MAX PLANCK. The Theory of Heat Radiation. Translated from the 5th German edition by M. Chernikhovsky and S. Vonsovsky. Edited by M. Elyashevich, ONTI. Main Editorial Office for General Technical Literature. Leningrad—Moscow, 1935. Pp. 204, price 4 rubles.

The Russian translation of Planck’s book appeared at the end of 1935 (the editor’s preface is dated November 1935). Thus a review of this book, published in the middle of 1937, would seem to be belated. If, nevertheless, we decide to include it, it is only because the publication of Planck’s book in Russian is such a major event in our scientific literature that it must not and cannot go unremarked. Is it necessary to explain to the readers of a physics journal what Planck’s book represents, to set out its contents in detail, and so on? Of course not, for what physicist has not heard of Planck’s Wärmestrahlung and does not know that in this book the foundations of the theory of quanta created by its author were first presented in systematic form? Planck’s book, undoubtedly, belongs to that collection of books constituting natural-scientific classics, which retain their interest and significance for all time.

In its thirty-year history (the first edition appeared in 1906), Planck’s book has in some respects undergone a transformation. Whereas in the first edition the author treats both emission and absorption as quantum processes, in the second edition the so-called “second theory” appears, in which only the processes of emission are assigned a quantum nature; finally, in the last edition this second theory disappears again.

From the historical point of view, the author’s prefaces to the various editions are very interesting. Fully aware of the revolutionary character of his theory and its sharp contradiction with classical physics, Planck cautiously writes in the preface to the first edition: “I wish to emphasize here especially that the theory developed in the book makes no claim whatsoever to a fully completed character, although, as it seems to me, it opens an expedient path for the study of the processes of radiation energy, etc.” In the preface to the 2nd edition (1912), Planck states that, despite the successes of quantum theory, its ideas, although they arouse very great interest, have not yet found general recognition. Noting that “many physicists, out of conservatism, reject the considerations developed by me or take a waiting position,” Planck himself adopts a cautious position with respect to those physicists who go further than he does and give the theory a more radical character, i.e., speaking more precisely, with respect to Einstein’s hypothesis of light quanta. Only in 1921, in the preface to the fourth edition, does Planck confidently state: “Quantum theory has undergone in many respects a remarkable development since the appearance of the first edition of this book.”

There is no doubt that Planck’s book should be in the library of every educated physicist. But at a time when physicists of the older generation, with very rare exceptions, had the German original, it was not very accessible to young physicists. With the publication of the Russian translation, this gap has been eliminated.

Reading this book is not a very easy matter. This is explained not by mathematical difficulties—there are none at all—but by the depth and subtlety of the logical analysis to which physical phenomena are subjected in Planck’s book. Precisely in this lies its special pedagogical value, and therefore the study of Planck’s book should be a necessary stage in serious physical education.

The translators and editor were faced with a responsible and difficult task—to reproduce accurately and in literary language the course of Planck’s reasoning. They have fully coped with this task. The Main Editorial Board for General Technical Disciplines of ONTI, the translators, and the editor, Soviet physicists, deserve gratitude for enriching our scientific literature, which will undoubtedly contribute to raising the cultural level of the younger generation of scientific workers. It is only a pity that such a valuable book has been issued without a binding, in a simple cover.

E. Shpolsky, Moscow