BIBLIOGRAPHY

P. N. Lebedev, Selected Works. Edited and with a foreword by Prof. A. K. Timiryazev, “Classics of Natural Science” series, Gostekhizdat, Moscow–Leningrad, 1949, 242 pp., print run 8000 copies, price 9 rubles 80 kopecks.

We are greatly indebted to P. N. Lebedev. For to this day no complete collection of P. N. Lebedev’s works has been published; there is no scholarly, thorough biography of this acknowledged classic of science and ardent patriot of his homeland.

Soon after P. N. Lebedev’s death, in 1913, a collection of his works was published, but, by the admission of one of its editors—T. P. Kravets (see Bibliographic Index, P. N. Lebedev, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1950)—this edition cannot claim completeness.

In that same year, 1913, P. N. Lebedev’s works on light pressure were published in German in the “Classics of Natural Science” series under the editorship of P. P. Lazarev. Finally, already in Soviet times, in 1922, P. N. Lebedev’s works on light pressure appeared as the fourth book of the “Classics of Natural Science” series, edited by P. P. Lazarev and T. P. Kravets. The publication of this book was timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of P. N. Lebedev’s death. The book bears the imprint of the difficult conditions under which our printing industry was then developing in those years. This is evident both in the poor quality of the paper and in the absence of a binding. At the same time, however, this small book, in its content, meets the requirements placed upon publications of classic works. Above all, the editions in which the printed works had first appeared are precisely indicated. Then there are brief but interesting commentaries, and a small bibliographic list of P. N. Lebedev’s works on wave pressure.

After the appearance of this book, which has become a bibliographic rarity, twenty-seven years (!) passed before the next publication of P. N. Lebedev’s works (unless one counts the publication of letters by P. N. Lebedev in the Academy of Sciences of the USSR collection Scientific Heritage, vol. 1, 1948).

The reviewed Selected Works appeared in 1949 and, of course, differ sharply in their presentation from the 1922 edition. A modest but tastefully made binding and graphic ornamentation of the text give the book a pleasant and solid appearance.

The content of the book is undoubtedly of great value, although some critical remarks may be made. The book begins with a short foreword by the editor. In this foreword the works of P. N. Lebedev collected in the present edition are characterized and their significance is noted. It seems to us that the definition is written under too strong an impression from Blackett’s work on the magnetic field of rotating bodies. A certain disproportion has resulted between this question and the question of the pressure of light, which is after all the fundamental one in evaluating P. N. Lebedev’s creative work. After the foreword comes a biographical sketch. As such, there is reprinted the sketch,

written by P. P. Lazarev in 1913 for the collected works of P. N. Lebedev. As the editor indicates, small pieces taken from V. D. Zernov’s essay have been added to this sketch. In addition, a comparison of the texts shows that the main text by P. P. Lazarev as well underwent minor editorial changes and abridgements. Most of these changes are quite appropriate. It is only a pity that on p. 15 the motives for choosing the subject of the doctoral dissertation have been omitted. Lebedev wanted to choose an exceptionally difficult topic (the penetration of an electric field through thin conducting layers) and only at Kundt’s insistence switched to an easier one. P. P. Lazarev emphasizes the importance of this decision for Lebedev’s fate.

P. P. Lazarev’s biographical sketch is of interest as the testimony of a contemporary and colleague of P. N. Lebedev; but this sketch, written in 1913, even after corrections and additions, cannot replace a biography (even a brief one) written from contemporary ideological positions. Such a biography should reflect the subsequent fate of P. N. Lebedev’s scientific works and the significance of his views on the organization of scientific work in Russia. Questions of priority must be carefully discussed in it. A sketch of a biography of P. N. Lebedev satisfying modern requirements is provided by S. I. Vavilov’s essay in the first volume of the book People of Russian Science, vol. I, 1948. But this sketch is intended for a very broad circle of readers and is too brief in scope.

It seems that the Selected Works of P. N. Lebedev should have been supplied with a new biographical sketch, specially written for this edition.

Lebedev’s own original works are presented in the book quite fully. First of all, his dissertation “On the Measurement of the Dielectric Constants of Vapors,” completed while he was still abroad, is included. T. P. Kravets indicates that: “P. N. did not especially like this work, since it did not correspond to his taste, refined on record-difficult topics” (P. N. Lebedev, USSR Academy of Sciences, 1950).

However, the results of this work were significant both for science and for Lebedev himself, since they helped form him as a physicist. Here he first became interested in the nature of intermolecular forces.

Next comes a small, purely theoretical, but exceptionally important article for understanding Lebedev’s entire creative path, “On the Repulsive Force of Radiating Bodies.” In it Lebedev for the first time draws attention to the completely universal role of the force of light repulsion, competing with the force of Newtonian attraction.

