This is one of the second posts in the Science for Everyone series. Earlier in this series, we have seen Discussions on Refraction of Light by Tarasov and Tarasova.

This book is a compilation of essays by the author on various topics, and the central theme is that of physics and physicists.

From the introduction:

Isaak Kikoin was one of those brilliant physicists who played a
crucial role in the development of Soviet science.

From the back cover

The book contains some of the articles Academician Kiokin
published in the Kvant journal. The author describes in these
articles the advance of Soviet physics as he witnessed it, his
encounters and work with other outstanding scientists, and
some interesting physical phenomena.

Intended for school pupils, teachers, engineers and scientists.

The book was translated from the Russian by Svetlana Landau and was first published by Mir in 1989.

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Updated: 15 January 2019

Contents

Isaak Kikoin by A. Alexandrov and V. Legasov 6
The Advance of Soviet Physics (written to mark the 60th anniversary of the
Great October Socialist Revolution)  13
Abram Ioffe (an essay to mark the centenary of his birth) 77
He Had Lived a Happy Life (written to mark the 80th anniversary of Kurchatov’s birth)  107
My Encounters with Debye (written to mark Debye’s centennial anniversary)  115
Physics and the Scientific and Technical Progress 119
Physics in the USSR (written to mark the 60th anniversary of the USSR)  141
Science Is for Young 149
The Photoelectromagnetic Effect 155
What Is a Wave? 165
How Physical Quantities Are Introduced  181

Especially recommeded is the last chapter How Physical Quantities Are Introduced, it is one of my favourites. I cannot help myself from displaying the illustrations in this chapter in the post.