Building Scientific Apparatus

This is a _great_ book! I buy a copy of this for every student who starts work for me--which I consider to be a fine investment. Practical, hands-on information is given on a huge variety of skills needed by those working in Physics labs. From glass blowing to vacuum systems, to instruction on attaching BNC connectors, it's all in here.

Have never seen a book which was able to pack so much practical information into so few pages, and able to explain complex concepts so simply.If you have to work with any type of laboratory equipment you would be insane to NOT have this book on your shelf.

This book is an invaluable reference source for anyone whose work requires them to become involved in unfamiliar (physical science related) technologies. Though it would certainly be useful to laboratory researchers, it is equally valuable for the scientist or engineer who needs to apply these disciplines. As a physicist involved in design of commercial instrumentation, I have often had to become involved in various disciplines which were outside of my area of formal training and this book has commonly been my point of entry into unfamiliar terrain. This isn't just a "how to do it" book, but also provides a solid grounding in the basic theory. Over the years I have used this book as a primer/refresher for: (a) vacuum technology; (b) light optics; (c) charged-particle optics; and (d) mechanical drawing. In each case, this book provided me with the fundamental concepts, equations, and techniques to become productive, often without access to any other source of expertise. Though I do, of course, employ other sources as my knowledge advances, I still find myself regularly referring back to this book.I know of no other reference that manages to pack so much useful information into so few pages. And yet, it remains easy and enjoyable to read. Part of this may be due to the abundant drawings which have a certain charm of their own -- echoing the style of the famous C.S. Stong illustrations in the "Amateur Scientist" section of Scientific American.This book is so good that I own two copies: one for my office at work and the second for reference at home.

This book is extremely useful for all people working in a physics lab. It covers a lot of subjects at a level that you cannot find elsewhere, intermediate between a deep "academic" coverage and a simple handbook.

No one book will cover everything that an experimenter or instrument designer needs to know, but this book gets you started. It contains a wide range of information on a wide range of topics of interest to those who work in laboratories. Many of the topics are poorly addressed in more specialist books, or not at all. For anyone interested in scientific instrumentation or experimentation, this is a very useful collection of descriptions of real hardware, available materials, and practical techniques, and the explanations of basic principles are clear and readable. The number of fields covered is impressive. Above all, this book starts you thinking.