André Berthelot. From the Atom to Atomic Energy. Translated from the French, edited by E. Burshtein. State Publishing House for Foreign Literature, Moscow, 1948, 190 pp. + XXXII photographs on separate plates, price 8 rubles.

The small book under review is intended for a considerably wider circle of readers than Rieffler’s book, discussed in the preceding review. The first two chapters constitute an introduction to nuclear physics. They give elementary information about atoms, molecules, and the Mendeleev periodic system; about energy; about electrons and photons; about the dependence of mass on velocity and the relation between mass and energy. Chapter III gives general information on the structure of the atom—on electron shells, on the charge and mass of the nucleus, on isotopes, etc. These three chapters occupy 70 pages, i.e. one third of the book. The remaining two thirds are devoted to the atomic nucleus, radioactivity, nuclear reactions, accelerators, methods for detecting nuclear particles. Finally, the last chapter describes the fission of uranium, transuranic elements, nuclear reactors, and the atomic bomb. To understand the book, a knowledge of physics and mathematics at the level of secondary school is required. The editors have provided the Russian translation of the book with numerous notes, in which they mention the priority of Soviet scientists, and also correct certain inaccuracies and outdated statements in the original.

In general, the book may be characterized as a satisfactorily written popular introduction to modern nuclear physics. However, if one takes into account that the book is distinguished neither by particular depth nor by vividness of exposition, and that it required numerous corrections in the form of notes, the question involuntarily arises: why was it necessary to translate this not bad, but essentially average, little book? The number of books devoted to the atomic nucleus in various languages is very large. Of these, of course, only those should be translated which either are of scientific interest or can serve as models of scientific popularization. Neither one nor the other can be said of Berthelot’s book. Its appearance in Russian will bring some benefit, but it would have been better to see to the publication of popular books written by Soviet authors.

E. Shpolsky.