Low temperature physics

Book Review Low Temperature Physics, International Series in Pure and Applied Physics, by CHARLES F. SQUIRE, Professor of Physics at the Rice Institute, Houston, Texas. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1953. 244 and x pp. Price $6.50. Before World War II there existed only about half a dozen laboratories in the world where liquid helium was available. At present there ~re about fifty such laboratories, and the study of the properties of m~tter in the temperature range from 0.001°K. to about 20°K. is recognized as one of the outstanding fields of research in physics. Professor Squire is to be congratulated on presenting the first postwar book devoted exclusively to this fascinating field. Low temperature physics is concerned mainly with the properties of liquid helium, the phenomenon of superconductivity, and the production and measurement of temperatures below I°K. by magnetic means. Professor Squire has dealt quite adequately with these main topics, as well as with gas liquefaction, thermometry, equations of state, specific heats, and heat conductivity. He has maintained a nice balance in his treatment of theory and experiment. Theories are explained briefly without too much detail, and experiments are described with figures and the results either tabulated or plotted. In the appendix are tables of the vapor pressure of helium, hydrogen, and oxygen. This book should prove valuable both to students and to research workers in the field. MAnE W. Z~MANSXY,New York, N. Y.

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