Abstract

This historico-critical analysis of the concept of mass is the third in Jammer's series of studies of fundamental physical concepts. His fascinating account traces its intricate historical evolution from early notions of matter and the medieval concept of mass as quantitas materiae to the dynamic conceptions of mass. The concept is followed through the three stages of conceptualization ; systematization ; and formalization. Jammer further treats mass in relation to the electromagnetic theories; special and general relativity; quantum mechanics and the theory of elementary particles; and the modern "space-theories" of matter. He concludes that no final clarification of the concept has yet been attained, despite the efforts of both physicists and philosophers. This difficult material is handled with great scholarship and control, skillfully interpreted, and concisely presented --B. J. H.