INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICS

In the preface he says:

A broad knowledge of physics is a necessity for the specialist working in any branch of science or engineering if he desires to comprehend the fundamental of his field of knowledge and is striving to, take a creative part in its development. The task of a course in physics for students of a technical institute consists, therefore, in helping them to understand the physical basis of engineering.In addition to this main task, a course in physics in a technical institute should be organised in such a manner as to help the student to master experimental technique and acquaint him with equipment used to measure physical quantities. Skill in experimental physics is attained by working in the laboratory. It seems to us that familiarising oneself with ‘experimental physics is a completely distinct task in the study of physics in technical institutes. The
interweaving of experimental physics with the study of general physical laws and phenomena is only occasionally pedagogically justified. This is due to the fact that modern experimental physics cannot be sharply subdivided. The measurement of coefficients of expansion is accomplished with the aid of interferometry, radio equipment is required for experiments in mechanics and heat, and the investigation of the structure of metals is inseparably linked with experiments in electricity. Physical experiments conducted with the aid of outmoded techniques are of interest only to specialists in physics desiring to trace the development of one or another experiment. It would probably be most expedient to arrange the curriculum in such a manner that laboratory work followed a course in general physics.
Thus, the author believes that lectures in physics, and consequently the corresponding textbook, should include only outlines of experiments, i.e., the goal of the experiments.
Once agreed on the necessity for excluding experimental physics from our course, we must then choose between the inductive approach (from particular experimental facts to theoretical generalities) and the deductive approach (from theory to its experimental corroboration and manifold applications). In a very extensive course, it is probably possible to combine these two approaches as they are linked in the development of science. This possibility was not open to the author and so the second approach was chosen. Presentation of the basic theoretical propositions, the deduction of corollaries that could be verified experimentally, and then the illustration of these experiments by means of diagrams – this was the approach adopted in practically every chapter of this book. Naturally, this meant that the historical method had to be completely disregarded. The history of the origin of ideas, the formul ation and discard of physical theories, remained beyond the scope of this book, since it is written for the student who is not training to be a professional physicist.
It seems to me that only such a method of presentation makes, for clarity and conciseness.