(in Greek, in the book - this translation by the author)

It is my great pleasure to preface a very remarkable book written by a very good friend, an old fellow-student in Athens and Sussex.

The writing of a new basic physics textbook, at university level, is a happy event. It however raises the reasonable question what new has this book to offer.

The work consists of 2 parts. The first deals with topics in Mechanics and Electrostatics and the second in Electromagnetism, Optics and Modern Physics. Emphasis is given in consolidating the physical concepts and laws with examples and experiments.

Some examples are particularly effective, as that of understanding the torque, where an observer pulls towards him a wheel, by a wrapped string, so the wheel can not only rotate towards the observer but - contrary to common sense – it can either

move away from him or it can remain still, and this is because rotation is determined not by the force but by the vector of torque (with respect to the instantaneous axis of rotation on the ground), which here can change sign or even become zero.

The experiments are in step with the teaching of the theory. Having twenty years experience in experimental physics, in 6 universities in England (Sussex, Imperial College, Southampton, Cambridge, Kent, Open), the author makes full use of the dexterity known from his postgraduate years, to model the determination of a physical quantity and to translate it to a simple - as seen in the photographs - experimental setup, capable of giving reliable results. For data analysis established statistical methods are used that would not be inferior even at postgraduate level. Innovations, at the level of the book, exist at many points: In Mechanics, the accuracy of the experiments (eg 0,5% fractional error in g) and the reduction of systematic errors. In Optics, the advanced, minimalistic in space, experiments using laser sources and the recent technological applications (eg diffraction for determining the capacity of DVD). In Modern Physics, the demonstration of quantum mechanical phenomena (photoelectric, energy gap) and the verification of the new laws with simple experimental setups and quantum mechanical sources (light emitting diode).

In conclusion the book, by the selection and arrangement of the material gives future scientists and engineers the provisions to not only be introduced correctly to the laws of physics but also to understand them. And this is no mean feat.

Dimitri Nanopoulos