✍ Scribed by JOHN GILFRICH
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
In view of the fact that 1995 was the 100th anniversary of the discovery of x-rays, it was inevitable that a book of this sort would be published. Having been a part of the 1995 Denver X-Ray Conference (in spirit, at least), I am concerned over the publishing difficulties that have delayed the Proceedings of that conference, since the Plenary Session was titled "Roentgen Commemorative Session : 1895È1995, 100 Years of Progress in X-Ray Science and ApplicationsÏ.
The book being reviewed here makes interesting reading. The editors, in the Preface, explain that the weekly one-hour seminar at the Centre for X-Ray Science, Department of Physics, KingÏs College London, routinely held on Wednesdays, was scheduled for 8 November 1995, the exact 100th anniversary, to the day, of Ro ntgenÏs discovery. In honor of that circumstance, a full-day seminar was conducted. According to the Preface, this book is based on the presentations made at that meeting by international scientists who are experts in various phases of x-ray science. It is not possible to judge how "internationalÏ the speakers were at that meeting, but the various authors of the sections of this book, with the exception of one from Northern Ireland and one from Scotland, are all listed with an address in England. This is the Ðrst of what may seem like minor criticisms.
The book consists of 11 chapters, the Ðrst being Albert FranksÏ recounting of "The First Hundred YearsÏ and the last being Albert MillerÏs projections for "The Next Hundred YearsÏ. The nine chapters in between cover the following topics : Early History of X-Rays in Medicine, X-Ray Microscopy, X-Ray Microanalysis (more on this chapter below), X-Ray Di †raction, Synchrotron Radiation, X-Ray Lithography, X-Ray Astronomy and two chapters dealing with the generation and applications of laser-produced x-ray sources. Many of these chapters provide much information to those of us (most of us, I believe) who are primarily interested in one fairly limited part of the x-ray universe. From a historical point of view, this reviewer can only fully appreciate a few of these chapters, but found all of them pleasant reading.
One of the primary interests of this reviewer, as beÐts the Editor-in-Chief of a journal titled X-Ray Spectrometry, is the use of x-rays to determine the elemental composition of materials (XRF) and the structure of the absorption edge (EXAFS, XANES, etc.), or of the emission lines of materials to elucidate the chemistry, but also having considerable interest in x-ray di †raction (XRD) and x-ray physics. Thus, some chapters of this book were read with more concentration than others. The chapter on X-Ray Microanalysis is a case in point. Since there was no chapter titled "X-Ray Fluorescence AnalysisÏ or "X-Ray SpectrometryÏ, I was prepared to be
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