Rayleigh-Wave Theory and Application

There is no respect for mere age in Science or Technology. Yet the cen­ tenary of the discovery, by the third Lord Rayleigh, that elastic waves can be guided by a surface, is memorable for the contradictions which it encompasses: Rayleigh''s assessment of his classic 1885 paper as a rather minor mathematical development with a potential value only in seismology on the one hand; on the other the re...