Techniques and concepts of high-energy physics

know about the structure and function of the all-important organelles and their membranes (the lipid bilayer is an effective barrier to charged species-as required by the theory) and the thermodynamics of the process, to details of the respiratory chain and the make-up and mechanism of ATP synthetase. Moreover, all can be appreciated at at least two levels: As a straightforward exposition of transduction and as a fascinating account of the workings of science-with risky hypotheses, crucial tests (‘a single demonstration of net ATP synthesis in the absence of sufficient would be sufficient to demolish Ah+ the entire edifice’) and the use of experimental hardware (there are good, illustrated descriptions of spectroscopy and polarography). I have just two criticismsthe title is misleading (bioenergetics involves more than just transduction) and there ought to have been a concluding chapter, summarising all the arguments. These are small points, however. and the book will be immensely useful to both researchers and undergraduates. P. Calow Organic Reaction Mechanisms 1980 Edited by A. C. Knipe and W. E. Watts, Pp. 718. Wiley, Chichester. 1981. f69.60. The editors of this volume, the sixteenth in this excellent series of annual surveys of the literature, have noted that the price is now very high. and they have obviously attempted to minimise this, without sacrificing the quality of their survey or delaying publication. A team of contributors, in the main the same as for previous volumes, has provided a clear and comprehensive survey of the main areas of Organic Reaction Mechanisms, and has therefore done an invaluable service for those of us who need to seek out original work in this field. There is as yet no agreed or generally available system for indexing reaction mechanisms. and until such is available and widely applied this series supplies an essential need, and should be on the shelves of every well-found chemical library. No reviewer can assess the whole of this volume. but sampling of a number of areas both familiar and unfamiliar to me in the comgives me confidence prehensiveness of the surveys and in the balance of detail given about each paper mentioned: generally relevant and new points are stressed. while routine results are merely noted, and the style as a whole is admirably concise without being obscure. J. 5. Lirrler Cytomorphogenesis in Plants Edited by 0. Kiermayer. Pp. x + 439. Springer, Vienna and New York. 1981. DM 198 ($92.7 0). This edited book replaces the previous series Proroplasmatologia, and consists of a collection of fifteen individual chapters, each of which has been written by a

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renowned specialist(s) employing a specifically defined experimental system. A substantial portion of the book is concerned with cell wall development in both microscopic and multicellular plant forms, which is not surprising since it is the cell wall which usually determines the final characteristic visible form of the plant cell. The specialist nature of each of the chapters is such that there is no presentation of any single mechanism of morphogenetic activity that can be said to be universally prevalent in each of the plant forms described in this book. However, the bringing together of a wide range of experimental techniques and model systems of plant cell morphogenesis on a comparative basis in both microscopic and macroscopic plant forms provides valuable and interesting reading for anyone interested in this fascinating and important field of research activity. All photographic and other illustrative material is of high quality and well represented in each of the chapters that make up this publication. H. A. Kordan Cytochrome Oxidase by M&ten WikstrBm, Klaas Krab and Matti Saraste. Pp. 798. Academic Press, London. 7987. f 14.60. Cytochrome oxidase is a membrane protein of enormous importance in cellular respiration. The complexity of almost all facets of the enzyme is most apparent and has generated a voluminous literature, albeit without a proportional understanding. This book is not simply a review of the literature (up to early 1981) and the five hundred references that are cited are used in the authors’ stated aim of providing integrated and fairly a ‘current, comprehensive insight into the structure and function of cytochrome oxidase’. The multidisciplinary nature of the research that is covered has not aided previous integration. The sheer quantity of published information often leaves us struggling to keep up with our own field and we are unwilling or unable to grapple with controversies emanating from methods we barely understand. Thus it is good to have so broad a coverage presented in a digestible form. The controversies over interpretation of data are described well. However, some readers will no doubt differ from the authors in drawing conclusions, just as I do not agree with their acceptance of a seven different subunit structure for the enzyme. Nevertheless this is a valuable and timely presentation, which also makes it clear that cytochrome oxidase will continue to occupy the minds of many scientists for several more years M. Landon Invitation to Physics. by Jay M. Pasachoff and Marc L. Kutner. Pp. 535. Norton, New York. 1987. $77.95. This book is written in America, and is claimed as a ‘unique text book for the non-science major’. From the British point

