Archive of historical materials
Rebuttal to the Referee’s Comment
OU1936-C7 (5 pages) Date: June 23, 1936
This is Yukawa’s letter of rebuttal to the referee’s comment (OU1936-C5) on Yukawa’s paper, “Density Matrix in the Theory of the Positrons,” submitted to Physical Review, the journal published by the American Physical Society. In this letter, Yukawa pointed out the misunderstandings of the referee and explained that his theory posited that the charge density was finite in the vacuum but infinite charge density would remain according to Dirac’s theory. Yukawa did not think his rebuttal would change the decision already made by the Editor of Physical Review, but he probably could not help but point out the referee’s errors. It must have been a bitter experience for Yukawa. The letters to the Editor of Physical Review and to the referee were written in a humble tone, but it is obvious that Yukawa wrote those letters out of dissatisfaction. Also, see the explanation in OU1936-C5. (Written by Yutaka Hosotani)
