Eight Lectures on Theoretical Physics by Albert Potter Wills Eight Lectures on Theoretical Physics [Planck, Max, Wills, Albert Potter] on Amazon.Com
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Hendrik Antoon Lorentz's Struggle with Quantum Theory A. J
Hendrik Antoon Lorentz’s struggle with quantum theory A. J. Kox Archive for History of Exact Sciences ISSN 0003-9519 Volume 67 Number 2 Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. (2013) 67:149-170 DOI 10.1007/s00407-012-0107-8 1 23 Your article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution license which allows users to read, copy, distribute and make derivative works, as long as the author of the original work is cited. You may self- archive this article on your own website, an institutional repository or funder’s repository and make it publicly available immediately. 1 23 Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. (2013) 67:149–170 DOI 10.1007/s00407-012-0107-8 Hendrik Antoon Lorentz’s struggle with quantum theory A. J. Kox Received: 15 June 2012 / Published online: 24 July 2012 © The Author(s) 2012. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract A historical overview is given of the contributions of Hendrik Antoon Lorentz in quantum theory. Although especially his early work is valuable, the main importance of Lorentz’s work lies in the conceptual clarifications he provided and in his critique of the foundations of quantum theory. 1 Introduction The Dutch physicist Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1853–1928) is generally viewed as an icon of classical, nineteenth-century physics—indeed, as one of the last masters of that era. Thus, it may come as a bit of a surprise that he also made important contribu- tions to quantum theory, the quintessential non-classical twentieth-century develop- ment in physics. The importance of Lorentz’s work lies not so much in his concrete contributions to the actual physics—although some of his early work was ground- breaking—but rather in the conceptual clarifications he provided and his critique of the foundations and interpretations of the new ideas. -
Philosophical Rhetoric in Early Quantum Mechanics, 1925-1927
b1043_Chapter-2.4.qxd 1/27/2011 7:30 PM Page 319 b1043 Quantum Mechanics and Weimar Culture FA 319 Philosophical Rhetoric in Early Quantum Mechanics 1925–27: High Principles, Cultural Values and Professional Anxieties Alexei Kojevnikov* ‘I look on most general reasoning in science as [an] opportunistic (success- or unsuccessful) relationship between conceptions more or less defined by other conception[s] and helping us to overlook [danicism for “survey”] things.’ Niels Bohr (1919)1 This paper considers the role played by philosophical conceptions in the process of the development of quantum mechanics, 1925–1927, and analyses stances taken by key participants on four main issues of the controversy (Anschaulichkeit, quantum discontinuity, the wave-particle dilemma and causality). Social and cultural values and anxieties at the time of general crisis, as identified by Paul Forman, strongly affected the language of the debate. At the same time, individual philosophical positions presented as strongly-held principles were in fact flexible and sometimes reversible to almost their opposites. One can understand the dynamics of rhetorical shifts and changing strategies, if one considers interpretational debates as a way * Department of History, University of British Columbia, 1873 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z1; [email protected]. The following abbreviations are used: AHQP, Archive for History of Quantum Physics, NBA, Copenhagen; AP, Annalen der Physik; HSPS, Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences; NBA, Niels Bohr Archive, Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen; NW, Die Naturwissenschaften; PWB, Wolfgang Pauli, Wissenschaftlicher Briefwechsel mit Bohr, Einstein, Heisenberg a.o., Band I: 1919–1929, ed. A. Hermann, K.V. -
Einstein's Mistakes
Einstein’s Mistakes Einstein was the greatest genius of the Twentieth Century, but his discoveries were blighted with mistakes. The Human Failing of Genius. 1 PART 1 An evaluation of the man Here, Einstein grows up, his thinking evolves, and many quotations from him are listed. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Einstein at 14 Einstein at 26 Einstein at 42 3 Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Einstein at age 61 (1940) 4 Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Born in Ulm, Swabian region of Southern Germany. From a Jewish merchant family. Had a sister Maja. Family rejected Jewish customs. Did not inherit any mathematical talent. Inherited stubbornness, Inherited a roguish sense of humor, An inclination to mysticism, And a habit of grüblen or protracted, agonizing “brooding” over whatever was on its mind. Leading to the thought experiment. 