Ebook: Evolution of Physics

Based on the Library Genesis djvu file md5=AC1C1782B27ECBD24FEAF221908B4F75, Kolxo3, added 2009.07.20. The edition is wrongly identified (see 'description'). The file is identical to the Internet Archive ID=evolutionofphysi033254mbp, also referenced by Wikipedia. This edition/version is probably the only one available on P2P venues.
The file has been completely reworked in ABBYY FineReader, to produce the raw html and a companion pdf (see Library Genesis).
html edited in NotePad++ and checked for formatting accuracy in Firefox. Apart from the ABBYY recognition & verification, no further proofreading was performed, except for the occasional errors intercepted during editing - so more errors are likely. Table of Contents not linked, page numbers preserved and cleanly marked throughout. Html5 and CSS3 W3C.
Cover reconstructed from pictures of the original 1939 book coming from Mollan Rare Books, Dublin, Ireland via AbeBooks.
Many thanks to the original scanners, uploaders, and the owners of the mentioned websites.

From the Authors' Preface

Before you begin reading, you rightly expect some simple questions to be answered. For what purpose has this book been written? Who is the imaginary reader for whom it is meant?
It is difficult to begin by answering these questions clearly and convincingly. This would be much easier, though quite superfluous, at the end of the book. We find it simpler to say just what this book does not intend to be. We have not written a textbook of physics. Here is no systematic course in elementary physical facts and theories. Our intention was rather to sketch in broad outline the attempts of the human mind to find a connection between the world of ideas and the world of phenomena. We have tried to show the active forces which compel science to invent ideas corresponding to the reality of our world. [...]
The book is a simple chat between you and us. You may find it boring or interesting, dull or exciting, but our aim will be accomplished if these pages give you some idea of the eternal struggle of the inventive human mind for a fuller understanding of the laws governing physical phenomena.

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P2P Editor Bibliographic Note

The first edition of the book was published in 1938 {Open Library, ID=OL5816183M).
The edition on which the source for the present file is based, is undated, and marked 'Scientific Book Club'. The subsequent bibliographic research indicates the probable publication date as 1939 (see WorldCat items 8124880, 721210008; see Google citation for ID=nJClngEACAAJ; see a 1940 review of this precise 'Scientific Book Club' edition at SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System).
The only pictures and physical book description found for the original 1939 book come from Mollan Rare Books, Dublin, Ireland via AbeBooks. Those pictures were used for reconstructing the cover used in the present P2P digital edition.