The Physics of Foams by Denis Weare and Stefan Hutzler, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0 19 850551 5 (£47.50, 250 pages).
This is a specialized but wonderful monograph that begins: "Pour a bottle of beer. Restraining your thirst for one moment, admire its lively performance (see figure 1.1)." This book is also a lively performance - its authors, from Dublin's Trinity College, evidently have a knowledge for thirst!
Quantum Processes in Semiconductors by B K Ridley, Oxford
Science Publications (4th edn), ISBN 0 19 850580 9 (pbk £27.50 435 pages).
First published in 1982, this work provides a useful overview of semiconductor physics without indulging in extraneous solid-state matters. The idea seems to have found a niche and the book has been repeatedly updated. In view of new developments in quantum entanglement and the interest in quantum computing, the latest edition includes new chapters on charge transport.
Particle Astrophysics by H V Klapdor-Kleingrothaus and K
Zuber, revised edition, Institute of Physics Publishing, ISBN 0 75 030549 5 (pbk
£34.99/$59.99, 470 pages).
This is a revised and updated edition, in paperback, of a book that, when it first appeared a few years ago (Bookshelf, Summer 1998), merited the comment "more than just a graduate level textbook...it is also a sign of the times".
Defect and Microstructure Analysis by Diffraction by R
Snyder, J Fiala and H J Bunge, Oxford Science Publications, ISBN 0 19 850189 7 (£95,
780 pages).
In the International Union of Crystallography series of monographs, this comprehensive compilation of 31 chapters from different authors looks at the latest developments in X-ray diffraction techniques.
Dynamics and Relativity
by W D McComb, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0 19 850112 9 (pbk).
This a comprehensive textbook sets out to introduce special relativity to mathematicians, mathematical physicists and physicists in a natural way and avoid all "gee-whizz". There are ample exercises and an introduction to general relativity.
Introductory
Statistical Mechanics by Roger Bowley and Mariana Sanchez, Oxford University
Press (2nd edn), ISBN 0 19 8505760 (pbk, £21.99).
This text offers an introduction to the theory of condensed matter and first appeared in 1996. This edition includes three additional chapters on phase transitions and more examples.
Dynamics of
Heavy Electrons by Y Kuramoto and Y Kitaoka, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0 19
851767 X (hbk £75)
In this context "heavy electrons" means electrons in rare-earth and actinide metals that acquire very large effective masses owing to strong local correlations.
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Opening SESAME
I read about SESAME - Synchrotron Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East - in recent issues of CERN Courier(March 2000 p17). It is worth pointing out that the Pakistani-born Physics Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam had visualized and worked towards science and technology in the Middle East - a vision that included a synchrotron laboratory as part of a larger scheme.
At a symposium entitled Future Outlook of the Arabian Gulf University on 11 May 1983 in Bahrain, he said: "I have mentioned an international laboratory in material sciences for Bahrain, with specialization in microelectronics and modern electronic communications, including space satellite communication, to help also with the banking communications needed at Bahrain.
"Such a laboratory was in fact proposed for the University of Jeddah. The idea was to emphasize science transfer in addition to technology transfer and to create international laboratories in the fields of materials sciences, including surface physics and a laboratory with a synchrotron radiation light source.
The facilities created would have been of the highest possible international order; the laboratories would have been opened to teams of international researchers, who would congregate and work at Jeddah, just as they congregate now at the great laboratories in Hamburg or Geneva" (Abdus Salam, Renaissance of Sciences in Islamic Countries, edited by H R Dalafi and M H A Hassan, World Scientific, Singapore 1994).
Another point is the immediate need
for a series of schools on synchrotron radiation and related fields. These would, first,
provide training for the potential users and, more important, enhance ongoing efforts for
the Middle East Synchrotron.
Sameen Ahmed Khan, INFN-Padova,
"khan@pd.infn.it".
SESAME replies:
Other nations are welcome to
join the SESAME project! In the meantime there will be a restricted meeting of the
Interim Council in April at CERN. Director-general Luciano Maiani has agreed to welcome
the council and explain how an international organization works.
Herwig Schopper,
Chairman, SESAME International Interim Council.