[Ads-l] Antedating of "Redshift"

[John Doe]

I checked the original source of the article, the 22nd volume of the
*Astrophysical
Journal*, and according to the Internet Archive's OCR, the term "nebular"
or "red-shift" do not appear anywhere within the text, or even anywhere in
the volume!

Source used:
https://archive.org/details/sim_astrophysical-journal_1908-03_27_2/mode/2up?q=%22nebular%22

On Sun, Jun 23, 2024 at 7:32 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Interesting topic, Fred. Thanks for posting an intriguing lead for
> "redshift".
> The situation is confusing. The current Wikipedia article on
> "redshift" does not seem to have any mention of the 1908 Walter S.
> Adams article.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshift
>
> The Wikipedia revision history does mention the article.
> A snapshot of the Wikipedia article with timestamp "15:00, 16 March
> 2023" shows that the 1908 Walter S. Adams citation was labeled
> "[dubious – discuss]".
>
> A snapshot with timestamp "21:51, 17 March 2023‎" shows that the
> Walter S. Adams citation was removed. The person who removed it said
> "‎History: might as well just say what the OED says here".
>
> Below is the passage that was removed:
>
> [Begin excerpt Wikipedia Redshift article on March 16 2023]
> The earliest occurrence of the term red-shift in print (in this
> hyphenated form) appears to be by American astronomer Walter S. Adams
> in 1908, in which he mentions "Two methods of investigating that
> nature of the nebular red-shift".[8][dubious – discuss]
> [End excerpt Wikipedia Redshift article on March 16 2023]
>
> I followed the old Wikipedia link to the 1908 Walter S. Adams article
> and downloaded the PDF.
>
> https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1908CMWCI..22....1A/abstract
> https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1908CMWCI..22....1A
>
> The PDF was not searchable, so I ran it through an OCR program. I
> could not find "redshift" of "red shift". Also, I could not find
> "nebular". The article does contain phrases such as: "Strengthened to
> red" and "Widened to red".
>
> OCR can be faulty. Maybe someone else can find "redshift" of "red
> shift" in the article.
>
> It is possible that the 1908 citation in Wikipedia was an error.
> Alternatively, there is another 1908 article by Walter S. Adams with a
> similar title.
>
> Garson
>
> On Sun, Jun 23, 2024 at 6:05 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> wrote:
> >
> > redshift (OED 1923)
> >
> > Wikipedia cites the following source for the term "redshift":
> >
> > Adams, Walter S., "No. 22. Preliminary catalogue of lines affected in
> sun-spots<
> http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1908CMWCI..22....1A>"
> (1908) Contributions from the Mount Wilson Observatory / Carnegie
> Institution of Washington, vol. 22, pp.1–21
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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