W. Riezler. Introduction to Nuclear Physics. Translated from the 3rd German edition by N. K. Konina. State Publishing House of Foreign Literature, Moscow, 1948, 322 pp., price 20 rubles 50 kopecks.

Riezler’s book is intended for persons beginning the study of nuclear physics but possessing some general training in physics.

Its readers may be students—physicists or chemists—engineers, and teachers of physics.

The book has a “practical” character and, in essence, can serve as a short elementary textbook of nuclear physics. The latest edition of the original, from which the translation was made, appeared in 1943, and therefore a number of later results are not touched upon in the book. Nevertheless, what it does contain is presented correctly, and indications of further developments, with references to the literature, are given in the editorial notes.

The contents of the book are as follows. After a brief account of the history of the development of nuclear physics, Chapter II examines the general properties of atomic nuclei—charge, mass, dimensions, spin, magnetic and electric moments. Chapter III is devoted to natural radioactivity. The central place in the book is occupied by the extensive (88-page) Chapter IV—experimental methods for investigating the nucleus. In this chapter accelerators are discussed in considerable detail—the electrostatic generator and the cyclotron; the betatron is described in the most general terms, and its invention is attributed to Steinbeck, whereas it is known that the first attempt to realize acceleration by a vortex electric field was made by Widerøe. The synchrotron is discussed in a few lines in an editorial note. Further, with great completeness and with the principal diagrams included, the methods of detecting particles are considered and, finally, methods for determining path length and energy. Despite the indicated incompleteness, the whole chapter, presented thoroughly and clearly, is very valuable. Chapter V is devoted to nuclear reactions and is very well composed. It first considers the Bohr model of the “compound nucleus”; then, using two examples—fluorine and aluminium—the main types of reactions are described; as for the various special cases of reactions, a large quantity of information about them is concentrated, in compact form, in the colored table appended to the book. Special sections are devoted to the important questions of effective cross section, yield, and energy effect in nuclear reactions. At the end of the chapter, works concerning the fission of heavy nuclei and the role of nuclear reactions in the life of stars are presented.

Chapter VI is devoted to the structure of the atomic nucleus. In elementary form it describes current ideas about the principal structural units of the nucleus, about nuclear forces, and about the structure of the nucleus. Chapter VII describes applications of nuclear physics. This chapter is substantially incomplete, since it considers only the tracer-atom method and its applications; nuclear chain reactions and questions connected with the use of nuclear energy are, of course, absent from the original, which appeared in 1943. In the Russian translation this circumstance is noted in an editorial note, where references to the relevant literature are given.

A large number of tables on nuclear physics, compiled by S. Petrovich, have been appended to the Russian translation. The tables are compiled on the basis of the latest data and are very valuable.

In conclusion, it should be noted that Riezler’s book is substantial and clearly written. Despite the fact that, because of the date of publication of the original, a number of important questions could not be touched upon in the book—for example, new types of accelerators, nuclear chain reactions, and the properties of transuranium elements—this book is a useful acquisition for our scientific literature.

E. Shpolsky.