Abstract
THE summary by Sir James Jeans of a series of lectures on the annihilation of matter, delivered by him during his recent visit to the United States, which we publish as our supplement this week, is a characteristically skilful presentation of the case for the reality of this process, of which he has for some time been convinced. Although, as he indicates, the doctrine of the permanence of matter has been a leading feature of the greater part of the history of science—it dates at the latest from the time of Aristotle—supporters of the opposite idea have never been wanting. It appears to be peculiar to our own time, however, that they are to be found among followers of the ‘experimental philosophy’. Yet, fantastic as the idea would have seemed to the physicists of a few generations ago, it is impossible, after considering the evidence which Sir James Jeans so ably summarises, to dismiss it as unworthy of scientific attention. The process is mathematically possible; it is certainly not fundamentally inconsistent with modern atomic theory; it provides a plausible explanation of a physical observation—the highly penetrating radiation and it appears to be the only means of bringing order into the perplexing mass of data concerning the constitution and history of the stars. The cumulative effect of these facts, even if they are not strictly additive, is considerable, and it is not surprising that the hypothesis of annihilation is being treated with marked respect.
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[News and Views]. Nature 128, 100–102 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/128100b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/128100b0