History of Science & Technology, Including the World of Richard Feynman, and Natural History

PROPERTY FROM THE FAMILY OF DR. JOAN FEYNMAN

[Feynman, Richard]; Smythe, William R.

Richard Feynman's copy of Smyth's "Static and Dynamic Electricity," Signed and Inscribed by Feynman

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December 13, 07:14 PM GMT

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2,000 - 3,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

[FEYNMAN, RICHARD]; SMYTHE, WILLIAM R.

Static and Dynamic Electricity. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1950.

Octavo (6.25 x 9.25) 616 pp. Publisher's green cloth; worn. Some damp-staining to back cover and pages. "R.P. FEYNMAN 6688/ CALTECH PHYSICS" INSCRIBED IN INK ON FRONT FLYLEAF IN FEYNMAN'S HAND. "D.A. GUINIER/ PHYSICS 359B" INSCRIBED IN INK AND CROSSED OUT.

TOGETHER WITH: Single sheet of notes & equations relating to harmonics in what appears to be the hand of the previous owner, D.A. Guinier.

Weiner, Charles. "Richard Feynman - Session II." American Institute of Physics. 5 March, 1966. https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5020-2

FEYNMAN'S COPY OF SMYTH'S SEMINAL WORK ON STATIC AND DYNAMIC ELECTRICITY

Feynman acquired this used copy from a fellow member of the Caltech physics department, Feynman used during his tenure at Caltech. Feynman had met William R. Smythe over the course of his graduate study at Princeton, and apparently acquired this copy used, from a fellow member of the Caltech physics department, D.A. Guinier, whose office was just two doors down from Feynman's.

This copy was then apparently given by Feynman to his younger sister Joan Feynman (b. March 31, 1927 - d. July 21, 2020). A world-renowned astrophysicist, Joan is she is known for her work on the origin of auroras (i.e., the polar lights), as well as for making significant contributions to magnetospheric physics and the study of solar wind particles. As children, Richard was Joan's first teacher and constantly advised her to challenge herself. 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.