K. K. Aglintsev, Dosimetry of Ionizing Radiation (Radiometry and Roentgenometry). State Publishing House of Technical-Theoretical Literature, Moscow—Leningrad, 1950, 500 pp., 294 figs., with appendix and index.

The book under review is intended for physicists and engineers working in fields close to dosimetry.

The monograph discusses the basic facts and laws that occur when particles and radiation pass through matter, the design and operation of measuring instruments, measurement methods, and practical applications of dosimetry.

In the first three chapters the passage through matter of charged particles, radiation, and neutrons is considered. In these chapters the author gives numerous tables of experimental data, empirical curves, and also the basic formulas of existing theories of scattering, absorption, and other interactions of particles and radiation with matter. In most cases the formulas are given without derivation, and the theory of the phenomena is not presented.

It seems that in a monograph devoted to a particular kind of physical experiment it is by no means necessary to set forth the mathematical derivations of theories. At the same time, the physical foundations of a theory, as well as the character of the approximations and assumptions on which the theory is based, should be well known to the experimenter. What is the use of analyzing deviations of experimental points from a theoretical curve if the experimenter knows neither the accuracy to which a given formula may lay claim, nor the values of the arguments of the function at which, because of the simplifications made in the derivation, deviations of the theory from experiment may be expected? Thus...

nomials, in our opinion, in a book covering a large area of experimental physics, the physical foundations and schemes of the theory must be set forth. This is what we find in the monograph under review.

The exposition of the main text of Chapter I begins, for example, as follows (p. 11): “The elastic scattering of fast electrons by light atomic nuclei is satisfactorily described by Mott’s formula, derived from quantum-mechanical considerations. Mott’s formula has the form...”. In connection with this phrase, the attentive reader may ask a very large number of quite legitimate questions, for example: what elastic scattering is, which electrons are considered fast and which nuclei light, what is specific about quantum-mechanical “considerations” as applied to collision theory. There is no answer to these questions; the author confines himself merely to presenting a certain selection of experimental material and to comparing the experimental data with the theoretical formula.

The next paragraph begins in exactly the same way (p. 14): “Bethe gives the following approximate expressions for the effective cross sections...”. Again, there is no answer to legitimate questions, for example: what the approximation of the derivation consists in, what the physical foundations of the theory are, and, finally, what a transverse section is? (The concept of an effective transverse section is defined only on p. 65 in the chapter on neutrons, and moreover in such a way that the impression may be created that the general definition given is suitable only for the particular case under consideration.)

The examples we have cited are very typical and fully characterize the introduction of theoretical material into the book. In the same way, on p. 17 Bloch’s formula appears; the formula for the cross section of radiative losses (p. 25); Rutherford’s formula and Bloch’s formula for heavy nuclei (p. 34); the coefficient of photoelectric absorption (p. 45); the Klein–Nishina formula (p. 51)...—in short, practically all the formulas appearing in the first three chapters.

In very many cases (for example, formulas 1, 8 of Chapter I, 13, 18 of Chapter II, etc.) not only is the origin of the formula, its range of application, and so forth not specified, but there is not even an indication of which cited books or articles the reader should look in to find the derivation of the formula that has interested him.

The chosen style of exposition in the three chapters under consideration is interrupted only by the three-page calculation, presented there, of the Bethe neutron density. Why this calculation was made an exception to the adopted rule is unclear to the reviewer.

The positive qualities of the chapters described are the clear classification of interaction processes and the lucid presentation of the experimental material. There are many graphs, tables, and numerical examples.

The reader who has learned from a school of “advanced education” will receive, from the first three chapters of the monograph under review, an impression of the degree of agreement between experiment and theory. A reader who has not studied the theory of particle collisions will obtain, in reading the first three chapters, considerably less benefit than would have been desirable. This is all the more regrettable since there is no book in which the theory of particle collisions, or, more broadly, the theory of the interaction of radiation with matter, is presented in a form accessible to the experimental physicist.

If, in the first three chapters, with the single exception mentioned, the author’s attitude toward theory is quite even-handed (the theory is not presented), then in the subsequent chapters of the book this evenness is lost. On pp. 90–91, 96, 98–100, 102 (the theory of the action of electroscopes and electrometers) the author gives calculations and derives simple formulas for the angles of deflection of the indicating device in these instruments, relying on the reader’s knowledge of a general physics course. In the chapter devoted to ionization cham-

ram, the author integrates the differential equations of diffusion in full detail over many pages.

On p. 50, without any explanation, the author introduces equations (46), in which divergence and gradient appear; on p. 209 and the following pages (the pages themselves being very good), the author does not trust not only the reader’s algebraic but even his arithmetical knowledge, discussing units for measuring quantities of radioactive substances.

The unevenness in the presentation of the theoretical material is, it seems to us, a substantial shortcoming of K. K. Aglintsev’s monograph.

