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Percy Williams Bridgman, 1882-1961

D. M. Dewitt

, 26-40, published 1 November 196281962 Biogr. Mems Fell. R. Soc.

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PERCY WILLIAMS BRIDGMAN

1882-1961

O n 24 October 1961 a service was held at the Memorial Church in Harvard Yard to honour the memory of one whose entire professional career was spent at the University, who was for nearly half a century a member of the faculty and who, in a wider sphere, achieved distinction as an experimental physicist, a philosopher and a bold and original thinker. The addresses given on this occasion by several of his colleagues and friends depict a man of unusual stature and of many remarkable gifts.

Percy W illiams Bridgman, the only son of Raymond Landon Bridgman and Ann Maria Williams, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 21 April 1882. His father was a journalist by profession, a social and political writer and a lively and ready debater. The family circle was a united one, providing that stable and secure background against which children find freedom to develop according to inclination and ability. In his schooldays, which were spent at Newton, Percy appears to have been an average boy, somewhat shy, keenly interested in sports and games and a good chess player; but it was also remarked that he had, without any need for close application, little or no difficulty in keeping abreast of his school work.

He entered Harvard College in 1900, graduated with an A.B. Summa cum laude in 1904 and obtained his A.M. the following year. He had from the first shown ability as an experimentalist, a real artistry in the handling of machine tools and in glass manipulation and a great capacity for intensive work. His interests lay primarily in the field of physics and after graduation he required little persuasion to stay on at College to undertake research in the Jefferson Physical Laboratory. His imagination had early been aroused by the classical work of the great French physicists Cailletet and Amagat on the properties of fluids at high pressures and he resolved to extend their researches into those higher ranges of pressure at which new phenomena might be expected to occur.

At the onset he was faced with many practical difficulties; high tensile steels which were necessary for the construction of apparatus to withstand the stresses he had in mind were still in the early stages of development and were difficult to obtain commercially; there were no instruments available for measuring pressures of the required order of magnitude, and the known methods of obturating joints, screwed closures and pistons were too unreliable for his purpose.

He addressed himself to solving these varied and difficult problems with



great energy and success. One of his earliest inventions was the self-tightening joint which enabled pressures to be developed and maintained far beyond those ever achieved by Amagat and his contemporaries. He next made a study of pressure-measuring devices and two of his earliest papers in 1909 describe the construction and operation of a primary free-piston gauge designed for pressures up to 6800 Kg/cm2 and a secondary gauge based upon the variation of electrical resistance of mercury with pressure. The primary gauge which incorporated a piston of only in. diameter depended for its sensitivity and accuracy upon a close fit between piston and cylinder and an accurate measurement of the effective area of the piston. Here his skill as a mechanic found full scope and he recounts, not without pride, that after some practice he was able to make two such piston and cylinder assemblies complete in one day. The probable accuracy of the gauge was estimated to be at least tl °/o and the sensitivity 2 Kg/cm2 at 7000 Kg/cm2 pressure. Two years later he described an improved design of primary gauge which enabled him to measure pressures up to 13 000 Kg/cm2, and a new secondary gauge based upon the electrical properties of the alloy manganin. The resistance of manganin was shown to be a linear function of pressure up to 12 000 Kg/cm2 and, by extrapolation, enabled pressure measurements to be made with some certitude to 20 500 Kg/cm2.

Armed with these new tools he embarked upon an extensive investigation of the thermodynamic properties of a wide range of liquids up to pressures of 12 000 Kg/cm2 and at temperatures between 20 and 80 °C. The results of this work, published between 1911 and 1915, provide an immense fund of data relating to compressibilities, changes of state and melting curves. It is of interest to note that among other discoveries he identified two new allotropic forms of ice and successfully measured their triple points and mapped their regions of stability. The results of this work revealed an unexpectedly complicated behaviour amongst liquids, in many respects the opposite of what might have been predicted from trends shown at lower pressures. Thus, for example, he found that in some instances compressibilities decreased with increasing temperature and increased with increasing pressure. The thermal expansions and internal energies also showed unexpected anomalies.

In an endeavour to interpret the results in the light of a simple theory of liquids Bridgman assumed that the molecules of a liquid exert pressure by virtue of two modes of action in the first of which they behave like moving centres of mass with kinetic energy and momentum and in the second like elastic solids. He also considered that shape factors become increasingly important at high pressures where the molecules are forced together and are constrained to adapt themselves to each other’s irregularities and orientations.

