30 NOVEMBER 1929, Page 32

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Who, except a mathematician here and there, has heard of Professor Ramanujan, of whom an English scientist said that " every positive integer was one of his personal friends " ? Or of Professor Meghnad Saha of Allahabad who has discovered formulae describing the effects of heat on individual atoms ? The latter is one of the greatest physicists in the world : Mr. J. G. Crowther tells us about him in Short Stories in Science (Routledge, 5s.), and of Professor Raman of Culcutta, whose

Raman effect " is so complicated that it cannot even be adumbrated here. India only occupies a small section, however, in this fascinating book ; which also deals, among many other articles, with " Harnessing Volcanic Steam," " Power From Tropical Seas," " Smashing the Atom," and " Liquid Stars." It is as exciting as a good detective story, and happens to be the true story of our own times.