The following work—“On the Double Refraction of Rays of Electric Force”—contains a description of Lebedev’s virtuoso experiments with ultrashort electromagnetic waves (4–6 mm). This work played a fundamentally important role in establishing the complete spectrum of electromagnetic waves and aroused general astonishment by the subtlety of the experiment. Next comes the fundamental work, or rather a series of three works: “Experimental Investigation of the Ponderomotive Action of Waves on Resonators.” In this work, which earned Lebedev the Russian degree of Doctor of Sciences, the experimental talent of the author had already unfolded to the full. For the modern experimenter, accustomed to narrow specialization, the broad range of Lebedev’s experimental possibilities is striking. In this work he experiments with equal ease in the fields of electromagnetic, sound, and hydrodynamic oscillations. The generality of the results he obtained for all three types of oscillations had great fundamental significance for the problem of the interaction of resonators of all types. In particular, this generality made possible the transfer of the results obtained to the field of molecular physics.

We find echoes of Lebedev’s work on the interaction of resonators in the remarkable works of S. I. Vavilov on the concentration quenching of luminescence.

Finally, the summit of P. N. Lebedev’s scientific creativity is “An Experimental Investigation of Light Pressure.” Every physicist should read this work, as a true model of classical work, in which everything is harmonious—both the aim, and the method, and the significance of the results. No good exposition of a classical work can convey all its distinctiveness.

Unfortunately, we too often become acquainted with classical works at second hand. In doing so, the saving of time is purchased at a high price. “First of all, all detailed indications concerning the very methodology of scientific work are lost.” The short communication “Physical causes determining deviations from Newton’s gravitational law” is close in its content to the article “On the repulsive force of light-emitting bodies,” but it was written after positive results had already been obtained as evidence for the existence of light pressure, and is therefore imbued with the spirit of a victory won.

The article “Thermoelements in a Vacuum as an Instrument for Measuring Radiant Energy” is important for establishing Lebedev’s priority in the invention of the vacuum thermoelement—one of the basic instruments of the modern physics laboratory.

The next, in the literal sense of the word unrepeatable, work of P. N. Lebedev is “An Experimental Investigation of the Pressure of Light on Gases.” Everything said above concerning Lebedev’s main work on light pressure applies to it in full measure. Also interesting, and not without contemporary significance, is the note on the limiting value of short acoustic waves in air.

The last work included in the book is “Magnetometric Investigation of Rotating Bodies. First Communication.” The work was interrupted by P. N. Lebedev’s death. K. A. Timiryazev thus describes his impressions connected with Lebedev’s last investigation: “When Pyotr Nikolaevich, with his usual courtesy, showed me and explained to me this new work of his, I said to him in jest: ‘If I understand it, it is something like a Laval separator: that one separates cream from milk, while yours will separate negative electricity from positive.’ He laughed and said: ‘Perhaps that is so; only my separator must operate several thousand revolutions per second!’ And, in all probability, it was not destined to be realized—the terrestrial globe will cease to rotate, the furious ‘separator’ will fall silent... In a few weeks ‘the abomination of desolation’ will take up residence here (after Lebedev’s departure from the University), and Lebedev’s worthy successor, a Chinovnik in the service of the powers that be, will hurry to report to his superiors: ‘In the department entrusted to me the temple of science is entirely calm.’” (Science and Democracy, p. 50, GIZ, 1920).

On the whole it must be acknowledged that A. K. Timiryazev’s selection of original works has been made successfully and gives a clear idea of Lebedev’s scientific legacy.

It is possible that the selected works should also have included Lebedev’s articles that give an idea of his public and political image. For example: “Russian Society and Russian National Laboratories” and “In Memory of the First Russian Scientist [M. V. Lomonosov].” These articles, despite their small size, are of exceptional interest for the Soviet reader. They show how much P. N. Lebedev thought about the fate of science in Russia.

For our studying youth it is important to see that major Russian scientists did not confine themselves within the narrow limits of their scientific work, but lived the life of their people.

If the selection of P. N. Lebedev’s original works raises no objections, the form of the publication itself is somewhat surprising. First, there is a complete absence of indications of the editions in which the corresponding works were first published. In this respect the edition under review is inferior to the 1922 edition. Likewise, there are no comments of any kind on the text of the works being published. It is unclear why, for example, the works of the Frankfurt optician Büchler are printed here with excellent commentaries, although in essence they are minor studies, while the works of our compatriot P. N. Lebedev appear without any commentary whatsoever.

There is also no bibliography of P. N. Lebedev’s works. Such a bibliography is especially needed in an edition of selected works, for only with it can the reader orient himself as to what portion of Lebedev’s total scholarly legacy is made up by the works published in the present edition.

Despite the shortcomings noted, the publication of Lebedev’s selected writings will facilitate acquaintance of the contemporary reader with the classic works of one of the most outstanding Russian physicists.

However, the publication of a complete collected works of Lebedev remains an urgent task.

V. A. Fabrikant