Let us now turn to a consideration of the contents of the book. Chapter IV sets out the construction and theory of operation of electrometers as this is usually done in detailed physics courses. Chapter V is useful; it describes electrometer tubes—special electron tubes which in very many cases have displaced electrometers from laboratory practice. The author describes the characteristics of five known electrometer tubes and examines various circuits for their connection. The theory of these tubes is not considered; only the results of the theory are presented (including the fact that the limiting sensitivity of an electrometer tube to charge is equal to 20 elementary charges).

Chapters VI and VII of the book are devoted to ionization chambers and counters. This material is presented in greater detail in the recently published monograph by V. I. Veksler, N. A. Dobrotin, and B. M. Isaev. However, in the book under review no little space is devoted to it (78 pp.). The principles of operation of the instruments are well set out, a clear idea is given of the mechanism of the phenomena occurring in counters and chambers, and a good selection from experimental work is made. In some places one may cite only excessive complexity in the derivation of certain formulas (compare, for example, §§ 6 and 7 of Chapter VI). It seems to us that it would have been better not to give derivations of formulas, as in Chapters I–III, but only to state clearly the conditions underlying the derivation.

In the next three chapters the foundations of practical roentgenometry are described with great clarity; the author of the monograph is one of the outstanding workers in this field. These chapters describe the construction and methods of working with normal chambers for radiation of all possible wavelengths (including γ-rays). The dosimeters and roentgenometers of Ya. L. Shakhtman and I. V. Poroykova, roentgenometers with a counting mechanism, micro-roentgenometers of I. V. Poroykova, and other instruments of the same type are described.

Chapter XII presents new and interesting material on dosimetry of neutron fluxes. The foundations of the theory are set forth, as are the technique and the results of experiments.

An important problem of dosimetry is the specification of the dose received by various tissues and substances after irradiation by neutrons. In § 5 of Chapter XII there are curves of calculated and tabular data for the energy absorbed from neutrons. In Table 59 it should not have been limited to giving the chemical composition of tissues; it should also have been stated what tissues these are. From the context it is obvious that biological tissues are meant.

A large chapter is devoted to the analysis of X-radiation by the absorption method. The questions of filtration of X-rays are well illuminated. The author describes in detail his own work in this field, in particular calculations of the spectral composition of scattered X-radiation.

Chapter XV contains a description of the author’s work on measuring instantaneous values of radiation intensity by the ionization method. To this generally speaking interesting method, much disproportionately large space is devoted. For example, § 4 of this chapter describes the conversion of oscillograms of ion current into curves of radiation intensity. There was no need, it seems to us, to justify formulas (40) for the coefficients of expansion in a series

Fourier, the principle of whose derivation is sufficiently clear; this would save the author several pages.

The principles of dose calculation, as well as the half-life periods of radioactive preparations, are presented well, with a large number of practical instructions, numerical examples, and tables.

Chapter XIX, on certain applications of radiometry in geophysics, is intended only to give a general idea of the significance of these methods for geophysics. The author devoted only half a page to well logging, and 9 pages to the entire chapter. This is perhaps correct, since the application of radiometry in geophysics has a specificity that takes this question beyond the scope of the subject of the monograph under review.

Chapter XXI sets forth some work in the field of the biological action of ionizing radiation. From the enormous, rapidly developing field of science the author has selected only certain, mostly physical, questions (such as, for example, calculations of the probability of the death of organisms from particle impacts), which he quite rightly considered appropriate in a physics book. This chapter gives interesting new calculations and measurements of the safe flux of slow neutrons. From this chapter the reader will gain an idea of the importance and breadth of this new field of science. It is quite obvious that the subject of this chapter also deserves a separate book.

Chapter XXII—“Protection against the harmful action of ionizing radiation”—has, as it should, a practical orientation and allows the reader to understand the scope and nature of protective measures that must be taken to safeguard the health of persons working with radiation.

The appendices give cross sections for the interaction of neutrons with atomic nuclei, a table of decay and radon accumulation times, the linear attenuation coefficient of γ-rays (a selection from a table), and data for the K-level of atoms. Among the mathematical tables there is a table of the function \(e^{-x}\).

The list of references is small, but in any case sufficient to serve as a starting point for the beginning researcher.

The book leaves a sufficiently integral impression. It is a good introduction to the entire complex of questions of roentgenometry and radiometry. The presentation of the material is, for the most part, precise and clear. In this respect, as indicated above, the first chapters of the book (the theory of interaction with matter) fall outside the general plan; they require of the reader familiarity with a special theory, and also a somewhat excessive exposition of particular questions that were the subject of the author’s own research.

Despite the shortcomings noted, one may say that the author has succeeded in the task of giving physicists, engineers, and students working in fields close to radiometry and roentgenometry a handbook that treats the whole problem of dosimetry of ionizing radiation as a whole.

A. I. Kitaigorodskii