[4] In 1933, Springer published Max Born's book Optik, which dealt with all optical phenomena for which the methods of classical physics, and Maxwell's equations in particular, were applicable.

In 1950, with encouragement from Sir Edward Appleton, the principal of Edinburgh University, Born decided to produce an updated version of Optik in English.

[3]: 9 [5]: 293 [6]: 181 The first problem that Born had to tackle was that after the US joined the war in 1941, Optik had been reproduced and sold widely in the US, along with many other books and periodicals.

Born had been writing regularly to try and reclaim his book, pointing out that he was not an alien, as he had been a British citizen at the start of the war.

An article in the Manchester Guardian about how Jean Sibelius had been deprived of royalties in the same way, prompted him to write a letter describing his own situation.

[3]: 9 [5]: 294 He quickly realised that the important developments in optics which had occurred in the years since the original book had been written would need to be covered.

Emil Wolf, a research assistant at Cambridge University, was invited to write a chapter in the book.

Pergamon Press was a scientific publishing company which was set up in 1948 by Robert Maxwell and Paul Rosbaud.

[3]: 10  [5] : 295 A detailed account is given by Gustav Born, Max's son [8] He explains how the libel laws in the UK prevented him from speaking about this until after Maxwell's death.

Gustav acted for his father in the matter as Max Born was now living in Germany and was in his late seventies.

[7] In 1957, Born, who was concerned about how long it was taking to complete the book, suggested that Wolf leave it out, saying, "Who, apart from you, is interested in partial coherence?"

Two years after the book was published, the invention of the laser meant that optical physicists and engineers became greatly interested in the topic.

Nonetheless, some of the main features can be described, at least in quantitative terms, provided the frequency dependence of conductivity and the role of free and bound electrons are taken into account.

A new section was added to Chapter IV, presenting the principles of computerised axial tomography (or CAT) which has revolutionised diagnosis in medicine.

[2]: Foreword  A biography of Max Born said: "it presents a systematic treatment based on electromagnetic theory for all optical phenomena that can be described in terms of a continuous distribution of matter".

[2]: Foreword  Gabor sent Wolf a copy of one of his papers with the inscription "Dear Emil, I consider you my chief prophet, Love, Dennis" [7] The seventh edition was reviewed by Peter W. Milonni,[4] Eugene Hecht,[12] and William Maxwell Steen.

[13] Previous editions of the book were reviewed by Léon Rosenfeld,[14] Walter Thompson Welford,[15] John D. Strong,[16] and Edgar Adrian,[17] among others.

[12] Hecht then summarizes his own review, in order to help "anyone who hasn't the time to read the rest of this essay" by stating: "Principles of Optics is a great book, the seventh edition is a fine one, and if you work in the field you probably ought to own it.

"[12] Hecht went on to state that the book "is a great, rigorous, ponderous, unwavering mathematical tract that deals with a wealth of topics in classical optics.

"[12] He noted that the book can be hard to understand; he wrote: "This is a tour de force, never meant for easy reading.