P. S. TARTAKOVSKY. Light Quanta. Series “Contemporary Problems of Natural Science,” book No. 41. State Publishing House, 1928. VI + 180. Price 3 rubles 20 kopecks.

P. S. Tartakovsky’s book, at a rapid pace, after a brief historical preparation, introduces the reader in medias res, into the very thick of ...

uncertainties and quests of modern optics. The author gives a valuable and, in some cases, very detailed survey of the principal experimental facts that have served as arguments for the conception of light quanta. The photoelectric phenomena in the optical and X-ray regions and the Compton effect are set forth with particular thoroughness, especially the work of the Leningrad physicists in this field. It is a pity that the question of the photoeffect in gases is touched upon only in passing—for example, the very interesting work of Mohler, Foote, and their collaborators. Evidently by accident, in the account of the history of the discovery of photoelectric phenomena, Stoletov’s name has been omitted. The chapters on photochemistry, fluorescence, and black radiation are more synoptic and compressed. This incompleteness, especially in the matter of temperature radiation, which is the touchstone for testing various theories of light, is somewhat regrettable.

Strictly speaking, no theory of light quanta exists; therefore one need not be surprised that it is absent from the book under review as well. Much of what theoreticians have said about light quanta is included; much is not (for example, Thomson’s hypothesis, the question of the polarization of light in connection with the conception of light quanta, etc.).

The author recalls the analogy of Poincaré, who compared the course of human thought with the oscillations of a pendulum (in the present case, oscillating between waves and corpuscles), and at the end of the book, after the old but very clear exposition of de Broglie’s and Schrödinger’s theory, leaves it to the reader “to draw from the material presented one conclusion or another, according to his taste and scientific inclinations.” Let us venture to express the hope that such an inadmissible state of affairs in science, when “taste” is the supreme arbiter, will someday cease, and that “Poincaré’s pendulum” will come to rest either in a position of equilibrium between waves and corpuscles, or in some other way.

The book is written simply, even in the most difficult theoretical passages, and will be intelligible not only to physicists but also to persons working in neighboring disciplines. It is beautifully produced; the reproductions of some photographs are very good.

S. Vavilov.