Discover
/
Article

The new AIP handbook

JUL 01, 1963
The American Institute of Physics Handbook, first published in 1957, has been expanded and brought up a date in a revised second edition. This summary of the main changes to be found in the new edition has been written by Dwight E. Gray of the Office of Scientific Information of the National Science Foundation. D. E. Gray has served as the coordinating editor of the AIP Handbook.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3051015

Dwight E. Gray

What is a handbook? The word “handbook” seems to have received its start in life as the English form of the German “handbuch”, with the adoption not always having received complete approval. In his English, Past and Present (1871), Richard Chenevix Trent refers to this handbuch‐to‐handbook caper and says, “Possessing the word ‘manual’, we need not have called ‘handbook’ back from an oblivion of 900 years.” James A. H. Murray, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (1901), gives the 900 A.D. definition of the Old English “handboc” as “a small book or treatise”.

More about the Authors

Dwight E. Gray. National Science Foundation.

This Content Appeared In
pt-cover_1963_07.jpeg

Volume 16, Number 7

Related content
/
Article
Technical knowledge and skills are only some of the considerations that managers have when hiring physical scientists. Soft skills, in particular communication, are also high on the list.
/
Article
Professional societies can foster a sense of belonging and offer early-career scientists opportunities to give back to their community.
/
Article
Interviews offer a glimpse of how physicists get into—and thrive in—myriad nonacademic careers.
/
Article
Research exchanges between US and Soviet scientists during the second half of the 20th century may be instructive for navigating today’s debates on scientific collaboration.
/
Article
The Eisenhower administration dismissed the director of the National Bureau of Standards in 1953. Suspecting political interference with the agency’s research, scientists fought back—and won.
/
Article
Alternative undergraduate physics courses expand access to students and address socioeconomic barriers that prevent many of them from entering physics and engineering fields. The courses also help all students develop quantitative skills.

Get PT in your inbox

Physics Today - The Week in Physics

The Week in Physics" is likely a reference to the regular updates or summaries of new physics research, such as those found in publications like Physics Today from AIP Publishing or on news aggregators like Phys.org.

Physics Today - Table of Contents
Physics Today - Whitepapers & Webinars
By signing up you agree to allow AIP to send you email newsletters. You further agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.