| I've been reading some antique physics books. In the 1860's
| an "electrical battery" was a collection of Leyden jars
| (capacitors) connected in parallel.
|
|
| A few years ago, one of my students was incensed that his
| "Modern Physics" text was ten years old. Upon reflection, I
| determined that the physics covered in the course was
| primarily from the first half of the 20th Century. "Modern
| Physics" isn't "modern" anymore. It's ancient history!
|
| Vickie Frohne
Its worse than what you mention, probably a lot of it is the the first
30 years of the 20th century. This is a problem with Physics, so much
of our fundamental truths were discovered a long time ago and haven't
been overthrown yet. :-)
On a bit of a different note:
I looked at some turn of the century (19th --> 20th) astronomy textbooks
a few years ago, and was rather shocked at the reading level required of
the students. They were expected to be rather literate.