50 years ago

Physics and Microphysics by Prof. Louis de Broglie — The late Albert Einstein contributes an all too brief foreword to this book, but he aptly sums up the remarkable series of essays which it contains by referring to it as a “unique book”. Louis de Broglie is primarily a theoretical physicist, and it was through his careful and critical analysis, in the early 1920's, of the necessity to reconcile the granular and undulatory aspects of light that he was led to suggest the extension of the idea of the duality of waves and corpuscles to all elements of matter... de Broglie is a modest man, but it is necessary for him to look back in retrospect on the origins of wave mechanics; thus, Chapter 8, which is devoted to personal memories on the beginning of wave mechanics, is excellent reading and shows up clearly the deep insight to physical problems that de Broglie possesses... He concludes the last chapter, “The Great Adventure”, with the words: “In the work of science man has been able to show the force of his intelligence; if he wishes to survive his own successes, it is necessary that he should now show the wisdom of his will”. This is a book that every physicist should read and ponder over.

From Nature 18 August 1956.

100 years ago

The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas by Dr. Edward Westermarck — In one engaging paragraph of this work, its author describes how, whilst living in the North of Morocco — where he spent four years studying folklore — he was described as a person with “propitious ankles,” because the village where he stayed was frequently visited by favoured and distinguished guests. Propitiousness is not with us the most familiar term in such a context, but the ankles of Dr. Westermarck's intellectual endeavour are certainly sturdy.

From Nature 16 August 1906.