5 Portrait in 1947 – age 68, and his habit of agonizing brooding over whatever was on its mind. He was in Princeton, NJ, USA. 6 Einstein the mystic •“Everyone who is seriously involved in pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe, one that is vastly superior to that of man..” •“When I assess a theory, I ask myself, if I was God, would I have arranged the universe that way?” •His roguish sense of humor was always there. •When asked what will be his reactions to observational evidence against the bending of light predicted by his general theory of relativity, he said: •”Then I would feel sorry for the Good Lord. The theory is correct anyway.” 7 Einstein: Mathematics •More quotations from Einstein: •“How it is possible that mathematics, a product of human thought that is independent of experience, fits so excellently the objects of physical reality?” •Questions asked by many people and Einstein: •“Is God a mathematician?” •His conclusion: •“ The Lord is cunning, but not malicious.” 8 Einstein the Stubborn Mystic “What interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the world” Some broadcasters expunged the comment from the soundtrack because they thought it was blasphemous. -
Samuel Goudsmit
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES SAMUEL ABRAHAM GOUDSMIT 1 9 0 2 — 1 9 7 8 A Biographical Memoir by BENJAMIN BEDERSON Any opinions expressed in this memoir are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Academy of Sciences. Biographical Memoir COPYRIGHT 2008 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES WASHINGTON, D.C. Photograph courtesy Brookhaven National Laboratory. SAMUEL ABRAHAM GOUDSMIT July 11, 1902–December 4, 1978 BY BENJAMIN BEDERSON AM GOUDSMIT LED A CAREER that touched many aspects of S20th-century physics and its impact on society. He started his professional life in Holland during the earliest days of quantum mechanics as a student of Paul Ehrenfest. In 1925 together with his fellow graduate student George Uhlenbeck he postulated that in addition to mass and charge the electron possessed a further intrinsic property, internal angular mo- mentum, that is, spin. This inspiration furnished the missing link that explained the existence of multiple spectroscopic lines in atomic spectra, resulting in the final triumph of the then struggling birth of quantum mechanics. In 1927 he and Uhlenbeck together moved to the United States where they continued their physics careers until death. In a rough way Goudsmit’s career can be divided into several separate parts: first in Holland, strictly as a theorist, where he achieved very early success, and then at the University of Michigan, where he worked in the thriving field of preci- sion spectroscopy, concerning himself with the influence of nuclear magnetism on atomic spectra. In 1944 he became the scientific leader of the Alsos Mission, whose aim was to determine the progress Germans had made in the development of nuclear weapons during World War II. -
Ripples in Spacetime
editorial Ripples in spacetime The 2017 Nobel prize in Physics has been awarded to Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne “for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves”. It is, frankly, difficult to find something original to say about the detection of gravitational waves that hasn’t been said already. The technological feat of measuring fluctuations in the fabric of spacetime less than one-thousandth the width of an atomic nucleus is quite simply astonishing. The scientific achievement represented by the confirmation of a century-old prediction by Albert Einstein is unique. And the collaborative effort that made the discovery possible — the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) — is inspiring. Adapted from Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 061102 (2016), under Creative Commons Licence. Rainer Weiss and Kip Thorne were, along with the late Ronald Drever, founders of the project that eventually became known Barry Barish, who was the director Last month we received a spectacular as LIGO. In the 1960s, Thorne, a black hole of LIGO from 1997 to 2005, is widely demonstration that talk of a new era expert, had come to believe that his objects of credited with transforming it into a ‘big of gravitational astronomy was no interest should be detectable as gravitational physics’ collaboration, and providing the exaggeration. Cued by detections at LIGO waves. Separately, and inspired by previous organizational structure required to ensure and Virgo, an interferometer based in Pisa, proposals, Weiss came up with the first it worked. Of course, the passion, skill and Italy, more than 70 teams of researchers calculations detailing how an interferometer dedication of the thousand or so scientists working at different telescopes around could be used to detect them in 1972. -
