometer, atlas with separate title and 6 lithographic plates after R. Thalén (1827-1905), Ångström's laboratory assistant. Original brown printed wrappers, atlas loose as issued within original wrappers (atlas wrappers lightly sunned, neat tears).

Peter and Margarethe Braune.

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