PHYSICS - ROSSI, FERMI & OCCHIALINI


Collection of correspondence received by the experimental physicist Bruno Rossi, including autograph and typed letters, his copy replies, printed ephemera etc., chiefly from other physicists about his work on gamma-rays, in Italian, English, French and German, 1931-5, comprising: three typed letters and a correspondence card signed ("E. Fermi") and ("Enrico Fermi") to "Caro Rossi", ("Ho piacere de sentire che sembrano confermarsi gli indizi che la radiazione penetrante abbia carica positiva"), one congratulating him on winning second prize in the Ferrara competition (with his telegram of congratulations), "... la maggioranza...che voleva dare unicamente peso si criteri di anzianita di fronte a quelli scientifici...", and another speaking of his frustration at his own experiments concerning radioactivity, 7pp, 8vo, Rome, 1931-35; twelve autograph letters signed (mostly "Peppino"), from Nobel Laureate Giuseppi Occhialini to Bruno as his doctoral advisor, discussing his research, illustrated with diagrams and photographs (two annotated "Non e un trisco ma solo l'effetto Rossi nel Rame" – It's not a trick, it's just the Rossi effect on copper) and discussing his work at the Cavendish under the leadership of Patrick Blackett ("everyone sees to their own business without thinking particularly about others and without much benevolence"), in Italian, 55pp, 4to, Cambridge and London, 1931-2; with other correspondence from leading physicists of the period including Hans Geiger (postcard), four autograph letters from Patrick Blackett ("it is a queer phenomenon – the cosmic rays – but certainly one of the most interesting in physics..."), two from Homi Jahangir Bhabha, letters from Emilio Segre and Edoardo Amaldi (the so-called 'Via Panisperna Boys' who studied under Enrico Fermi at Rome University), Nobel Laureate Hans Bethe, and others; and an offprint in original paper wrappers, Le attuali conoscenze sul fenomeno della radiazione cosmica, vol. II, Pavia, 1935