Otto Stern (1888–1969): the Founding Father of Experimental Atomic Physics
Ann. Phys. (Berlin) 523, No. 12, 1045 – 1070 (2011) / DOI 10.1002/andp.201100228 Historical Article Otto Stern (1888–1969): The founding father of experimental atomic physics J. Peter Toennies1, Horst Schmidt-Bocking¨ 2, Bretislav Friedrich3,∗, and Julian C. A. Lower2 1 Max-Planck-Institut f¨ur Dynamik und Selbstorganisation, Bunsenstrasse 10, 37073 G¨ottingen, Germany 2 Institut f¨ur Kernphysik, Goethe Universit¨at Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 1, 60438 Frankfurt, Germany 3 Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Faradayweg 4–6, 14195 Berlin, Germany Received 22 September 2011, revised 1 November 2011, accepted 2 November 2011 by G. Fuchs Published online 15 November 2011 Key words History of science, atomic physics, Stern-Gerlach experiment, molecular beams, magnetic dipole moments of nucleons, diffraction of matter waves. We review the work and life of Otto Stern who developed the molecular beam technique and with its aid laid the foundations of experimental atomic physics. Among the key results of his research are: the experimental test of the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of molecular velocities (1920), experimental demonstration of space quantization of angular momentum (1922), diffraction of matter waves comprised of atoms and molecules by crystals (1931) and the determination of the magnetic dipole moments of the proton and deuteron (1933). c 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Introduction Short lists of the pioneers of quantum mechanics featured in textbooks and historical accounts alike typi- cally include the names of Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Arnold Sommerfeld, Niels Bohr, Max von Laue, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schr¨odinger, Paul Dirac, Max Born, and Wolfgang Pauli on the theory side, and of Wilhelm Conrad R¨ontgen, Ernest Rutherford, Arthur Compton, and James Franck on the experimental side. -
Twenty Five Hundred Years of Small Science What’S Next?
Twenty Five Hundred Years of Small Science What’s Next? Lloyd Whitman Assistant Director for Nanotechnology White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Workshop on Integrated Nanosystems for Atomically Precise Manufacturing Berkeley, CA, August 5, 2015 Democritus (ca. 460 – 370 BC) Everything is composed of “atoms” Atomos (ἄτομος): that which can not be cut www.phil-fak.uni- duesseldorf.de/philo/galerie/antike/ demokrit.html Quantum Mechanics (1920s) Max Planck 1918* Albert Einstein 1921 Niels Bohr 1922 Louis de Broglie 1929 Max Born 1954 Paul Dirac 1933 On the Theory of Quanta Louis-Victor de Broglie Werner Heisenberg 1932 Wolfgang Pauli 1945 Erwin Schrödinger 1933 *Nobel Prizes in Physics https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel- 00006807 Ernst Ruska (1906 – 1988) Electron Microscopy Magnifying higher than the light microscope - 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics 1986 www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates /1986/ruska-lecture.pdf Richard Feynman (1918-1988) There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom, An Invitation to Enter a New Field of Physics What would happen if we could arrange the atoms one by one the way we want them…? December 29, 1959 richard-feynman.net Heinrich Rohrer (1933 – 2013) Gerd Binnig Atomic resolution Scanning Tunneling Microscopy - 1981 1983 I could not stop looking at the images. It was like entering a new world. Gerd Binnig, Nobel lecture Binnig, et al., PRL 50, 120 (1983) Nobel Prize in Physics 1986 C60: Buckminsterfullerene Kroto, Heath, O‘Brien, Curl and September 1985 Smalley - 1985 …a remarkably stable cluster consisting of 60 carbon atoms…a truncated icosahedron. Nature 318, 162 (1985) http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatis chemistry/landmarks/fullerenes.html Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1996 Curl, Kroto, and Smalley Positioning Single Atoms with a Scanning Tunnelling Microscope Eigler and Schweizer - 1990 …fabricate rudimentary structures of our own design, atom by atom. -
![I. I. Rabi Papers [Finding Aid]. Library of Congress. [PDF Rendered Tue Apr](https://docslib.b-cdn.net/cover/8589/i-i-rabi-papers-finding-aid-library-of-congress-pdf-rendered-tue-apr-428589.webp)
I. I. Rabi Papers [Finding Aid]. Library of Congress. [PDF Rendered Tue Apr
