Les radiations Propagation de la chaleur

Abstract

PROF. FABRY, who died in 1945, was well known X throughout the world for his original work, and, in a smaller circle, for his skill as a lecturer and expositor. These two books, one published in 1942 and the other after his death, are therefore of special interest. They are of a type not common among English publications, being short treatments of very wide subjects which are neither popular books nor abbreviated technical publications. They are mainly concerned neither with fundamental science nor with technical applications, but with something intermediate. They deal with those theoretical considerations which lie immediately behind applied science. For example, in “Les Radiations” there is little about the wave theory or quantum theory of radiation. A considerable proportion of the space is given to the basic theory of the measurement of a radiation flux (spectral distribution curves of sources and sensitivity curves of measuring devices). Different types of measuring instruments are mentioned, but there is nothing about the technique of photometry and similar subjects. The reviewer understands, from inquiry, that these books were based on lectures given to people who would later have to use or to test scientific instruments (for example, engineering students and students who would later become technical assistants in testing and research laboratories). Such students need precisely what these books aim to give—not technical details which they will obtain elsewhere, nor fundamental theory which would appear to them far removed from their work, but some general ideas brought into immediate relation with their own work. The literature of science in English would be enriched by publications of this type.

Les radiations

Par Prof. Charles Fabry. (Collection Armand Colin: Section de physique No. 243.) Pp. iv + 220. (Paris: Armand Colin, 1946.) 60 francs.

Propagation de la chaleur

Par Prof. Charles Fabry. (Collection Armand Colin: Section de physique, No. 236.) Pp. 216. (Paris: Armand Colin, 1942.) n.p.