The Tests of Time : Readings in the Development of Physical Theory

Rating:
Summary: Good selections of events
Review: Nicely done for students of the history of science, and for students of philosophy. The authors have given us several of the crucial nexus points in the development of modern physics. Now, most students know that you should try to peruse the original papers. But there are practical difficulties. Like if these are written in a language that you cannot read. Or if the language is now totally archaic.

So one vital service the authors have performed is to intermediate between us and the source documents. We judiciously get enough of the (translated) source text to hopefully get a feel for the tenor of the debates and the shifting worldviews implicit within these. Supplemented by judicious commentary from the authors.