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Scientific Russian
Nuclear Physics ~tO (1963) 527--528; (~) North-Holland Publisking Co., Amsterdam
BOOK R E V I E W S KARL LINTNER and ERICH SCHMID, Werkstoffe des Reaktorbaues mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung der Metalle (Springer Verlag, 1962, 592 pages. D M 78) This book covers the field o f nuclear materials, especially the nuclear metals, and it contains selective reviews o f unclassified literature. Most emphasis is put on the two subjects o f irradiation damage and uranium, which cover almost half of this book. The chapter about irradiaton damage includes a theoretical introduction and a survey o f experimental results about irradiation induced transformations and property changes in solids. The uranium chapter is very detailed, both from a fundamental and from an applied point of view, and it imparts to the reader a satisfactory basic knowledge about this important material. Besides the two main chapters, short surveys covering plutonium, thorium, fuel elements, moderator and control materials, coolants, and construction materials are included; the information about these subjects is too limited; fewer, but more detailed topics would have been preferred. For the benefit of readers without knowledge o f reactor physics and metallurgy, two introductory chapters covering these subjects have been included. This book is based on a great number of references (total number 1029) especially from the international conferences. Remarkable is the number of recent publications included. This book contains the basic principles and the important results o f this special nuclear field, and thus it is useful as a textbook for students and as providing general information for people working in reactor development. For specialists in nuclear materials, this book is useful as a reference work. Niels Hansen
International Directory of Radioisotopes, 2nd. edition (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1962. ix--700 p. 189 sch.) The second edition of this useful directory has become a stately, well-printed and well-bound volume, in which the large mass of practical data relating to the availability of radioisotopes has been brought up-to-date. The directory is divided into two parts. Part I lists the isotopes by alphabetical order o f their English names; it also gives information on the neutron irradiation facilities of various suppliers. Part II contains tables of the available (mostly organic) compounds marked with 1~C, ZH, 13q, 8~p and s~S. There are indexes for each part. In an introductory section, the set-up of the tables is explained and some additional information given, including last-minute corrections. It is a pity that such unsystematic unit symbols, violating internationally agreed rules, are used; fortunately, they are defined in the introductory section. L.R. A. HOLT, Scientific Russian (Chapman and Hall, London, 1962. xi-195 p. 36 s.) This small textbook will be useful for hurried learners, who are not anxious to know more about conjugation than the third person. At any rate, the author, who is both a linguist and a scientist, takes a very sober view of the learning capacity of the latter (perhaps this is based on experience). Like other teachers o f scientific Russian, he feels the need to fill columns of the glossary with entries like "oktet, octet" or even "radon, radon". The graded lessons are based on short texts, presumably excerpted from current school literature, and mostly about physico-chemical subjects. There is then a meagre grammatical summary, another collection o f texts for exercise (not accentuated) and the above-mentioned fatuous glossary. A good point is a short section explaining Russian chemical nomenclature; but there is here as little as in any other similar textbook I have seen, any indication of how to read mathematical or chemical formulae. L.R. 527
BOOK R E V I E W S KARL LINTNER and ERICH SCHMID, Werkstoffe des Reaktorbaues mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung der Metalle (Springer Verlag, 1962, 592 pages. D M 78) This book covers the field o f nuclear materials, especially the nuclear metals, and it contains selective reviews o f unclassified literature. Most emphasis is put on the two subjects o f irradiation damage and uranium, which cover almost half of this book. The chapter about irradiaton damage includes a theoretical introduction and a survey o f experimental results about irradiation induced transformations and property changes in solids. The uranium chapter is very detailed, both from a fundamental and from an applied point of view, and it imparts to the reader a satisfactory basic knowledge about this important material. Besides the two main chapters, short surveys covering plutonium, thorium, fuel elements, moderator and control materials, coolants, and construction materials are included; the information about these subjects is too limited; fewer, but more detailed topics would have been preferred. For the benefit of readers without knowledge o f reactor physics and metallurgy, two introductory chapters covering these subjects have been included. This book is based on a great number of references (total number 1029) especially from the international conferences. Remarkable is the number of recent publications included. This book contains the basic principles and the important results o f this special nuclear field, and thus it is useful as a textbook for students and as providing general information for people working in reactor development. For specialists in nuclear materials, this book is useful as a reference work. Niels Hansen
International Directory of Radioisotopes, 2nd. edition (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1962. ix--700 p. 189 sch.) The second edition of this useful directory has become a stately, well-printed and well-bound volume, in which the large mass of practical data relating to the availability of radioisotopes has been brought up-to-date. The directory is divided into two parts. Part I lists the isotopes by alphabetical order o f their English names; it also gives information on the neutron irradiation facilities of various suppliers. Part II contains tables of the available (mostly organic) compounds marked with 1~C, ZH, 13q, 8~p and s~S. There are indexes for each part. In an introductory section, the set-up of the tables is explained and some additional information given, including last-minute corrections. It is a pity that such unsystematic unit symbols, violating internationally agreed rules, are used; fortunately, they are defined in the introductory section. L.R. A. HOLT, Scientific Russian (Chapman and Hall, London, 1962. xi-195 p. 36 s.) This small textbook will be useful for hurried learners, who are not anxious to know more about conjugation than the third person. At any rate, the author, who is both a linguist and a scientist, takes a very sober view of the learning capacity of the latter (perhaps this is based on experience). Like other teachers o f scientific Russian, he feels the need to fill columns of the glossary with entries like "oktet, octet" or even "radon, radon". The graded lessons are based on short texts, presumably excerpted from current school literature, and mostly about physico-chemical subjects. There is then a meagre grammatical summary, another collection o f texts for exercise (not accentuated) and the above-mentioned fatuous glossary. A good point is a short section explaining Russian chemical nomenclature; but there is here as little as in any other similar textbook I have seen, any indication of how to read mathematical or chemical formulae. L.R. 527