This historical survey of the discovery of the electron has been published to coincide with the centenary of the discovery. The text maps the life and achievements of J.J. Thomson, with particular focus on his ideas and experiments leading to the discovery. It describes Thomson's early years and education. It then considers his career at Cambridge, first as a fellow of Trinity, later as the head of the Cavendish Laboratory and finally as Master of Trinity and national spokesman for science. The core of the book is concerned with the work undertaken at the Cavendish, culminating in the discovery of "corpuscles", later named "electrons".; In the final two chapters, the immediate aftermath and implications of the work are described. These include the creation of the subject of atomic physics as well as the broader long term developments which can be traced from vacuum valves and the transistor through to the microelectronics revolution.

This book is a comprehensive and intensive monograph for scientists, engineers and applied mathematicians, as well as graduate students in fluid dynamics. It starts with a brief review of fundamentals of fluid dynamics, with an innovative emphasis on the intrinsic orthogonal decomposition of fluid dynamic process, by which one naturally identifies the content and scope of vorticity and vortex dynamics. This is followed by a detailed presentation of vorticity dynamics as the basis of later development. In vortex dynamics part the book deals with the formation, motion, interaction, stability, and breakdown of various vortices. Typical vortex structures are analyzed in laminar, transitional, and turbulent flows, including stratified and rotational fluids. Physical understanding of vertical flow phenomena and mechanisms is the first priority throughout the book. To make the book self-contained, some mathematical background is briefly presented in the main text, but major prerequisites are systematically given in appendices. Material usually not seen in books on vortex dynamics is included, such as geophysical vortex dynamics, aerodynamic vortical flow diagnostics and management.

This book presents comprehensive and authoritative coverage of the wide field of concentrated vortices observed in nature and technique. The methods for research of their kinematics and dynamics are considered. Special attention is paid to the flows with helical symmetry. The authors have described models of vortex structures used for interpretation of experimental data which serve as a ground for development of theoretical and numerical approaches to vortex investigation.

Vortex dynamics is a natural paradigm for the field of chaotic motion and modern dynamical system theory. However, this volume focuses on those aspects of fluid motion that are primarily controlled by the vorticity and are such that the effects of the other fluid properties are secondary.