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Writings, printed material, and miscellaneous material relating to both editions of F. W. Aston's 'Isotopes' and both editions of the later revision, 'Mass-spectra and Isotopes'.

The writings include an incomplete[?] draft of the first edition of 'Isotopes' written in Aston's hand [ASTN 1], some pages written on the verso of minutes of the British Association for the Advancement of Science [ca 1920-1923], with related notes and including a postcard from Hugh Frank Newall dated Dec. 193[?] about a reference found in [Antonius] van den Broek [ASTN 1/104]; other drafts are a combination of typescript and printed material with emendations in Aston's hand and that of a typesetter, some of it written on C. P. Snow's letterhead., with original material for the plates and figures [ASTN 2, 4, 7, 8].

Accompanied by printed copies of 'Isotopes' which contain some edits and have been cut up for use in the revision [ASTN 3, 6], and a typescript letter from F. P. Dunn of Edward Arnold Publishers dated Nov. 1923 sending unbound copies of 'Isotopes' for his use [ASTN 5]. Also accompanied by offprints of other works, also with emendations and cut sections [ASTN 9], and a letter from F. A. Towle of the Royal Society in July 1927 returning figures for his Bakerian Lecture [ASTN 10].

The papers contain faculty and special lectures, academic correspondence, scientific notebooks, letters and papers as Master of Trinity and President of the Royal Society, papers relating to the Natural Sciences Club, papers relating to the Cambridge Post-Expressionist exhibition and the diaries of Hester Adrian.

The collection is particularly noteworthy for its coverage of Adams's lectures, research and incoming correspondence.
Section A, Biographical, is not substantial. It includes a little material of Adams's relating to his own career including three Bedford School notebooks and his PhD thesis, and material assembled by I M James during the preparation of his Royal Society memoir.
Section B, Research, provides extensive documentation of Adams's research from the 1950s until his death. It is presented in an alphabetical sequence arranged by subject title.
Section C, Lectures, is the largest in the collection. Two subsections comprise Adams's lecture notes and other teaching material for courses given at Manchester and Cambridge, and material from conferences and seminars attended by Adams throughout the world including drafts of Adams's contributions and notes of contributions by others. A third subsection consists of Adams's ms notes found in filing cabinet drawers labelled 'Other people's lectures'. It includes notes taken by Adams as an undergraduate at Cambridge in 1949.
Section D, Publications, is very slight. It includes drafts of a few of Adams's scientific papers.
Section E, Correspondence, contains virtually no extended exchanges of correspondence as very few copies of Adams's own letters survive. There is, however, significant correspondence from colleagues such as M F (later Sir Michael) Atiyah, M G Barratt, P J Hilton, I M James and S MacLane, sometimes extending over a period of twenty or thirty years.