334 BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL 



Electronics; Today and Tomorrow.'^ John Mills. John Mills, scientist, 

 teacher, author, telephone and radio engineer, was first introduced to 

 the electron while still a fledgling under the tutelage of that eminent 

 scientist R. A. Millikan at Chicago University. That was before Millikan 

 had, to quote the author, "first put salt on its tail." Electronics, as a 

 special branch of physics and engineering, has come to adulthood under the 

 eyes of this observant author. From intimate association with this and 

 allied fields John Mills writes knowingly. It is a book intended for the in- 

 telUgent layman rather than for the expert. 



"Electronics; Today and Tomorrow" Ukewise contains much of interest 

 concerning the electronics of yesterday but, as one would expect, very little 

 about the electronics of tomorrow because, as the author points out, much of 

 this "should await the victorious conclusion of the present conflict." The 

 book generally presents an interesting introduction to many things electronic 

 and throughout is interspersed with examples of present day techniques 

 which employ electronic devices. All line drawings, diagrams and photo- 

 graphs have been omitted. 



The author begins his latest book with a brief capitulation of familiar 

 engineering applications such as long-distance telephony, broadcasting, 

 sound motion pictures and television which have been achieved through the 

 use of electronic devices. He goes on to an historical account of some 

 underlying discoveries and a discussion of atomic structure. An introduc- 

 tion to static electricity with the classical concepts of positive and negative 

 charge is followed by estabUshment of the ideas of charges in motion, electri- 

 cal current, discharges in gases. X-rays and their generation. 



The remainder of the book is divided into Part I — Electron Tubes, and 

 Part II — Electronic Devices. In Part I the author follows the development 

 of the art in nearly chronological order from diodes through the modern 

 multi-electrode tubes giving uses and applications of each and explaining the 

 purpose of the grids introduced. Part II discusses more complicated 

 structures such as cathode-ray tubes, kinescopes, iconoscopes, electron 

 microscopes, kodatrons, magnetrons, rumbatrons, klystrons, etc. and elabo- 

 rates upon their practical applications. This is, in fact, a wondrous field of 

 developments. Finally there is a chapter on cyclotrons which the author 

 says "comes into this book because it requires for its operation a powerful 

 oscillator — or oscillator plus powerful electron amplifier — which will supply 

 a high voltage at a frequency of megacycles." While many industrial ap- 

 plications, such perhaps as tin plating, might be included on the same basis, 

 nevertheless the discussion of the cyclotron does give an opportunity to 

 explain the concepts of modern physics more completely than was under- 

 taken earlier in the book and is very interesting reading. 



^Published by D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., 1944. 