Bridgman’s next major work was concerned with the compressibility of solids, melting phenomena and the occurence of polymorphic transitions. In the case of the elements he confirmed T. W. Richards’s conclusion that their compressibility is a strongly periodic function of atomic weight and drew

28 Biographical Memoirs



Percy W illiam s B ridgm an 29attention to the great range of numerical values; caesium, for example, was found to be 240 times as compressible as carbon (diamond). The alkali metals, which have the largest volume compressions of any group of elements except the solidified rare gases, presented a number of unusual features which prompted Bridgman, at a later date, to extend the range of his observations to 100 000 Kg/cm2. Caesium was found to behave abnormally with respect to the other members of the group in that, apart from being the most compressible, it showed two reversible volume discontinuities at 23 000 and 45 000 Kg/cm2. The lower transition is probably due to a lattice change from body-centred to close-packed face-centred; the second discontinuity, which gives a volume change more than nine times as large as the lower one, cannot be explained on the basis of a lattice change but may be attributed to some electronic rearrangement within the atom such as a change of an electron from 6s to a 5 dorbit. Later work also showed barium, bismuth and antimony to undergo transitions of the first kind due to lattice changes, bismuth having no less than five step-like discontinuities between 1 and 100 000 Kg/cm2.

Between 1912 and 1915 Bridgman published results on the melting curves of solids which showed that, with the exception of bismuth, gallium and water, the curves rise with pressure. From this data he endeavoured to draw conclusions as to the ultimate behaviour of the melting curve as pressure increases indefinitely. He found no evidence to support the existence of a critical point between liquid and solid, nor for the existence of a maximum, but concluded that the melting curves of all substances rise indefinitely at a continuously decreasing rate until pressures are reached at which new kinds of phenomena associated with the onset of atomic breakdown make their appearance.

He next extended his work to the measurement of the electrical resistance of metals and alloys and discovered a wide diversity of behaviour with increasing pressure. In general the resistance of those metals with high melting points such as iron, silver, copper and platinum showed a decrease with pressure whilst metals with lower melting points, such as aluminium, magnesium, zinc and lead showed an increase; but there were numerous exceptions to this behaviour scattered through the periodic table in a haphazard way.

From the point of view of the theory of liquids Bridgman considered that the changes in viscosity with pressure should have a special significance and between 1925 and 1927 he published viscosity data for water, mercury and some 50 organic liquids up to pressures of 12 000 Kg/cm2. He found that all liquids, with the exception of water, behaved qualitatively alike, the viscosity increasing with pressure at a rapidly increasing rate. In general the largest pressure effects were noted for those substances with the most complicated molecules and were probably due to an interlocking effect between the molecules which prevented the free motion of one layer over another.

The phenomenal output of the years 1909 to 1927 were largely the result of Bridgman’s own personal efforts and his avoidance of all external commitments. He had been elected Assistant Professor in 1913, Professor in 1919 and Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in 1926; but in spite



of these academic appointments, which customarily involve heavy administrative responsibilities and teaching duties, he remained dedicated to the laboratory. It is recorded by one of his oldest colleagues that during his tenure of two Chairs of physics he was never once seen at a meeting of the faculty and rarely, if ever, served on a University Committee. Nor did he give many regular courses of lectures; he took little interest in formal teaching and his style of lecturing was staccato and disjointed: nevertheless those who sat under him were soon aware that they were being exposed to a rigorous and stimulating intellectual discipline which called for unusual exertions on their part.

It would give an entirely wrong impression of Bridgman to picture him solely as an inspired experimentalist; from the first he was fully alive to the importance of interpretation and his early speculations on the theory of the liquid and solid states, although now mainly of historic value, are evidence of his keen interest in the scientific implications of his work. As the scope of his researches widened he was fortunate in enlisting a skilled mechanic, Mr C. Chase, who remained with him for many years and whose services were acknowledged in a number of his publications. He also from time to time allowed post-graduate students to participate in his work.

