BALMER, Johann. "Notiz über die Spectrallinien des Wasserstoffs” (“Note on the spectral lines of hydrogen”) in Annalen der Physik und Chemie, 1885, 25 pp. 80–87, 1885). Volume in contemporary cloth and boards. Small sticker to spine. Interior clean  and fresh and with no marks. Almost fine. $600

“In 1885...Balmer create(d) a simple mathematical formula to list the particular wavelengths at which a hydrogen atom radiates light and publishes it in [this paper].” Claire Parkinson, Breakthroughs p. 409.

"In 1885, Johann Jakob Balmer (1825–1898), a Swiss mathematics teacher, published the “Balmer formula” for the spectral lines in the hydrogen spectrum without stating any underlying physical theory. He had noticed that every line in the hydrogen spectrum in the visible light region was related to a single number (364.56 nanometers), and from this concocted a formula that correctly predicted other spectral lines in the visible and infrared spectrum (the “Balmer series”)." Wenner, History of Physics

"Balmer’s major article on the hydrogen spectrum is “Notiz ūber die Spektrallinien desPage Wasserstoffs,” in Verhandlungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Basel, 7 (1885), 548-560, 750-752; also in Annalen der Physik, 3rd ser., 25 (1885), 80-87."--DSB online

“The Balmer series, or Balmer lines in atomic physics, is one of a set of six named series describing the spectral line emissions of the hydrogen atom. The Balmer series is calculated using the Balmer formula, an empirical equation discovered by Johann Balmer in 1885."--Wikipedia

”Although physicists were aware of atomic emissions before 1885, they lacked a tool to accurately predict where the spectral lines should appear. The Balmer equation predicts the four visible spectral lines of hydrogen with high accuracy. Balmer's equation inspired the Rydberg equation as a generalization of it, and this in turn led physicists to find the Lyman, Paschen, and Brackett series, which predicted other spectral lines of hydrogen found outside the visible spectrum.”--Wolfram

“In 1913 Bohr proposed his quantized shell model of the atom (see Bohr atomic model) to explain how electrons can have stable orbits around the nucleus. The motion of the electrons in the Rutherford model was unstable because, according to classical mechanics and electromagnetic theory, any charged particle moving on a curved path emits electromagnetic radiation; thus, the electrons would lose energy and spiral into the nucleus...Bohr’s model accounts for the stability of atoms because the electron cannot lose more energy than it has in the smallest orbit, the one with n = 1. The model also explains the Balmer formula for the spectral lines of hydrogen. The light energy is the difference in energies between the two orbits in the Bohr formula. Using Einstein’s formula to deduce the frequency of the light, Bohr not only explained the form of the Balmer formula but also explained accurately the value of the constant of proportionality R.”--Encyclopedia Britannica