Abstract
THIS excellent little volume could be read not only with profit but also with pleasure by all students of physics from the school-boy stage upward. There is no better way of appreciating the meaning and value of a scientific principle than a study of the ways in which it was evolved, and no better way of gaining a real understanding of scientific method than a study of the work of one of the great pioneers of science. In something under ninety pages, Dr. Wood succeeds in giving a clear and adequate outline of the gradual growth of the conception of energy, and a lucid account of the work of Joule on the mechanical equivalent of heat, illustrated by ample quotations from Joule's papers. At the same time, he finds room for those humanising touches of anecdote and biography which give life and colour to a work of this kind, and the numerous well-chosen illustrations add still further to the interest.
Joule and the Study of Energy.
By Dr. Alex. Wood (Classics of Scientific Method.) Pp. viii + 88 + 8 plates. (London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1925.) 1s. 6d. net.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Joule and the Study of Energy . Nature 116, 354 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/116354a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/116354a0