The Fundamental Constants and Quantum Electrodynamics

B N Taylor, W H Parker and B N Langenberg London: Academic Press 1969 pp xiii + 352 price £2 7s The physicist or chemist who uses tables of fundamental constants may need more or less accuracy, but he is entitled to expect values consistent among themselves. The frequent references to the work of Birge, and more recently of Cohen and DuMond, in scientific literature testify to the importance of this requirement which, even if there were no other, would justify the effort spent on striving to increase the accuracy of measurements, on assessing the relative merits of determinations and on deducing, often from redundant data, a consistent set of 'best' values.