of view it is not very clear where the book would be used in schools or universities. We may deplore the fact that in Britain nonscience students most often drop physics at O-level, but it is no less a fact. However, the book might be very useful in adult and continuing education. The book is wide ranging and admirably produced, with first class illustrations and an easy prose style, refreshingly free of Teutonic-American convolution. The figures and photographs are well chosen, and well matched and placed in the text. This should help the student to maintain interest and to read on. There is a full index, and key words at each chapter end making a good quick reference. It is a pity that the test questions which close each chapter are not answered in the book, but only in the Teacher’s Guide which I have not seen. My undergraduate son, who did A-level physics last year, tells me that this book would not have been sufficiently mathematical to satisfy the main stream of his syllabus. He clearly found the book intriguing and fun, but I cannot be sure whether the price permits it to be a suitable extra for this group. The section on energy and astrophysics are stimulating, as also are the colour (photography) essays. Not being a pedant by nature I did not look for minor errors, though no doubt some exist. It is sad, though, to see diagrams which perpetuate the schoolboy howler that most of the refraction of the eye takes place at the lens. A text reference, in parenthesis, to cornea1 (surface) refraction does not excuse this. Finally, I like the use of poetry in the text, and I hope this will set a fashion which other text books (and journals even) may emulate. G. F. Ellio!t Techniques and Concepts of HighEnergy Physics. Edited by Thomas Ferbel. Pp. 547. Plenum, New York. 1981. $65.00. This book consists of the proceedings of a NATO Study Institute held on the U.S. Virgin Islands in July 1980. There are substantial sets of lectures on recent the theory and developments in phenomenology of particle physics as well as shorter courses on accelerator theory and design and on developments in particle detectors. The quark hypothesis of Gell-Mann and Zweig has furnished a model which enables us to order the wealth of phenomenology of hadron physics: the lectures of J. L. Rosner model for hadron survey the quark ‘spectroscopy’ and for transitions. We now believe that the fundamental theory of elementary particles is a gauge theory. C. presented Quigg gives a carefully introduction to the ideas of gauge theory and spontaneous symmetry breaking which avoids too much mathematical formalism and concentrates on physical concepts. Both of these sets of lectures form excellent

introductions for the graduate student. Deep inelastic lepton scattering as a probe of hadron structure, is surveyed by D. H. Perkins, while M. Jacob reviews Jet phenomena which may provide the clearest signature for the existence of gluons and quarks. The substantial survey character of all these sets of lectures make this a book of some lasting value even in such a fast moving field. B. R. Pollard Advances in Heat Pipe Technology Edited by D. A. Reay. Pp. 818. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 1982. f42.00. This book consists of the papers presented at the IVth International Heat Pipe Conference, held in London in September 1981. The book is divided into seven main sections, dealing with the following topics: Terrestrial Applications, Thermosyphons, Heat Pipes for Energy Conservation, Heat Pipe Theory, Experimental Techniques and Life tests, Spacecraft Applications and Heat Pipe Techniques. As this conference is held only once every three years, there is usually a good response from well known workers in the many aspects of heat pipe research. This has again proved to be the case with the latest conference and this book contains many important papers which advance the basic understanding of heat pipe operation and explore a number of new applications. Although this would not be a suitable book for new-comers to heat pipe technology, it will prove to be a very useful reference work for those involved in the study, design, and manufacture of heat pipes. D. W. Artt Annali dell’lstituto e Museo di Storia Della Scienza di Firenze. No. VI. Pp. 778. Museo di Storia Della Scienza di Firenze, Florence. 1981. Founded in 1976, Annali joined the select number of worth-while history of science periodicals. This is the last issue to be edited by the founder, the greatly missed Maria Luisa Righini Bonelli, Director of the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Florence. Six articles, and some reviews and notices, include: E. Poulle on medieval astronomy and the instruments available for its practice, demonstrating that mediaeval astronomers were better equipped for calculation than observation; S. Caroti, starting from the papers written for the seventh centenary of the death of Albertus Magnus in 1980, discusses Albertus and science; 0. Gingerich studies the origins, practice, and effect of the censorship decree of the Holy Congregation in 1620 concerning Copernicus’ De revolutionibw; U. Baldini publishes a Collegio Roman0

