MULTIPLEBEAM INTERFEROMETRY OF SURFACES
AND FILMS (MONOGRAPHS ON THE PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS)
ested in the origin and measurement of colors, such as physicists, illuminating engineers, and technicians, the author exprmes the hope that "it will also prove of interest to hiologists and physicians (especially Chapter X), and to all tho~osewho have to do with in the msnufacture rtnd use of colarants and colored
S. ~ o l a n s k y ,~rofessorof Physics. Royal Houowa~Couese. The University of London. Oxford University Fsess, New York, 1948. ClarendonPress* Odord, viii + ppp. I? In the main, the author approaches the subject from the side of 113 figs. 14 X 22 om. $6. experimental physics and illuminating engineering, the stress The phenomena. known as Fizeau fringes and Newton's rings being on the eip;ession of colors by numbers and on the calcularesult from interference between two light beams, produced by tion and measurement of colors. The physiological and psychareflection from two closely adjacent surfaces. These phenomena logicel aspects of the corresponding problems are considered only may be used to give information regarding the variation of the in so far as they aid in a better understanding of the physical distance between these two surfaces and, hence, if one is accu- aspects. The relations to art and aesthetics are not discussed; neither are the physics and chemistry of colored substances. rately plane, regarding the contour of the other. On the whole, the translator has done a good job, though there In this hook Professor Talansky shows haw much more information of this sort can be obtained if the two surfaces are (inoom- are some "spots" where the English expression could be improved. pletely) covered with a thin coating of silver, so as to give a large A small errata sheet is supplied with the English edition. The number of mutually interfering reflected beams. In favorable book is well illustrsted. There is an Appendix containing eleven cases differencesin surfrtce level of only a few Angstr6mms can be tables for the calculation of colors, an extensive list of symbols, observed and measured. Both theory and technique are dis- a bibliography of about 500 references, and a subject index. . cussed in detail, with applications to studies of the surfaces of Printing, paper, and binding are good. crystals of various types. Extension of the technique to metals and other opaque materials is discussed, but more briefly. Although clearly written and requiring for its understanding no chemistry, almost no physics, and no mathematics beyond trigonometry, this book is hardly light reading. Scientists and THE STRUCTURE OF MATTER science teachers should know that there is a technique of this sort and what sort of information can be obtained hv its use. Francis Owen Rice, Professor of Chemistry, The Catholic University of America, and Edward Teller, Professor of Physics, The University of Chicago. John Wiley & Sons, New Yark, 1949. xiii 361 pp. 52 figs. Ill tables. 14.5 X 21.5 em. $5. valuable indeed. THERE are some boob-Eddington's "Nature of the Physical M A U R I C E L. HUGGINS World" or Best and Taylor's "Medics1 Practice," to piok a t Koma Rmsmncn L*aonmomms random-which give one the momentary illusion of holding the ROCRBBTER. NEW YORK entire universe in the grasp. Not till later is it redized that each book has oreseuted onlv a thin section of the whole of reality. The book b y " ~ i c eand Teller creates this same PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF COLOUR illusion of completeness as it swings from the hydrogen atom P. 1. Boumo, Philips Research Laboratories, Eindhaven, The through the theory of solids to nuclear fission and the energy Netherlands. N. V. Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken, Eindhoven. of the stars. Dr. Rice is professor of chemistry a t the Catholic University Elsevier Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1948. 312 pp. 113 of America, and be has conspired, most ably, with Edward Teller, illustrations. 16 X 24 cm. $5.50. professor of physics at the University of Chicago, to write a book Tms book is an introduction to the scientific studv of color exolsinine the chemistrv of matter in terms of auantum mestimuli and color sensations. It is one of a series of books being chanics without the i n t k i o n of advanced mathematics. The published by the Philips Technical Library. The authors are two professors walk a tight rope, balancing between the language members of the scientific and technical staff of the Philips . of their subject on one side, and the reader's ability to comprehend Industries and the books are to be published in five languages: on the other, and they do it very well. If they wobble at times Dutch, English, French, Spanish, and German. Dr. Bourns's it is because they are on a rope. In further quest of simplicity book is the first of the series to be published in English; it ap- the authors have eliminated an author index and all references to peared in Dutch in November, 1946. The author died on Janu- the literature. The treatment is so able, however, that the ary 19,1947,and a t the request of his wife the English translation reader inevitably tries to refer to the missing mathematics or was made by Mrs. A. Wolters-Dawsan, under the supervision of the references. One almost wishes that there were a companion W. De Groot. It is stated that the "translation follows faith- volume by the same authors to which advanced inquiry could be fully the original Dutch text," with a few additions (marked by made. an asterisk) which it was thought would enhance the usefulness The hook opens with the "uncertainty" and "correspondeuce" of the hook. prinoiples, passing thence to the state of excitation of the hydraShrting from the established laws of color mixing, the author gen atom and so to the Pauli "exclusion" concept. The dipole gives in a logical and systematic manner an extensive insight into moment receives a full share of attention and so do present the origin and perception of colors. The book should enrich the theories of valence and resonance. The book is pmticularly ilknowledge of scientistsin many fields and a t the same time senre luminating in its treatment of the solid state. The 50 psgw as a guide to the beginner in the study of problems of chromatics. devoted to nuclear and cosmic chemistry make good reeding Only the knowledge of secondary school mathematics and physics though they can scarcely be called comprehensive. is presumed. While the book is intended for all persons interThe design of the writing is excellent and so is the format
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