From the Preface:
Hardly anyone can be found for whom the words ''universal physical constants" sound entirely unfamiliar. Everyone has some idea of what they are. At least in physics classes - if never afterwards-all of us used them, usually taking them from appendices somewhere at the back of a textbook. However using them as static reference material the student misses their real physical significance and remains unaware of the dramatic events surrounding their discovery. It is the aim of this short popular science book to pay tribute to the universal physical constants.

For, indeed, it is almost impossible to exaggerate the importance of the constants in physics. It does not take too much imagination - to consider them as signposts or milestones erected by nature along the endless and difficult route to knowledge.

In the fascinating drama of scientific ideas the physical constants are certainly the leading characters. We shall see that the proper interpretation of the constants and their role (Often involved a discussion of the central problems of physics, with the participation of the best minds that have advanced science: Newton, Einstein, Boltzmann, Planck and others. These discussions generated new ideas and sometimes completely changed man's world outlook. To measure the constants, as we shall see. most elegant and precise experimental methods were used.

Thus organized around the universal physical constants, the book gives - or so the author hopes - a review of the most significant ideas of modern physics and the first systematic look at the universal physical constants and their role in science. Still, this is not a textbook and the choice of the style and language was first of all dictated bv the author's desire to make the material easier for the reader to follow. The reader is not assumed to have a great knowledge of mathematics and all but the simplest equations are therefore omitted. If the book ignites the reader's interest in physics (and what a beautiful science it is!) or whets the appetite for further knowledge, then the effort of writing it will have been worthwhile.

Translated into English from Russian.

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