Abstract
IN the nine chapters of this volume.—Prof. Langevin has collected a number of addresses and reports bearing dates from 1903 to 1920. In the first three he discusses the development of the electron theory and its applications. Then follows a chapter, dated 1913, on the quantum theory. The latter half of the volume is concerned with the nature of the concepts of space and time and the theory of relativity. It would seem that the reports are printed in the form in which they were first presented with no attempt to revise them in the light of more recent knowledge. Thus the author provides an interesting historical picture of the development, of physical ideas in the first twenty years of the present century. But the picture is in many respects incomplete, and the reader would have welcomed an additional chapter pointing out what modifications are necessary in the earlier addresses to bring them into line with the results of modern work. For example, the ether, the existence of which is so confidently assumed in the first chapter, would require an entirely fresh description to bring it into accord with the Einstein theory of relativity, even if the conception is not to be abandoned entirely.
La Physique depuis vingt ans.
Prof.
P.
Langevin
Par. (Encyclopédic scientifique.) Pp.455. (Paris: Gaston Doin, 1923.) 15 francs.
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La Physique depuis vingt ans. Nature 113, 487 (1924). https://doi.org/10.1038/113487c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/113487c0