Primer texto mexicano sobre Radioactividad y Física Atómica

Abstract

Literature about physical sciences has always been scarce in our country,
but even more so before its professionalization among us. For this reason, it
is remarkable the existence of the book Compendio de los fen´omenos de la
Radioactividad y nociones sobre la Constituci´on de la Materia, published in
Mexico City in 1932, in which they were treated with certain amplitude those
subjects, so it turns out to be of some importance to those who investigate
the development of Physics in this nation. This work, written by the engineer
Juan Mateos, was not a translation to Spanish of a book written in another
language elsewhere, but it is an original contribution in our language of its
author, which is relevant, because it shows the early existence of Mexicans
who were aware, at least in general, of the main advances in the research to
establish the nature of matter. In this article, a summary of the material
dealt in this pioneer book is given, because we consider that it sheds light
on the initial efforts to understand matter made in our nation, and to make
known this new field for its research in Physics in our country.