Théorie de la double réfraction de la lumière dans les substances cristallisées

Paris, Garnery, Baudoin, 1810. *** Première édition de cet important mémoire qui contient la découverte par Malus de la polarisation de la lumière par réflexion. Malus était major du corps des ingénieurs et membre de l'Expédition d'Egypte. Il a été parmi les premiers étudiants à recevoir une éducation scientifique à l'École Polytechnique où il a été initié à l'optique. Il a ensuite enseigné dans cette Ecole. Rare. Le dos a été refait en conservant une partie d'origine, les papiers de garde renouvelés. Ex libris doré sur le premier plat : Maxime de Brane. Bel exemplaire, grand de marges. *** In-4 de 302 pp., 3 planches h.-t. Demi-chagrin vert, dos orné. (Reliure de l'époque.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - * First edition of this important memoir which contains the author's discovery of polarization of light by reflection. On 4 January 1808, the French Institute "proposed a prize which required an experimental and theoretical explanation of double refraction. The French 'Newtonian' scientists hoped that Malus would find a precise and general law for double refraction within the framework of an emission theory of light. Malus was a skilled mathematician and during 1807 he had carried out experiments on double refraction. By December 1808 Malus had finished his experimental investigations, which verified the Huygenian law. What remained was a theoretical deduction of the law. In January 1809, Laplace published a memoir in which he deduced Huygens' law within the framework of Newtonian mechanics, using the principle of least action, and Malus considered this an insolence which deprived him of the priority. In 1810 Malus won the prize for his 'Théorie de la double réfraction'. Here he deduced the law following the same method as Laplace, by means of the principle of least action. Malus won the prize therefore mainly because of his original experimental researches and his discussion of the short-range forces that produce double refraction. Also of great importance was his law for the relative intensities of the ordinary and extraordinary rays." -D.S.B., IX, p. 73. Schuh's Annotated Bio-Bibliography : "Scarce." Malus was a major of the engineers corp that served under Napolean in his expedition to Egypt and Syria. He was among the first students to recieve a scientific education at the École Polytechnique where he was first introduced to optics. He later taught at the Ecole. Spine has been rebacked conserving a part of the original, the endpapers renewed. Ex libris gilt on the first board: Maxime de Brane. A fine copy, with large margins. - -.