BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 
ABERDEEN, 1934. 
THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 
THE NEW WORLD-PICTURE OF 
MODERN PHYSICS 
BY 
SIR JAMES H. JEANS, D.Sc., Sc.D., LL.D., F.R.S. 
PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION. 
Tue British Association assembles for the third time in Aberdeen— 
under the happiest of auspices. It is good that we are meeting in 
Scotland, for the Association has a tradition that its Scottish meet- 
ings are wholly successful. It is good that we are meeting in the 
sympathetic atmosphere of a university city, surrounded not only 
by beautiful and venerable buildings, but also by buildings in which 
scientific knowledge is being industriously and successfully accumu- 
lated. And it is especially good that Aberdeen is rich not only in 
scientific buildings but also in scientific associations. Most of us 
can think of some master-mind in his own subject who worked here. 
My own thoughts, I need hardly say, turn to James Clerk Maxwell. 
Whatever our subject, there is one man who will be in our thoughts 
im a very special sense to-night—Sir William Hardy, whom we had 
hoped to see in the presidential chair this year. It was not to be, 
and his early death, while still in the fulness of his powers, casts a 
shadow in the minds of all of us. We all know of his distinguished 
work in pure science, and his equally valuable achievements in 
applied science. I will not try to pay tribute to these, since it has 
been arranged that others, better qualified than myself, shall do so 
in a special memorial lecture. Perhaps, however, I may be per- 
mitted to bear testimony to the personal qualities of one whom I 
Was proud to call a friend for a large part of my life, and a colleague 
for many years. Inside the Council room, his proposals were always 
acute, often highly original, and invariably worthy of careful con- 
‘sideration ; outside, his big personality and wide range of interests 
jeede him the most charming and versatile of friends. 
B 
