This is the reprint of a well-known and valuable work that has been out of print and widely sought for a number of years. A volume in the series of Source Books in the History of the Sciences , it consists of selections from the writings of the great physicists from the 16th through the 19th century--such figures as Galileo and Newton, Franklin and Faraday, Rowland, Hertz, and the Curies--making available to the student in English translation their most important contributions, described in their own words, together with biographical and explanatory notes by the editor.