As Bridgman approached middle-age his life acquired a well defined pattern. He had married Olive Ware of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1912 and with the coming of their children, a son and a daughter, family life provided a serene background to his more serious preoccupations. He had purchased an old farm near Randolph at the foot of Mt Adams in New Hampshire and for many years this supplied a variety of external interests of which gardening, mountaineering, photography and music were shared by his family circle and a few old friends. In later years his custom was to spend the winter months in his laboratory at Harvard and to devote the summer to tending his garden, writing scientific papers and engaging in those philosophic speculations of which he has left an account in several books and essays.

The writer is indebted to Professor B. Vodar for an interesting account of life at Randolph. Bridgman had constructed a cabin in the woods some 200 yards from the house and here, well away from the disturbing activities of his family and guests, he usually spent from four to five hours a day writing. The cabin had no telephone and his only visitors were bears that occasionally passed quietly in front of his window. In the early mornings and evenings he devoted one or two hours to gardening and after an early dinner sat with his family reading. He was a great lover of detective stories, of which he had a large collection. Professor Vodar refers to a journey he made by road to Randolph. Bridgman was a capable but very fast driver and in the words of Mrs Bridgman ‘a car in front of him is something he had to pass’. ‘He drove fast indeed’, says Vodar with rather more feeling, ‘just at the limit of safety but within the limit.’

In addition to his researches in the field of high pressures Bridgman was much concerned with the broader aspects of physical theory. In his book




Percy W illiam s B ridgm an 31The logic of modern physics published in 1927, he wrote: ‘I have always throughout all my experimental work, felt an imperative need of a better understanding of the foundations of our physical thought and have for a long time made more or less unsystematic attempts to reach such an understanding.’ These attempts indeed continued over a period of more than 25 years and it is interesting to trace through his publications the steps by which he was led to accept and elaborate the ‘operational’ point of view and to apply it to various situations. In a series of lectures given in 1950 in the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science at University College, London, he emphasized the role which verbal demands play, not only in the structure of formal theories but also as a tool capable of suggesting new experiments. He pointed out the fallacy that the operational criterion of meaning demands that the operations which give meaning to a physical concept must be instrumental operations. There is, he states, hardly any physical concept which does not enter to a certain extent into some theoretical edifice and which does not therefore possess, a non-instrumental component, or in other words, demands a ‘mental’ or ‘verbal’ operation. He then illustrated some of the consequences of the general operational approach with regard to the field concept, the concept of empty space and the nature of light. In his search for a connexion between ideas and their practical consequences Bridgman followed closely in the footsteps of the founders of the Pragmatic philosophy and might well have echoed the aphorism of W. James that ‘thinking is first and last and always for the sake of doing’.

His book The intelligent individual and society written just before the outbreak of the Second World War attempts an analysis of social conditions in the hope of finding a parallel between the simple situations presented by physics and the more complex situations of daily life. He felt instinctively that in the general operational approach one could uncover suggestions that could be revolutionary in their implications for the complex social situations of the modern age. One detects an undercurrent of pessimism in his writing at this time. ‘As I grow older’, he says, ‘a note of intellectual dissatisfaction becomes an increasingly insistent overtone in my life. I am becoming more and more conscious that my life will not stand intelligent scrutiny, and at the same time my desire to lead an intelligent well-ordered life grows to an almost physical intensity.’ He had a conviction that there are certain general principles of behaviour which ‘exist’ in their own right and that although one could not be sure that they are truly general one should be prepared to adopt whatever course of action they might suggest. Indeed the last action of his life was a final and characteristic affirmation of this view point.

During the Second World War Bridgman undertook a number of investigations for the Watertown Arsenal on the plastic properties of metals under high stress. The results of this work suggested to him the possibility of constructing vessels to withstand pressures much greater than those determined by the elastic properties of simple or pre-stressed cylinders. He set about this new phase of his work with characteristic energy and in the Bakerian Lecture,



delivered before the Royal Society in 1950, he described apparatus for generating pressures up to 100 000 Kg/cm2 and some of the results obtained by its use.

In 1950 he was appointed Higgins’ University Professor and in 1954, at the age of seventy-two, Professor Emeritus. Retirement made little difference to his way of life. He continued his experimental work until shortly before his death, the last of his investigations, published in 1959, being on the compression and the a - /3-phase transition of plutonium.

