English Physicist Research Articles

Some corner of a foreign field

H. G. J. Moseley: The Life and Letters of an English Physicist, 1887–1915. By J. L. Heilbron. Pp. viii+312. (University of California: Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, June 1974.) £7.50.

The atomic theory of John William Nicholson

The English mathematical physicist John William Nicholson1 proposed a theory of atomic structure in 1911, and for several years he explored its exact implications for stellar spectroscopy and for the periodic table of elements. When he is brought into accounts of the growth of modern physics it is usually to credit him with the interpretation of Planck's constant as an angular momentum. While the credit is earned, a historical distortion inevitably results when his notion of the quantization of angular momentum is abstracted from the body of atomic ideas and apparently successful predictions to which it applied. The manner in which he introduced and justified the quantum was intimately associated with the special features of his atomic model, and the significance and the impact and, ultimately, the limitation of his quantum theory can only be understood when it is seen in the context of the broader atomic theory from which it arose. It is therefore a principal objective of this paper to carefully trace the origins and growth of Nicholson's overall thought on atomic structure. It must strike many readers as odd on first looking at Niels Bohr's famous 1913 series of articles on the quantum theory of atoms and molecules that a name as unfamiliar as Nicholson turns up so frequently. Bohr's stressing of Nicholson's work was purposeful and revealing, and it is part of the plan of this paper to show that Nicholson's theory was very probably an important motivating influence on the direction of Bohr's own developing notions of atomic structure. That Bohr and other contemporaries took Nicholson's work seriously is in itself an assurance of Nicholson's historical significance. Nicholson's atomic theory, in a large measure through its probable involvement with the early stages of Bohr's work, played a notable role in the revolution in physical science of the first quarter of the twentieth century. In 1911, eleven years after Max Planck had introduced the quantum hypothesis, it was still possible for some to believe that there could be a theory of atoms which did not involve the concept of quanta. It is ironical that Nicholson is usually remembered only for his quantum theory of atoms; for it would be truer to the spirit of his work to describe it as starting with an attempt to understand the constitution of matter by wholly classical laws. His was one of the last of such efforts and perhaps the most ambitious of them all. It was over a

INCREASED SENSITIVITY TO BONE-CONDUCTED SOUNDS

The importance of a correlation between the sensitivity for airconducted and that for bone-conducted sounds to the differential diagnosis of an auditory disability was recognized in the sixteenth century. Capivaccio, by means of a simple method of test, separated cases of deafness into two types—those in which the bone sensitivity was acute, with the air sensitivity lowered, and those in which deafness to both air-conducted and bone-conducted sounds was present. As a result of his observations he deduced that bone vibrations passed into the cochlea directly through the investing wall, while air vibrations took the route through the middle ear. There were, of course, no tuning forks at that time. In 1827 the English physicist Wheatstone observed that when the stem of a vibrating fork was applied to the vertex the sound was heard as if it were located in the head. However, when the auditory canal on one side

CONTACT GLASSES, THE "INVISIBLE" SPECTACLES

The theory of invisible eyeglasses, which in 1827 was expounded by Herschel, the English physicist, was again advocated at the end of the eighties of the last century by three German scientists almost simultaneously. All three independently reached the conclusion that contact glasses are of value by working on different problems, the idea of the invisibility of the eyeglasses not being considered. A. E. Fick, ophthalmologist of Zurich, was studying the problem of correction of so-called irregular astigmatism. One of the principal conditions of clear vision is that the shining, crystal-clear frontal lens of the eyeball, the spherically vaulted cornea, must be perfectly healthy. If the cornea is flattened in one direction, which may be congenital or the result of an operation, the so-called regular astigmatism, originating from the aforementioned causes, can be corrected by cylindric eyeglasses. But the cornea, because of its superficial position, is frequently exposed to

Maxwell and Modern Theoretical Physics*

I FEEL greatly honoured in being given this opportunity of paying a tribute of reverence to the memory of James Clerk Maxwell, the creator of the electromagnetic theory, which is of such fundamental importance to the work of every physicist. In this celebration we have heard the Master of Trinity and Sir Joseph Larmor speak, with the greatest authority and charm, of Maxwell's wonderful discoveries and personality, and of the unbroken tradition upheld here in Cambridge connecting his life and his work with our time. Although I have had the great privilege, in the years of my early studies, of coming under the spell of Cambridge and the inspiration of the great English physicists, I fear that it may not be possible for me to add anything of sufficient interest in this respect, but it gives me very great pleasure indeed to be invited to say a few words about the relation between Maxwell's work and the subsequent development of atomic physics.

The Influence of the Tropics on Rickets

Excerpt About the year 1650 Glisson, the distinguished English physician and physicist, as the result of an extended study concerning what was believed to be a new disease, published a monograph on...

