Abstract
IN 1933, Prof. Max Born published in German “Moderne Physik”, which has given rise to the present English version by Dr. John Dougall. This book is, however, more than a mere translation, for it has been brought thoroughly up to date so as to include the discovery of new particles and their role in the constitution and disintegration of atomic nuclei. The author has included a clear account of his own views suggesting a higher limit to the possible magnitude of an electromagnetic field, somewhat as the velocity of light appears in physics as the maximum velocity of particles. In this way, Born retains Maxwell's equations and the usual relation between energy and mass, and obtains for the size of the electron 2-28 × 10-13 cm. and for the absolute field 9-18 × 1015 E.S.IT., but these values may be modified by the effect of spin, which, as he points out, has not yet been satisfactorily dealt with as a real electromagnetic angular momentum from the point of view of his theory. Incidentally, there is on page 46 and appendix vii an ingenious and simple derivation of the Einstein formula E = me2.
Atomic Physics
Dr. Max Born. Authorised translation from the German edition by Dr. John Dougall. Pp. xii + 352. (London, Glasgow and Bombay: Blackie and Son, Ltd., 1935.) 17s. 5d. net.
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EVE, A. Atomic Physics. Nature 136, 533 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136533a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136533a0