Bridgman lived long enough to see a great revival of interest in high- pressure phenomena. In recent years the possibility of studying the properties of matter up to static pressure of half a million atmospheres and the development of dynamic shock-wave techniques leading to transient pressures of several million atmospheres have opened up wider horizons for the solid state physicist, the geologist and the metallurgist. The active exploration of these new fields owes much to his pioneering work and it must have been a great satisfaction to him to see it following in the experimental tradition of which he was such a remarkable exponent.

Bridgman’s work was recognized by the conferment of many honours and distinctions. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1946 and was elected Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 1949. He received the Rumford Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Cresson Medal of the Franklin Institute, the Roozeboom Medal of the Royal Academy of Sciencies, Amsterdam, the Bingham Medal of the Society of Rheology and the Comstock Prize of the National Academy of Science. He was also the holder of honorary degrees of Paris, Yale, Princeton and Harvard Universities.

He died at his home in Randolph on 20 August 1961.


I have to thank Dr R. W. Hickman for providing me with the Harvard Faculty Minute on Professor Bridgman.

D. M. N ewitt

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235.1940. Compressions to 50 000 kg/cm2. Phys. Rev. 57, 237.1940. New high pressures reached with multiple apparatus. Phys. Rev. 57, 342.1940. The measurement of hydrostatic pressure to 30 000 kg/cm2. Proc. Amer. Acad. 74, 1-10. 1940. The linear compression of iron to 30 000 kg/cm2. Proc. Amer. Acad. 74, 11-20.1940. The compression of 46 substances to 50 000 kg/cm2. Proc. Amer. Acad. 74, 21-51.1940 The second law of thermodynamics and irreversible processes. Phys. Rev. 58, 9, 845.1941. Explorations towards the limit of utilizable pressures. J. Appl. Phys. 12, 461-469.1941. Compressions and polymorphic transitions of seventeen elements to 100 000 kg/cm2.

Phys. Rev. 60, 351-354.1941. Freezings and compressions to 50 000 kg/cm2. J. Chem. Phys. 9, 794-797.1942. Freezing parameters and compressions of twenty-one substances to 50 000 kg/cm2.

Proc. Amer. Acad. 74, 399-424.1942. Pressure-volume relations for seventeen elements to 100 000 kg/cm2. Proc. Amer. Acad.

74, 425-440.1942. A challenge to physicists. J. Appl. Phys. 13, 209.1942. Science, and its changing social environment. Science, 97, 147-150.1943. Recent work in the field of high pressures. Amer. Scient. 31, No. 1.1943. On torsion combined with compression. J. Appl. Phys. 14, 273-283.1944. Some irreversible effects of high mechanical stress. Colloid Chem. 5, 327-337. Reinhold

Publishing Corp. N.Y. (Edited by Jerome Alexander).1944. The stress distribution at the neck of a tension specimen. Trans. Amer. Soc. Metals, 32,

553-572.1944. Flow and fracture. Metals Tech. 11, 32-39.1945. Symposium on cohesive strength. Discussion (Supplement to Flow and Fracture).

Metals Tech. 12, (3).1945. Discussion. Trans. Amer. Soc. Mech. Engrs. 67, 56.1945. The compression of 21 halogen compounds and 11 other simple substances to 100 000

kg/cm2. Proc. Amer. Acad. 76, 1-7.1945. The compression of 61 solid substances to 25 000 kg/cm2, determined by a new rapid

method. Proc. Amer. Acad. 76, 9-24.1945. Book Review. Physics of the twentieth century, by Pascual Jordan. J. Amer. Chem. Soc.

67, 347.1945. The prospect for intelligence. The Tale Review, 34, 444-461.1945. Polymorphic transitions and geological phenomena. Amer. J. Sci. 243-A (Daly Volume),

90-97.1945. Rejoinders and second thoughts. Psychol. Rev. 62, 281-284.1945. Some general principles of operational analysis. Psychol. Rev. 52, 246-249.1945. Effects of high hydrostatic pressure on the plastic properties of metals. Rev. Mod. Phys.

17, 3-14.1946. Recent work in the field of high pressures. Rev. Mod. Phys. 18, 1-93.1946. The tensile properties of several special steels and certain other materials under

pressure. J. Appl. Phys. 17, 201-212.1946. Studies of plastic flow of steel, especially in two-dimensional compression. J. Appl. Phys.

17, 225-243.1946. Dimensional analysis. Encyclopaedia Britannica.



