Physics in the 20th Century

From an unexpected source--art book publisher Harry Abrams--comes a crisply written, superbly illustrated overview of the history of physics that holds great appeal for experts in physics as well as for those who don't know a quark from a quantum. The book, co-sponsored by the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Institute of Physics for the centennial of the APS, contains more than 200 photographs, half in full color, of equipment, experiments, galaxies and scientists. Suplee, a science writer and editor for the Washington Post, does an excellent job of elucidating complex theories such as relativity and chaos. Best of all, he captures the wonder surrounding the invention of the electron microscope, radar, the microwave, the laser, the transistor, the atom bomb and much, much more. Suplee concentrates more on physics's fundamental explorations--such as the search for the structure of the atom, the development of quantum mechanics and the articulation of the wave/particle theory of light--than on the feats of engineering that turned its discoveries into the machines and products we rely on today. In doing so, he skillfully demonstrates how scientists make progress by building upon the work of their predecessors. The final section, ""Cosmos,"" which includes stunning pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope, is particularly impressive, confirming without a doubt that, for physics at least, this has been ""a century of incessant marvels."" BOMC and QPB selections. (Apr.)