The Geologic Rôle of Dilatancy

Dilatancy, the expansion of granular masses when deformed due to the rearrangement of the grains, was described and illustrated with many interesting experiments by Osborn Reynolds, an English physicist. In this paper the term is used in a broader sense to include all volume increase due to deformation. The consequences of dilatancy by deformation have far-reaching geologic significance. It is suggested that dilatancy is important in inducing faulting and jointing in unconsolidated sediments, in the movement of fluids-oil, water, and gas-contained in rocks, in initiating magmas and in certain of the processes accompanying intrusion and crystallization of magmas. The factors controlling the manner of deformation of unconsolidated granular masses are applied by analogy to a consideration of the manner of deformation of solid rocks by fracture and by rock flowage.

Les Principes de la physique

A TRANSLATION into French of Dr. N. R. Campbell's book entitled “Physics, The Elements,” was suggested to the author by M. Emile Borel, who had been called upon for a notice of the volume in the Revue philo-sophique. But the length of the original imposed the necessity for considerable abbreviation; one-third only of this smaller book is a textual translation, the rest is an abstract, the developments of several pages being sometimes reduced to a few lines. Mme. Pebellier has carried out both the paraphrase and the translation, and her difficult task seems to have been performed most efficiently. The book is rendered more interesting, especially to the English reader, by the preface contributed by M. Borel. He emphasises the great importance of the treatise, arising from the fact that the author is an experimental physicist, and moreover an English physicist. Experimental and theoretical work correspond to different forms of activity, and perhaps to different forms of thought. Continental physicists, whether they are French, German, or Italian, are perhaps less purely physicists than the English. It may at least be affirmed that the latter have certain particular qualities, qualities which sometimes shock the savant of the Continent but in practice produce remarkable results. M. Borel proceeds with an interesting discussion of the language of physics, which he regards as intermediate between the exact language of mathematics and the vaguer language of the vulgar tongue, in which words have only a statistical definition. In its new form Dr. Campbell's work should appeal to a wide circle of readers.

Ergebnisse der exakten Naturwissenschaften

THE first annual volume of this new review of the exact natural sciences covers an immense territory in a very thorough manner; and it is evident that this, and the future volumes, will be an essential requisite in every physical library. Astronomy, relativity, statistical mechanics, the vibrations of rotating shafts, Nernst's thermal law, radiation, contact potential, chemical kinetics, photochemistry, electrolytic dissociation, X-ray spectroscopy, crystal structure, atomic and spectral theory, the theory of band spectra, photoelectricity and photoluminescence, and the periodic system of the elements are treated by authorities who have contributed to the recent remarkable developments of the subjects with which they deal. In this initial volume most of the reviewers have attempted to give a general account of the present state of the subjects reviewed, and the bibliographies which accompany their papers appear to be very comprehensive. The latter should prove very valuable; they cover the ground up to 1922, and include work by English and American physicists, the value of which is fully recognised in the text. Future volumes will be devoted more specifically to progress made during the year under review, the object being to give a general view of the progress made without details of individual publications.

Physics in Relation to National Life 1

ABOUT one hundred years ago—in the year 1808— Dr. Thomas Young, one of the greatest of English physicists, published his “Lectures on Natural; Philosophy.” They had been delivered a short time previously at the Royal Institution, and are a storehouse of physical science as it was then known. In his introduction he says:— “The dissemination of the knowledge of natural philosophy and chemistry becomes a very essential part of the design of the Royal Institution, and this department must in the natural order and arrangement be anterior to the application of the sciences to practical uses. To exclude all knowledge but that which has already been applied to immediate utility would be to reduce our faculties to a state of servitude and to frustrate the very purposes which we are labouring to accomplish. No discovery, however remote in its nature from the subjects of daily observation, can with reason be declared wholly inapplicable to the benefits of mankind.”

A Very Penetrating Radiation in the Atmosphere

IT is noteworthy that English physicists have taken very little interest in the progress which has been made during the last ten years in atmospheric electricity. This is the more remarkable seeing that some of the problems are problems in pure physics, and there is little doubt that they give evidence of phenomena of fundamental importance. To take one or two examples. There can now be no doubt that the earth is giving off a constant stream of negative electricity which passes at least into the upper atmosphere, and probably into cosmical space. Are we justified in treating this result of innumerable observations in all parts of the world as something which will be explained in due time by the old law of physics, or should we not recognise the possibility that we have here indications of a new property of matter The earth is a huge insulated mass of matter moving unrestrained under cosmical forces, and therefore may very well reveal a relationship between electricity and the motion of matter to which laboratory experiments could give no clue. This phenomenon is well worth the consideration of the mathematical physicists who are at present throwing all our preconceived ideas of electricity, mass, motion, and gravity into the melting-pot.