1946. Effect of hydrostatic pressure on plastic flow under shearing stress. J. Appl. Phys. 17, 692-698.

1946. On higher order transitions. Phys. Rev. 70, 425-428.1947. An experimental contribution to the problem of diamond synthesis. J. Chem. Phys*

15, 92-98.1947. The rheological properties of matter under high pressure. J . Colloid Sci. 2, 7-16.1947. The effect of hydrostatic pressure on the fracture of brittle substances. J. Appl. Phys. 18,

246-258.1947. The effect of high mechanical stress on certain solid explosives. J . Chem. Phys. 15, 311—

313.1947. Scientists and social responsibility. Sci. Monthly, 65, 148-154.1947. Science and Freedom. Isis, 37, 128-131.1948. The compression of 39 substances to 10 000 kg/cm2. Proc. Amer. Acad. 76, 56-70.1948. Rough compressions of 177 substances to 40 000 kg/cm2. Proc. Amer. Acad. 76, 71-87-1948. Large plastic flow and the collapse of hollow cylinders. J. Appl. Phys. 19, 302-305.1948. Fracture and hydrostatic pressure. Amer. Soc. Metals. Cleveland, pp. 246-261.1948. General survey of certain results in the field of high pressure physics. Nobel Prize

Lecture, Stockholm, 1946.1948. Nobel Lecture, delivered before the Washington Academy of Sciences (and reprinted) ̂

J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 38, 145-156, 156-159.1948. The linear compression of various single crystals to 30 000 kg/cm2. Proc. Amer. Acad*

76, 89-99.1949. Viscosities to 30 000 kg/cm2. Proc. Amer. Acad. 77, 117-128.1949. Further rough compressions to 40 000 kg/cm2, especially certain liquids. Proc. Amer*

Acad. 77, 129-146.1949. Linear compressions to 30 000 kg/cm2, including relatively incompressible substances^

Proc. Amer. Acad. 77, 187-234.1949. On scientific method. The Teaching Scientist, 6, 23-24.1949. M.I.T. Speech, April.1949. Some implications of recent points of view in physics. Rev. Int. Philos. 3, No. 10.1949. Einstein’s theories and the operational point of view, from Albert Einstein: philosopher-

scientist. pp. 335-354. New York: Tudor Publishing Go.1949. Effect of hydrostatic pressure on plasticity and strength. Research, 2, 550-555.1949. Volume changes in the plastic stages of simple compression. J . Appl. Phys. 20, 1241—

1251.1950. Impertinent reflections on history of science. Phil. Sci. 17, 63-73.1950. Thermodynamics and metallurgy. The principles of thermodynamics. Amer. Soc*

Metals, pp, 1-16.1950. The thermodynamics of plastic deformation and generalized entropy. Rev. Mod*

Phys. 22, 56-63.1950. Physics above 20 000 kg/cm2. (Bakerian Lecture.) Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 203, 1-17.1950-1. The operational aspect of meaning. Synthese, 8, 251-259.1951. The effect of pressure on the electrical resistance of certain semi-conductors. Proc*

Amer. Acad. 79, 125-148.1951. The electric resistance to 30000 kg/cm2 of twenty-nine metals and inter-metallic

compounds. Proc. Amer. Acad. 79, 149-179.1951. The effect of pressure on the melting of several methyl siloxanes. J . Chem. Phys. 19,

203-207.1951. Some implications for geophysics of high-pressure phenomena. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer.

62, 533-535.1951. Properties of materials under superindustrial stresses. (Schwab Memorial Lecture.)

American Iron and Steel Institute, Gen. Meeting, May 23, 1951.1951. Some results in the field of high-pressure physics. Endeavor, 10, 63-69.1951. Same article, reprinted. Ann. Rep. Smithsonian, Instn, pp. 199-211 (Publication 4066.)




Percy W illiam s B ridgm an 391951. The nature of some of our physical concepts. Phil. Sci. 1, 257-272; 2, 17-55.1952. The resistance of 72 elements, alloys and compounds to 100 000 kg/cm2. Proc Amer

Acad. 81, 165-251.1952. Bingham Award to P.W.B. ‘Presentation of Bingham Medal’, by J. C. Slater.

‘Acceptance of the Bingham Medal’, by P. W. Bridgman. Colloid Sci. 7, 199-203.1953. Further measurements of the effect of pressure on the electrical resistance of germa

nium. Proc. Amer. Acad. 82, 71-82.1953. Miscellaneous measurements of the effect of pressure on electrical resistance. Proc.

