Large Scale Density Inhomogeneities in the Universe in Nature 215 No. 5102 p. 719, August 12, 1967 (Wilkinson) [1st MEASUREMENT OF CMB ANISOTROPY] WITH Oxygen isotope analysis and Pleistocene temperature re-assessed (Shackleton) pp. 15-17 [OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS]

London: Macmillan & Sons, 1967. 1st Edition. BOUND FIRST EDITION, full volume, of the first tentative measurement of a CMB anisotropy, a slightly elevated temperature in the direction of a known quasar cluster. Wilkinson & Partridge's paper presents results "which appear to set rather stringent limits on the magnitude of possible density inhomogeneities in the universe" (Wilkinson and Partridge, 1967, 719). ALSO included is Nicholas Shackleton's reassessment of Emiliani's conclusions from his 1966 analysis of the oxygen isotope ratios in Caribbean cores as an indicator of variations in total volume of glacier ice sheets.

WILKINSON: "The CMB radiation is a direct relic of the early universe. It is a unique and deep probe of both the thermal history of the early universe and the primordial perturbations in the matter distribution" (Tuluie, "Cosmic Microwave Background" AJ, 1996, 15). Following "the discovery of the CMB, early work focused on putting constraints on the isotropy of the radiation field: that would be an important part of establishing its cosmological origin and would put constraints on the peculiar motion of the galaxy relative to the Local Group and the Virgo Supercluster" (ibid).

Small "anistropies" (inhomogeneities in directional measurements) of temperature and polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB) allow scientists to test cosmological and astronomical theories, including cosmic inflation, the geometry of the visible universe, and the distribution of galaxy clusters. Wilkinson and Partridge's paper, again, presents the first attempt to put experimental limits on the level of anistropy.

SHACKLETON: Shackleton "concludes that glacial/interglacial variations in foraminiferal oxygen isotope records were primarily influenced by changes in the oxygen isotopic composition of seawater, rather than temperature" (Ravelo, The Use of Oxygen and Carbon Isotopes, 735). CONDITION & DETAILS: London: Macmillian & Sons. Ex-libris with very minimal interior markings and ghosting from the removal of a spine label. Complete volume bound in bright red cloth with red buckram at the spine. Tightly bound and very clean. The interior is bright and exceptionally clean throughout.