Physics and Astronomy at the British Association

HE proceedings of Section A of the British Asso.1. ciation in Australia included many interesting papers, and some valuable discussions, The section was fortunate in having a thoroughly representative attendance of English physicists and astronomers, who had made the journey overseas. Amongst those who were present may be mentioned Sir Oliver J. Lodge, Sir Ernest Rutherford, Prof. W. M. Hicks, Prof. A. Gray, Prof. A. W. Porter, Prof. H. H. Turner, the Astronomer Royal, Prof. E. W. Brown, Prof. J. C. Fields, Prof. H. S. Carslaw, Prof. W. E. Cook, and Dr. G. C. Simpson. Dr. C. G. Abbot and Prof. E. Goldstein attended as foreign guests. The local secretaries were Prof. Lyle at Melbourne, and Prof. Pollock at Sydney. The president of the section, Prof. F. T. frouton, was prevented by illness from making the journey, and his absence was greatly regretted. His duties thus devolved upon the vice presidents, and Prof. Porter usually acted in his place and bore the brunt of the work. Public interest in the meetings was naturally affected adversely by the out break of war, and the attendances at this section were much smaller than has been usual of late years. This was the more unfortunate, because comparatively few papers of a purely specialised and technical character were read, and except on one morning the section was able to meet as a whole.

Physics at the British Association

THE meetings of Section A of the British Association at Birmingham were of great interest to the general scientific public and of considerable value to those more specially interested in the particular problems discussed and the papers read at the sectional meetings. English physicists, astronomers, and mathematicians attended the meeting in force. Among those who were present may be mentioned Lord Rayleigh, Sir J. J. Thomson, Sir Joseph Larmor, Prof. Rutherford, Prof. Bragg, Prof. Poynting, Prof. Hobson, Prof.?.?. Turner, Sir D. Gill, Dr. Glazebrook, Principal?.?. Griffiths, Prof. Lamb, Prof. Love, Prof. S. P. Thompson, and Mr. J. H. Jeans. A distinguished company of foreigners also attended, amongst whom were Madame Curie, Prof.?. A. Lorentz, Prof. E. Pringsheim, Prof. Arrhenius, Prof. R. W. Wood, and Dr. Bohr. With the president of the association a physicist, and Dr. H. F. Baker as sectional president, the personnel of the meeting was of great interest in itself, arid in consequence the papers and discussions were of a very high order of excellence.

Prof. J. D. Everett, F.R.S.

THE death of Prof. Everett has removed a familiar figure from the ranks of English physicists. The news of his death came as a shock to his many friends and others acquainted with his great vitality and his intellectual activity, which seemed to remain quite unimpaired by advancing years. Some seven years ago he retired from teaching work in Queen's College, Belfast, where, for upwards of thirty years, he had occupied the chair of natural philosophy. Since that time he resided in London, where he took an active part in the proceedings of scientific societies, specially of the Physical Society, of which he wras a vice-president.

Photo-Electric Phenomena

A SHORT time ago, a report was given in NATURE (vol. xlix. p. 226) of modern researches respecting the photo-electric discharge of negatively electrified bodies. But no mention was made of our investigations on the same subject, although they were published in a series of articles, from 1889 to 1894, in Wiedemann's Annalen and in the Wiener Berichte. As the results of these researches seem to be unknown to English physicists, we enumerate them here in brief, in the hope that they will prove of some interest.

II. On the methods of theoretical physics

[This Article was written for and published in the ‘Catalogue of the Mathematical Exhibition,’ which the Association of German Mathematicians had arranged to be held last year at Nuremburg, but which was at the last moment postponed to September in this year at Munich. It contains such a clear exposition of the views held at different times about the methods in Mathematical Physics, and more especially of Maxwell's views, and of his use of models and apparatus constructed to imitate dynamically natural phenomena, that the Council of the Physical Society have thought it desirable to make it more easily accessible to English Physicists by publishing this translation.]

M. Barré De Saint-Venant

“WE have now to consider the earlier work of the greatest of living elasticians.” Within a fortnight after these words were sent to the press, on January 6, M. de Saint-Venant died at Vendôme. The news of his death will have caused a deep feeling of regret among English mathematicians and physicists, to whom his researches are so well known that they have attained in their own field a classical value. We purpose in this notice to give some brief account of this foremost representative of latter-day French mathematical physicists.

V. Description of the process of verifying thermometers at the Kew Observatory

It may be of interest to describe the method recently adopted at the Kew Observatory of verifying thermometers by comparison at different temperatures with a standard instrument, since a large proportion of the various thermometrical determinations made by English physicists are dependent for their accuracy upon that of the verifications at Kew. Many thousands of thermometers have already been verified by the apparatus about to be described. Up to the year 1875 the apparatus for this purpose at the Kew Observatory was of the rudest character.