These Notes were originally written to serve the courses Intermediate Modern Physics and Medical Physics, which the author taught at Kalamazoo College. They provided background information on a number of topics and they supported the lectures. The companion Experiments on Modern Physics and Ionizing Radiation included instructions for more than 30 hours of student laboratory work.
Since then, these Notes have been revised to serve such courses as Modern Physics for Engineers, Entropy and Human Activity, and the modern physics segments of Introductory Physics, which the author has taught at Ohio University.
Although some material will quite evidently be more specifically addressed to the students in one particular course, it is all appropriate for any of the groups to see. Judicious skimming (especially skipping over the more mathematical parts by students who have not taken calculus) should keep the level of effort for study within reason.
Chapter II was originally identical with Chapter II of the author's Notes on Instrumentation Electronics. This is the reason for the naming of Appendices D and E (and in some printings, the numbering of their pages) in a manner that might at first glance seem whimsical.
Dick Piccard revised this file (https://people.ohio.edu/piccard/radnotes/preface.html) on December 4, 2003.
Please E-mail comments or suggestions to piccard@ohio.edu.