50 Years Ago

Mathematical Methods in the Theory of Queueing. By A. Y. Khintchine — This beautiful little book breathes reason and modesty from cover to cover ... A particularly pleasing feature is the way in which the results are developed; the mathematics is 'done', not merely indicated, and nowhere does the author state a result and refer the reader elsewhere for the details. Thus there is a satisfying aspect of completion about the exposition ... The theory of queues has undergone considerable development in recent years. Some mathematicians think the development has gone too far. Whether this is so or not the book under review will serve to show that the phenomenon of queueing represents another human experience which has bowed to the forces of applied mathematics; the concepts that have been built around this experience have proved to be of the right kind, and sufficient in number, for the mathematical development to go 'with a bang'.

From Nature 15 July 1961

100 Years Ago

We published recently (June 29) a short article on the progress of radiography in medical diagnosis, and alluded in particular to the work of the staff at Guy's Hospital in their investigation of pathological conditions of the intestine. In this connection we note the appearance of a new paper ... by Dr. A. C. Jordan, medical radiographer to Guy's Hospital ... in which he shows that it is often possible to detect duodenal obstruction by the X-ray method after giving the patient a bismuth meal. Diseases of the duodenum are often extremely obscure, and this new method of diagnosing the condition will be welcomed both by the medical profession and the sufferers from such complaints.

From Nature 13 July 1911