Physics at every step

The collection includes three books by the remarkable popularizer of science Yakov Isidorovich Perelman (1882-1942) - "Physics at Every Step" (1934), "Do You Know Physics?" (1935) and "Young Physicist in Pioneer Camp" (1941). Texts in modern orthography and (in some cases) with corrected numerical data are given according to the respective editions. 271 drawings in these books were done (in close contact with Perelman himself) by Yuri (Georgy) Dmitrievich Skaldin (1891-1951), a staff artist of the Leningrad publishing house "Vremya".
Yakov Isidorovich Perelman (1882-1942) was neither a physicist, nor a mathematician, nor an astronomer - he graduated from the Forest Institute in St. Petersburg (now St. Petersburg State Technical University). He was neither a writer nor a teacher, but he corresponded with the greatest scientists and writers all over the world, worked on compiling new textbooks and problem books on mathematics and physics, gave more than two thousand popular lectures, wrote about a hundred popular science books and countless journal articles. He did not make any scientific discoveries or inventions, - but participated in the development of the project of the first Soviet anti-grad rocket, became the initiator of the introduction of the decree time in our country, one of the founders of the genre of popular science literature and the author of the term "science fiction". He did not have any academic degrees and titles, - but grateful readers in their letters invariably addressed him "Dear Professor!". All because in his works Yakov Isidorovich presented complex scientific problems in his own inimitable style, with remarkable clarity and clarity; in the most seemingly dry and boring topics, he was able to find bright, fascinating features, and they became extremely understandable even to the untrained reader. It is not surprising that the books of the "People's Professor of the Soviet Union" have survived dozens of reprints, have been translated into many languages, from English to Hindi, and their total circulation has now amounted to tens of millions of copies. The present collection includes three books by Perelman - "Physics at Every Step" (1934), "Do You Know Physics?" (1935) and "Young Physicist in a Pioneer Camp" (1941). The texts in modern orthography and (in some cases) with corrected numerical data are given according to the respective editions. In editing we have only replaced some outdated figures, made some additions and notes, but as far as possible we have preserved the spirit of the time when these articles were created - when new discoveries were not yet properly interpreted, the airplane was more often called an airplane, Albert Einstein was a modest employee of the Patent Office, and the English science fiction writer Herbert Wells delighted readers with his new works. The scientific content of Yakov Isidorovich's articles is selected in such a way that it can never become outdated. 271 drawings in these books were made (in close contact with Perelman himself) by Yuri (Georgy) Dmitrievich Skaldin (1891-1951), a staff artist of the Leningrad publishing house "Vremya", who was able to illustrate scientific phenomena and experiments perfectly.