General plan of the collection
Until now over two thousand stamps closely related to physics have been issued. Here I want to exhibit only those which appeared up to 1930. The oldest of them is the first United States postage stamp issued in 1847 featuring a portrait of Benjamin Franklin, a great stateman and a well-known physicist. Next, issued in 1923, were two Polish stamps featuring Nicolaus Copernicus, then two sets of the Soviet stamps, in 1925, to commemorate 200th Anniversary of Russian Academy of Sciences and 20th Anniversary of Alexander Popov's death. Two years later, four stamps showing Alessandro Volta were issued in Italy. In 1928, the issuing of the Dutch set showing Jean-Pierre Minkelers, Herman Boerhaave, Hendrik Lorentz and Christiaan Huygens took place. The last in that group of those stamps issued before 1930 was the Norwegian set of stamps which appeared in 1929 featuring Abel.
Perhaps the most wanted stamp related to physics is a Turkish one, depicting Marie Sklodowska-Curie, issued in 1938.
The oldest postmarks related to physics date back to the second decade of 20th century. They concern X-rays and radioactivity. Perhaps the first of them were cancellations used during the First World War on X-ray moving vans, introduced to the fronts by the French Army thanks to M. Sklodowska-Curie's initiative. Then, in the early twenties, several post offices in health resorts began to use postmarks which commemorated radioactive sources naturally occuring in the resorts. One of these kinds of postmarks was applied in Salbad Kreuznach in 1924.
Of course, hysics and physics-related topics appear not only on stamps and cancellations, but on FDCs, postal cards, aerogrammes, and other postal emissions as well.
On the basis of the existing philatelic material it is possible to create interesting collections reflecting various aspects of Physics.
The aim of my collection "Physics in Philately" is to present the development of physics, the applications of physics in science, medicine, technology and industry, and the hopes as well as threats which the achievements of physics bring to mankind.
To reach this aim I use stamps with all their varietes, FDCs, postal cards, aerogrammes, special cancellations, and other postal-related items. The above mentioned collectibles should meet my collecting requirements.
General plan of the collection
Last update on March 20, 2002