A New Microscopic Principle. - [THE INVENTION OF HOLOGRAPHY - THE NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS 1971]

1948. (London, Macmillan & Co, 1948). Royal8vo. Bound in contemporary full cloth. In "Nature", Vol. 161, 1948. Entire volume offered. Bookplates and library stamp to front free end-papers. Fine and clean. Pp. 777-8. [Entire volume: Pp. 495-1028.]. First publication of this seminal paper introducing holography for which Dennis Gabor was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1971."In July 1947 Gabor, assisted by Ivor Williams, began experiments at B.T.H. to establish the principle by using a purely optical model-that is, using visible light instead of electrons-with a mercury vapor lamp as a source of coherent light, to produce the interference photographs of simple two dimensional images. Five months later he was able to show his close confidant Lawrence Bragg his first successful wavefront reconstructions: hazy im ages of simple printed words used as objects. Even when Bragg fully understood the theory, he still stated that it was a miracle it should work. The first public indication of Gabor's success came with a preliminary note to Nature, published on 15 May 1948. The following year he wrote a more complete theoretical treatment, for the Proceedings of the Royal Society, in which he introduced the word "hologram" and indicated possible applications in light optics. Among these was the ability, using the same method, to record the data associated with 3-D objects in one interference photograph." (DSB)