The Mechanics of the Atom

Abstract

WHEN Prof. Born published his “Vorlesungen über Atommechanik” two years ago, atomic theory was beset with difficulties which, as one writer has remarked, were strongly suggestive of the epicycles of Ptolemaic astronomy. It was obvious that there was some inherent defect in the theory and nothing less than a radical change of outlook was required. It seemed impossible to make a quantitative determination of intensities of spectral lines on the basis of accepted mechanical pictures of atoms. Nor could the theory of dispersion be considered satisfactory, as it depended on a transcription of the various steps in the ordinary classical theory and was not built up logically on the fundamental postulates of the quantum theory.

The Mechanics of the Atom.

By Prof. Max Born. Translated by Dr. J. W. Fisher and revised by Dr. D. R. Hattree. (International Text-Books of Exact Science.) Pp. xvi + 317. (London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1927.) 18s. net.