“On the Production of Light by Chemical Action.” [Pp. 159–172 in:] The American Journal of Science and Arts. Second Series, No. 14—March, 1848.

John William Draper on the Production of Light, 1848

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Likely the first American journal appearance of Draper’s landmark 1848 paper exploring the chemical origins of light, an early and influential contribution to the emerging field of photochemistry. In this study, Draper investigates the production of light during chemical reactions, work that helped lay the foundation for later theories of energy conversion and spectroscopy. His figure of the spectra of various flame spectra is rendered on p. 166. Draper’s paper “may be regarded as one of the earliest contributions to spectrum analysis.” (Barker, Memoir of John William Draper…, p. 363)

John William Draper (1811–1882), NYU professor, physician, chemist, and pioneering photochemist, was among the earliest experimenters in the interaction of light and matter. Draper is best remembered for producing some of the first successful photographs of the human face and the moon, and for his fundamental investigations into photo-chemical reactions. His work bridged chemistry, physics, and photography, helping to define the scientific study of light in the nineteenth century.

Very scarce in its original printed wrappers, with other important contributions including “On Chloroform,” a pivotal early American notice on anesthetics by Benjamin Silliman Jr., “On the Parallelism of the Paleozoic Deposits of North America, with those of Europe,” a transatlantic synthesis of geology by E. de Verneuil and James Hall and S. P. Hildreth’s “Abstract of a Meteorological Journal for the year 1847 kept at Marietta, Ohio,” one of the earliest American climate records.

Price: $450.00