[Ads-l] Antedating of "Antimatter" for Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

[Shapiro, Fred]

Thanks to James for this excellent posting, and for other excellent postings he has made to this list.  I had posted the 1898 citation for "antimatter" in 2016, but I didn't repeat that yesterday because I wasn't sure it was in the same sense as the OED's entry.

Fred Shapiro



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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of James Eric Lawson <jel at NVENTURE.COM>
Sent: Monday, March 8, 2021 4:31 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Antimatter" for Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

'Anti-matter' (in the sense of "matter composed of antiparticles") is in
use as early as 1898. The term is used four times in a letter to the
editor titled "Potential Matter - A Holiday Dream", in the 18 Aug 1898
issue of *Nature* (p 367; #417). Here is the final use, but earlier uses
in the letter would be more on point for the intended sense:

"Astronomy, the oldest and yet most juvenile of sciences, may still have
some surprises in store. May anti-matter be commended to its care!"

https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbabel.hathitrust.org%2Fcgi%2Fpt%3Fid%3Duc1.c2754934%26view%3D1up%26seq%3D417%26q1%3Danti%2520matter&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40yale.edu%7C9a105a9e5c21480e2a1108d8e214f640%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637507926956693787%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=0J64ftqOd4E9%2F%2BBbL9jDfPvfB1PibT2INmObPXeSZwQ%3D&reserved=0

For OED's purposes, the author rhapsodizes on "atom and anti-atom" as
well as "matter and anti-matter".

On 3/7/21 6:55 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
> Excellent citation, Fred. Nice quick update, Jesse. It looks like the
> OED places anti-matter under anti-particle with the same 1953
> citation.
>
> Here is an instance of "anti-matter' with the desired sense in 1934.
>
> Date: Feb. 24, 1934
> Journal: The Science News-Letter
> Volume 25, Number 672
> Article: Existence of Anti-Photon Suggested by Nobelist
> Start Page 115, Quote Page 115, Column 2
> Published by: Society for Science & the Public
>
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F3910714&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40yale.edu%7C9a105a9e5c21480e2a1108d8e214f640%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637507926956703745%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=g4vz8Ej2KmWD88ugJ8knxDRIxeRm9qpQD3BXQUDJ%2FTU%3D&reserved=0
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> The sources behaved in every way like respectable atoms. For the sinks
> one had to assume a kind of negative or anti-matter. This was the
> difficult which kept those old theories of matter in the realm of
> fantastic speculation, although the mathematics was perfect.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Sun, Mar 7, 2021 at 9:43 PM Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks, Fred. Updated.
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 08, 2021 at 02:05:45AM +0000, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>>> antimatter (Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction 1953)
>>>
>>> "Antimatter" occurs in the 1948 book Cosmic rays and nuclear physics by the physicist Lajos Jánossy:
>>>
>>> The other type of matter might be called the "anti matter." In collision the two types of matter would annihilate each other and give rise to intense radiation.
>>>
>>> Fred Shapiro
>>>
>>> .
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
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--
James Eric Lawson

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