Amer. Acad. 82, 83-100.1953. The effect of pressure on several properties of the alloys of bismuth-tin and of bismuth-

cadmium. Proc. Amer. Acad. 92, 101-156.1953. High-pressure instrumentation. Mech. Engng, 75, 111-113.1953. (With I. Simon.) Effects of very high pressures on glass. J. Appl. Phys. 24, 405-413. 1953. The effect of pressure on the tensile properties of several metals and other materials.

J . Appl. Phys. 24, 560-570.1953. The use of electrical resistance in high pressure calibration. Rev. Sci. Instr. 24, 400-401. 1953. The discovery of science. Proc. I.R.E. 41, 580-581.1953. The effect of pressure on the bismuth tin system. Bull. Soc. Chim. Belg. 62, 26-33.1953. Reflections on thermodynamics. Amer. Sci. 41, 549-555.1954. Certain effects of pressure on seven rare earth metals. Proc. Amer. Acad. 83, 1-22.1954. The task before us. Proc. Amer. Acad. 83, 97-112.1954. Science and common sense. Sci. Mon. 79, 32-39.1954. Effects of pressure on binary alloys. Proc. Amer. Acad. 83, 149-190.1954. Remarks on the present state of operationalism. Sci. Mon. 79, 224-226.1954. Certain aspects of plastic flow under high stress. In Von volume. New York:

Academic Press.1955. Effects of pressure on binary alloys. Part III. Five alloys of thalium, including thallium-

bismuth. Proc. Amer. Acad. 84, 1-42.1955. Effects of pressure on binary alloys. Part IV. Six alloys of bismuth. Proc. Amer. Acad.

84, 43-109.1955. Miscellaneous effects of pressure on miscellaneous substances. Proc. Amer. Acad. 84,

111-129.1955. Synthetic diamonds. Sci. American, 193, 42-46.1956. Probability, logic and ESP. Science, 123, 15-17.1956. Science and broad points of view. Proc. Nat. Acad. 42, 315-325.1956. High pressure polymorphism of iron. J. Appl. Phys. 27, 659.1957. Effects of pressure on binary alloys. Part V. Fifteen alloys of metals of moderately

high melting point. Part VI. Systems for the most part of dilute alloys of high melting metals. Proc. Amer. Acad. 84, 131-216.

1957. Error, quantum theory, and the observer. Reprinted from Life, language, law: essays in honor of Arthur F. Bentley, pp. 125-131.

1957. Some of the broader implications of science. Phys. Today, 10, 17-24.1958. Quo Vadis. Daedalus. Proc. Amer. Acad. 87, 85-93.1958. The microscopic and the observer. Reprinted from Le Methode dans les Science

Modernes, pp. 117-122.1958. Remarks on^Niels Bohr’s talk. Daedalus. Proc. Amer. Acad. 87, 175-177.1959. Compression and the a-(3 phase transition of plutonium. J. Appl. Phys. 30, 214-217.1959. How much rigor is possible in physics. Reprinted from The axiomatic method, pp. 225-

237.1959. ‘The logic of modern physics’ after thirty years. Daedalus. J . Amer. Acad. 88, 518-526.1960. Sir Francis Simon. Science, 131, 1647-1654.1960. Critique of critical tables. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., Wash. 46, 1394-1400.1961. Significance of the Mach principle. Amer. J . Phys. 29, 32-36.1961. High pressure physics. Scientia, 96, 1-5.



40Books

1925. A condensed collection of thermodynamic formulae. Harvard University Press.1928. The logic of modern physics. New York: Macmillan and Co.1931. Dimensional analysis. Yale University Press.1934. The thermodynamics of electrical phenomena in metals. New York: Macmillan and Co. 1936. The nature of physical theory. Princeton University Press.1941. The nature of thermodynamics. Harvard University Press.1949. The physics of high pressure. London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd.1952. The nature of some of our physical concepts. Philosophical Library, New York.1952. Studies in large plastic flow and fracture, with special emphasis on the effects of hydrostatic

pressure. New York: McGraw-Hill.1955. Reflections of a physicist. Philosophical Library, New York (Second edition).1959. The way things are. Harvard University Press.

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