The New Physics and Its Evolution

by Lucien Poincaré, Francis Legge (Editor)

This is one of the "International Scientific Series," and is translated from the French. It represents an attempt to pass in review all the changes that have taken place in the views of physicists, and all the principal discoveries made in physics, and its practical applications, during the past ten years. The pages of this small volume contain space far too small for the carrying through of such a feat adequately, even though the technical side of the subject is touched upon very slightly. But the principal difficulty in the accomplishment of the task the author has set himself lies in the fact that it is scarcely conceivable that a single brain can grasp all provinces of modern physics, and give expert opinions upon subjects ranging from say, modern methods of accurate measurement to chemical thermodynamics and the relations of the ether and matter. Nevertheless, on looking through the book, one has to admit that the author proves himself to be a sound scholar, possessed of exceptionally catholic taste and of a rare power of getting at the best route to the heart of many a labyrinthine subject. But though the author professes to set forth the fundamental facts of each branch of physics before discussing the modern developments of that branch, we fear that the extremely condensed form of the preliminary pabulum will prove almost completely non-nutritive to the average reader. Indeed, we think that even ardent students of physics, when they come across portions of the book dealing with branches unfamiliar to them may find these portions of but small instructiveness. Further, if the reader be a physicist and also a specialist in some technical matter, and will read carefully the part of the book touching upon his own branch of work, he may easily find various evidences of slightly imperfect grasp of proportion. The author is at his best, on the other hand, in the art of taking a broad view of some large region of theoretical physics. For example, he is excellent in the first chapter on the evolution of physics, where he convinces the reader that the torrent of modern discoveries is not revolutionary, but only evolutionary, and that to-day we add to ordered knowledge at a greater rate than did our grandfathers, only because the number of seekers has increased in all countries, while their quality has not diminished. In such vein the author very happily and very cleverly discusses many matters of wide and general interest to physicists and thus makes the book well worth perusal by all to whom physics is important.

-Electrical Engineering, Volume 3 [1908]

Genres: Science, Reference, Physics, Classics, Nonfiction, Amazon

346 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2005

Reviews

[Porter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book certainly contains a lot of information. Much of the information is laid out in a cursory fashion without much explanation so it is not a great resource if you are trying to really understand some concepts. As a broad survey of the then current state of physics as when Poincare wrote this, it seems like it was an excellent compilation. It was probably extremely useful at the time to have a catalog of all the newest developments in physics all in one place. The book does not retain comparable utility in the modern day but it does serve nicely to demonstrate a snapshot of the world of science at that time. The reader is not going to find anything novel in interpretation/ explanation or conceptually but for its purposes at the time it was written it is a very good work. To the modern reader its use is limited to being merely a historic piece that is representative of the era from whichwe can glean a view of that time period indirectly through its description of the current science rather than through a purposeful post hoc historical account.

[Rajesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is written in an older style and deals with ideas of physics contemporaneous with Poincare, who is widely considered an all time great among physicists. It is interesting to read because of the way the ideas are communicated, and is intended for the many who read occasional books on science outside of textbooks and journal papers, but who want more than just the very raw basics. Perhaps the book was intended as a primer for a world that had fundamentally changed around the early 1900s.

All in all - for a book published a century ago, it lucidly communicates science even to an audience in 2015 - at least the essentials that we all need to know, and does so in lucid language.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice overview of contemporary physics, just before Einstein rocked the world. Physics was just getting hold of radio and telegraphy, in good, step-wise refinement... and Albert dropped a SmartPhone with video on their well-ordered engineering/science plans. Sometimes, evolution is not smooth. Just when everyone was comfortable with the physics game... somebody changed the rules.