History of Science & Technology, Including the Life and Letters of Richard P. Feynman, and Space Exploration
History of Science & Technology, Including the Life and Letters of Richard P. Feynman, and Space Exploration
Feynman, Richard P.
QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter. First Edition, First Printing, Signed and Inscribed by Feynman to His Sister Joan
Lot Closed
December 13, 08:35 PM GMT
Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
FEYNMAN, RICHARD P.
QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985.
Octavo. 158 pp., with 93 numbered figures in text, including Feynman diagrams. Publisher's black cloth with spine lettered in violet, laid end-papers, all edges trimmed and plain; in the original color-pictorial dust-jacket priced $18.50, with advert for Peierls Bird of passage on lower flap of dust-jacket. Some minor soiling to cloth.
SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY FEYNMAN ON HALF-TITLE "Dedicated to my dear / sister, Joan. / Richard P. Feynman".
FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING, PRESENTATION COPY FROM FEYNMAN TO HIS SISTER, DR. JOAN FEYNMAN
FEYNMAN'S LAST BOOK; A VIVID EXPOSITION OF QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS BY ITS GREATEST MASTER. This was THE HEART OF FEYNMAN’S WORK, and precisely the field in which he’d won his Nobel Prize — that is, for his “fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles”. Distilled from a series of lectures at UCLA in 1983, this book was Feynman’s only non-technical account of the subject: Gleick calls it a model of science writing.
Joan Feynman (b. March 31, 1927 - d. July 21, 2020) was Feynman's younger sister and grew to be a world-renowned astrophysicist in her own right. As children, Richard was Joan's first teacher and constantly advised her to challenge herself. Today, she is known for her work on the origin of auroras (i.e., the polar lights) as well as significant contributions to magnetospheric physics and the study of solar wind particles. In 1974, Joan Feynman became the first woman elected an officer of the American Geophysical Union and was recognized by NASA with an Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 2000.
The present lot speaks to both Feynmans' profound curiosity and drive to understand the universe while also demonstrating the touching relationship between two brilliant titans of physics and astrophysics.