- Email: [email protected]
Atlantic hurricanes
Journal ofAtmospheric alld TerrestrialPhysics, 1961, Vol. 20, pp. 220 to 223. Perparnoii PresrLtd. Printed in Northern
Ireland
BOOK REVIEWS
Physics and Medicine of the Atmosphere and Space. Edited by 0. 0. BENSON, Jr. and H. STRUGHOLD. John Wiley,
New York, London,
1960. xviii + 645 pp., !Z5.
November 1959 there was held in San Antonio the Second International Symposium on Physics and Medicine of the Atmosphere and Space, under the sponsorship of the U.S. Air Force School of Aviation Medicine with the assistance of the Southwest Research Institute. The present volume contains over forty papers presented at that symposium. Each paper is by a different authority, on either the physical or physiological aspects of space travel, and yet, as a result of careful editing, the whole volume is found to possess a cohesive design. The reader whose interests are in physical science cannot fail to be impressed, and may well be surprised, by the enormous amount of progress which has been made in the study of the human environmental factors which man will encounter during space journeys. Such progress is described here in most readable fashion. Of the physical articles likely to be of most pertinent interest to readers of this Journal I might list the following: “On the Radiation Hazards of Space Flight”, by JAMES A. VAN ALLEN; “Aeronomic Chemical Reactions”, by M. NICOLET; “Meteoric Material in Space”, by FRED L. WHIPPLE ; “Effects of Interplanetary Dust and Radiation Environment on Space Vehicles” by S. FRED SINGER; “The Electromagnetic Environment of the Atmosphere and Nearer Space”, by WALTER DIEMINGER; “Upper Atmospheric Properties based on Rocket and Satellite Data”, by H. KORF KALLMANN; “Composition of the Upper Atmosphere”, by JOHN W. TOU~NSEND; and “The Physics of the Sun”, by WALTER ORR ROBERTS. The names of these authors constitute in themselves a guarantee of the authoritative nature of their contributions to this important source book of dat,a on space travel. E. V. APPLEToX DURING
G. E. DUNN and B. I. MILLER: 326 pp., $10.
Atlantic Hurricanes.
Louisiana State University
Press, 1960.
FOR A POPULARBOOK, addressed to the layman, this volume is remarkable, both for the thoroughness with which every characteristic and effect of Atlantic hurricanes is examined and for the clarity of the accounts it gives of the physical processes involved in the formation, development and dissipation of these catastrophic storms (17,000 lives have been lost in hurricanes in America since 1900) so far as they are known. It is thoroughly up to date, containing accounts of quite recent work and a photograph of a typhoon in Australian waters on 10 April 1960, provided by the satellite Tires I. Side by side at the end of the book are the unusual combination of a glossary of meteorological terms for the uninitiated reader and a list of references to over 100 scientiiic papers. Each will be used; for this is a book that will be read with interest by the layman, especially if he lives within the orbit of its subject, yet it will also be consulted by the specialist, for its content of statistical data qualifies it to serve also as a work of reference. J. PATON
220
Ireland
BOOK REVIEWS
Physics and Medicine of the Atmosphere and Space. Edited by 0. 0. BENSON, Jr. and H. STRUGHOLD. John Wiley,
New York, London,
1960. xviii + 645 pp., !Z5.
November 1959 there was held in San Antonio the Second International Symposium on Physics and Medicine of the Atmosphere and Space, under the sponsorship of the U.S. Air Force School of Aviation Medicine with the assistance of the Southwest Research Institute. The present volume contains over forty papers presented at that symposium. Each paper is by a different authority, on either the physical or physiological aspects of space travel, and yet, as a result of careful editing, the whole volume is found to possess a cohesive design. The reader whose interests are in physical science cannot fail to be impressed, and may well be surprised, by the enormous amount of progress which has been made in the study of the human environmental factors which man will encounter during space journeys. Such progress is described here in most readable fashion. Of the physical articles likely to be of most pertinent interest to readers of this Journal I might list the following: “On the Radiation Hazards of Space Flight”, by JAMES A. VAN ALLEN; “Aeronomic Chemical Reactions”, by M. NICOLET; “Meteoric Material in Space”, by FRED L. WHIPPLE ; “Effects of Interplanetary Dust and Radiation Environment on Space Vehicles” by S. FRED SINGER; “The Electromagnetic Environment of the Atmosphere and Nearer Space”, by WALTER DIEMINGER; “Upper Atmospheric Properties based on Rocket and Satellite Data”, by H. KORF KALLMANN; “Composition of the Upper Atmosphere”, by JOHN W. TOU~NSEND; and “The Physics of the Sun”, by WALTER ORR ROBERTS. The names of these authors constitute in themselves a guarantee of the authoritative nature of their contributions to this important source book of dat,a on space travel. E. V. APPLEToX DURING
G. E. DUNN and B. I. MILLER: 326 pp., $10.
Atlantic Hurricanes.
Louisiana State University
Press, 1960.
FOR A POPULARBOOK, addressed to the layman, this volume is remarkable, both for the thoroughness with which every characteristic and effect of Atlantic hurricanes is examined and for the clarity of the accounts it gives of the physical processes involved in the formation, development and dissipation of these catastrophic storms (17,000 lives have been lost in hurricanes in America since 1900) so far as they are known. It is thoroughly up to date, containing accounts of quite recent work and a photograph of a typhoon in Australian waters on 10 April 1960, provided by the satellite Tires I. Side by side at the end of the book are the unusual combination of a glossary of meteorological terms for the uninitiated reader and a list of references to over 100 scientiiic papers. Each will be used; for this is a book that will be read with interest by the layman, especially if he lives within the orbit of its subject, yet it will also be consulted by the specialist, for its content of statistical data qualifies it to serve also as a work of reference. J. PATON
220