Introduction to Solid State Physics: Difference between revisions

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'''''Introduction to Solid State Physics''''', known colloquially as '''''Kittel''''', is a classic [[condensed matter physics]] textbook written by American physicist [[Charles Kittel]] in 1953.<ref name=chambersAlt /> The book has been highly influential and has seen widespread adoption; [[Marvin L. Cohen]] remarked in 2019 that Kittel's content choices in the original edition played a large role in defining the field of [[solid-state physics]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Cohen|first1=Marvin L.|last2=Cohen|author1-link=Marvin L. Cohen|first2=Morrel H.|author2-link=Morrel H. Cohen|date=2019-10-01|title=Charles Kittel|url=https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/PT.3.4326|journal=[[Physics Today]]|volume=72|issue=10|pages=73|doi=10.1063/PT.3.4326|bibcode=2019PhT....72j..73C|issn=0031-9228|quote=…was not only the dominant text for teaching in the field, it was on the bookshelf of researchers in academia and industry throughout the world. In many ways, his choice of content defined solid-state physics.|doi-access=free}}</ref> It was also the first proper textbook covering this new field of physics.<ref name=Ehrenreich /> The book is published by [[John Wiley and Sons]] and, as of 2018, it is in its ninth edition and has been reprinted many times as well as translated into over a dozen languages, including Chinese, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish. In some later editions, the eighteenth chapter, titled ''Nanostructures'', was written by [[Paul McEuen]]. Along with its rival ''[[Ashcroft and Mermin]]'', the book is considered a standard textbook in condensed matter physics.

== Background ==

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== Reception ==

[[Marvin L. Cohen]] and [[Morrel H. Cohen]], in an obituary for Kittel in 2019, remarked that the original book "was not only the dominant text for teaching in the field, it was on the bookshelf of researchers in academia and industry throughout the world",<ref name=cohenObit>{{Cite journal|last1=Cohen|first1=Marvin L.|last2=Cohen|author1-link=Marvin L. Cohen|first2=Morrel H.|author2-link=Morrel H. Cohen|date=2019-10-01|title=Charles Kittel|url=https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/PT.3.4326|journal=[[Physics Today]]|volume=72|issue=10|pages=73|doi=10.1063/PT.3.4326|bibcode=2019PhT....72j..73C|issn=0031-9228|doi-access=free}}</ref> though they did not provide any time frame on when it may have been surpassed as the dominant text. They also noted that Kittel's content choices played a large role in defining the field of [[solid-state physics]].<ref name=cohenObit />

The book is a classic textbook in the subject and has seen use as a comparative benchmark in the reviews of other books in condensed matter physics.<ref name=chambersAlt>{{Cite journal|last=Chambers|first=R. G.|author-link=Robert G. Chambers|date=12 June 1969|title=Alternative to Kittel|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/224983b0|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|language=en|volume=224|issue=5223|pages=983|doi=10.1038/224983b0|bibcode=1969Natur.224..983C|s2cid=41544342|issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=Ehrenreich>{{Cite journal|last=Ehrenreich|first=Henry|author-link=Henry Ehrenreich|date=19 August 1977|title=Solid State: A New Exposition|url=https://science.sciencemag.org/content/197/4305/753.1|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|language=en|volume=197|issue=4305|pages=753|doi=10.1126/science.197.4305.753|issn=0036-8075|pmid=17790767}}</ref> In a 1969 review of another book, [[Robert G. Chambers]] noted that there were not many textbooks covering these topics, as "since 1953, Kittel's classic ''Introduction to Solid State Physics'' has dominated the field so effectively that few competitors have appeared", noting that the third edition continues that legacy. Before continuing, the reviewer noted that the book was too long for some uses and that less thorough works would be welcome.<ref name=chambersAlt />