Notables

Curtis and Michelle Blakely recently acquired an original edition of La Theorie du Rayonnement et les Quanta. Published in Paris in 1912 by Maurice de Broglie and Paul Langevin, it includes papers presented at the first Solvay Conference. This conference took place in Brussels from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4, 1911. The Solvay Conference brought together European scientists who were responsible for creating the emerging field of quantum physics. The volume is comprised of papers authored by the 18 attendees, including such luminaries as Lorentz, Nernst, Planck, Rutherford, Poincare, Curie and Einstein. This meeting marked Einstein’s first public appearance as a world-renown physicist. He was also the youngest scientist in attendance. Original volumes of La Theorie are difficult to acquire since printing was limited and many of the surviving copies are held by museums and libraries worldwide. This copy belonged to one of Einstein’s colleagues and is available for viewing, upon request, to members of the Truman community.

Daniel Mandell, professor of history, served on the Advanced Placement U.S. History Standard Setting panel, Kansas City, June 12-13.