In addition to being among the twentieth century’s major scientific figures, Sir James Jeans (1877–1946) was also one of the greatest modern science expositors. His classic introduction to mechanics endures as a clear and concise presentation of first principles. Although brief, it encompasses a remarkably wide selection of topics. Its subjects include rest and motion, force and the laws of motion, forces acting on a single particle, statics of systems of particles, statics of rigid bodies, center of gravity, work, motion of a particle under constant forces, motion of systems of particles, motion of a particle under a variable force, motion of rigid bodies, and generalized coordinates. Within each chapter, the author carefully explains the most elementary concepts (such as velocity, acceleration, Newton’s laws, friction, moments, and kinetic energy), and he illustrates them with examples. Ideal for beginning physics students or for more advanced readers in need of refreshment, the text emphasizes the fundamental physical principles rather than mathematics or applications. So clearly written that it can be read and understood outside the classroom, it features hundreds of fully worked illustrative examples and test exercises.

Albert Einstein characterized the work of James Clerk Maxwell as the "most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton." Max Planck went even further, declaring that "he achieved greatness unequalled," and Richard Feynman asserted that "From a long view of the history of mankind — seen from, say, ten thousand years from now — there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the nineteenth century will be judged as Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics." Maxwell made numerous other contributions to the advancement of science, but the greatest work of his life was devoted to electricity. An Elementary Treatise on Electricity appeared at a time when very few books on electrical measurements were available to students, and its compact treatment not only elucidates the theory of electricity but also serves to develop electrical ideas in readers' minds. The author describes experiments that demonstrate the principal facts relating an electric charge as a quantity capable of being measured, deductions from these facts, and the exhibition of electrical phenomena. This volume, published posthumously from Maxwell's lecture notes at the Cavendish Laboratory — which he founded at the University of Cambridge — is supplemented by a selection of articles from his landmark book, Electricity and Magnetism. A classic of science, this volume is an eminently suitable text for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students.