lecture, possibly by Van Maelcote, on the supernova of 1604, to attempt an assessment of the astronomical knowledge and research methods of Jesuit mathematicians, before the telescope and the Galileo affair; A. J. Turner relates the history of a sundial and dialling instrument, ’ the ‘Horizontal Instrument’, and the controversy over its invention between the mathematicians Oughtred and Delamain, giving the context of instrument-making in seventeen-century England and a checklist of examples; a discussion paper by F. T. Arecchi on chaos, order, and complexity in contemporary physics. F. R. Maddison The History of Modern Whaling by J. N. Tennessen and A. 0. Johnsen. Pp. 798. C. Hurst & Co. London, and Australian National University Press, Canberra. 7982. f22.50. In 1870 the patenting of Svend Foyn’s whaling harpoon for use in his native Norway opened a century of developments in which his fellow-countrymen were always to the fore. It was, therefore, fitting that two Norwegian historians should have written the first full study of the subject, in four volumes which cover the whaling operations of all nations and in every region; the four have now been reduced to one, updated from 1968 to 1978, and put into excellent English. The economic side is examined in detail with the help of 71 statistical tables, much light being shed on the lamentable failure of international efforts to check the exhaustion of an important world resource by reckless overfishing. The two chapters surveying technical innovations before and after 1930 have excellent diagrams and interesting but unclear photographs. The work is well rounded off with four indexes and a list of some 500 books and articles in 12 languages, though the last-named might have included the succinct ‘Note on Whaling’ which L. Harrison Matthews contributed to the History of Technology (Volume IV, 1954)as being more readily accessible than his later de luxe production, The Whale. T. K. Derry. ,The DNA Story. A Documentary History of Gene Cloning by James D. Watson and John Tooze. Pp. 605. Freeman, Oxford. 1981. f 13.95. This long volume documents the confused debate about a moratorium or restrictions on experiments involving genetic manipulation, by reproducing hundreds of the letters, articles, guidelines etc., which appeared in 1974-79. Amongst most, but not all, scientists the initial concern regarding the dangers of such experiments

subsided with the passage of time; one cannot help wondering whether this was because the longing to get on with the experiments proved irresistible. We see manifest, once again, the urge to conquer Nature. Can scientists foresee the consequences of their discoveries? Generally they have not foreseen them. Even if they can, is there anything they can do about it? One recalls the horror and anguish experienced by Otto Hahn, then in British captivity, on hearing about Hiroshima in 1945. On the other hand, Heisenberg persistently exaggerated the difficulties of making the atom bomb to the Nazis during the war, with beneficent results for all of us. This story from another branch of science suggests that what matters in the end are the personal qualities of the scientists themselves. Are we confident that the values on which our societies are now based are producing people of the quality we need? T. L. V. Ulbricht. The Chemical Industry. Edited by D. Sharp and T. F. West. Pp. 643. E//is Horwood, Chichester. 7982. f37.50. This book is composed of the papers presented at the Centenary Conference of the Society of Chemical Industry. It is 643 pages long, contains 45 chapters, weighs just over a kilogram, and costs nearly f40. Almost all aspects of the chemical industry, past, present and future, are examined, and that is the problem. Coherence and a sense of direction are entirely lacking. There are too many short vague papers from eminent people, and too many narrow specialised ones. The academic contributors are particularly at fault in these respects. The general focus is on Western Europe and North America, the tone bland, the approach surprise-free. and tame dogs much more in evidence than wild cats. That said, there are some good things among the dross. The sectoral overviews are mostly excellent. The chapters on marketing chemicals and on chemistry in agriculture are particularly good, while Vane, on new drugs, Stratton, on alternatives to petroleum, and Malpas, on the prospects for the year 2000, can also be recommended. Among the more specialised chapters, Norman on selectivity in synthesis and Scott on NMR studies of biological systems give good brief accounts of currently fashionable developments. All in all, however, this is an opportunity missed. A book in which a few key topics were discussed in real depth would have been more valuable-and would have made much better reading. M. L. Burstall

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