I. I. Rabi Papers A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 1992 Revised 2010 March Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact Additional search options available at: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms998009 LC Online Catalog record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm89076467 Prepared by Joseph Sullivan with the assistance of Kathleen A. Kelly and John R. Monagle Collection Summary Title: I. I. Rabi Papers Span Dates: 1899-1989 Bulk Dates: (bulk 1945-1968) ID No.: MSS76467 Creator: Rabi, I. I. (Isador Isaac), 1898- Extent: 41,500 items ; 105 cartons plus 1 oversize plus 4 classified ; 42 linear feet Language: Collection material in English Location: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Summary: Physicist and educator. The collection documents Rabi's research in physics, particularly in the fields of radar and nuclear energy, leading to the development of lasers, atomic clocks, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to his 1944 Nobel Prize in physics; his work as a consultant to the atomic bomb project at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and as an advisor on science policy to the United States government, the United Nations, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization during and after World War II; and his studies, research, and professorships in physics chiefly at Columbia University and also at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Selected Search Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein. -
A Century of Mathematics in America, Peter Duren Et Ai., (Eds.), Vol
Garrett Birkhoff has had a lifelong connection with Harvard mathematics. He was an infant when his father, the famous mathematician G. D. Birkhoff, joined the Harvard faculty. He has had a long academic career at Harvard: A.B. in 1932, Society of Fellows in 1933-1936, and a faculty appointmentfrom 1936 until his retirement in 1981. His research has ranged widely through alge bra, lattice theory, hydrodynamics, differential equations, scientific computing, and history of mathematics. Among his many publications are books on lattice theory and hydrodynamics, and the pioneering textbook A Survey of Modern Algebra, written jointly with S. Mac Lane. He has served as president ofSIAM and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Mathematics at Harvard, 1836-1944 GARRETT BIRKHOFF O. OUTLINE As my contribution to the history of mathematics in America, I decided to write a connected account of mathematical activity at Harvard from 1836 (Harvard's bicentennial) to the present day. During that time, many mathe maticians at Harvard have tried to respond constructively to the challenges and opportunities confronting them in a rapidly changing world. This essay reviews what might be called the indigenous period, lasting through World War II, during which most members of the Harvard mathe matical faculty had also studied there. Indeed, as will be explained in §§ 1-3 below, mathematical activity at Harvard was dominated by Benjamin Peirce and his students in the first half of this period. Then, from 1890 until around 1920, while our country was becoming a great power economically, basic mathematical research of high quality, mostly in traditional areas of analysis and theoretical celestial mechanics, was carried on by several faculty members. -
Mathematical Genealogy of the Wellesley College Department Of
Nilos Kabasilas Mathematical Genealogy of the Wellesley College Department of Mathematics Elissaeus Judaeus Demetrios Kydones The Mathematics Genealogy Project is a service of North Dakota State University and the American Mathematical Society. http://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/ Georgios Plethon Gemistos Manuel Chrysoloras 1380, 1393 Basilios Bessarion 1436 Mystras Johannes Argyropoulos Guarino da Verona 1444 Università di Padova 1408 Cristoforo Landino Marsilio Ficino Vittorino da Feltre 1462 Università di Firenze 1416 Università di Padova Angelo Poliziano Theodoros Gazes Ognibene (Omnibonus Leonicenus) Bonisoli da Lonigo 1477 Università di Firenze 1433 Constantinople / Università di Mantova Università di Mantova Leo Outers Moses Perez Scipione Fortiguerra Demetrios Chalcocondyles Jacob ben Jehiel Loans Thomas à Kempis Rudolf Agricola Alessandro Sermoneta Gaetano da Thiene Heinrich von Langenstein 1485 Université Catholique de Louvain 1493 Università di Firenze 1452 Mystras / Accademia Romana 1478 Università degli Studi di Ferrara 1363, 1375 Université de Paris Maarten (Martinus Dorpius) van Dorp Girolamo (Hieronymus Aleander) Aleandro François Dubois Jean Tagault Janus Lascaris Matthaeus Adrianus Pelope Johann (Johannes Kapnion) Reuchlin Jan Standonck Alexander Hegius Pietro Roccabonella Nicoletto Vernia Johannes von Gmunden 1504, 1515 Université Catholique de Louvain 1499, 1508 Università di Padova 1516 Université de Paris 1472 Università di Padova 1477, 1481 Universität Basel / Université de Poitiers 1474, 1490 Collège Sainte-Barbe -
On Max Born's Vorlesungen ¨Uber Atommechanik, Erster Band
On Max Born’s Vorlesungen uber¨ Atommechanik, Erster Band Domenico Giulini Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Hannover Appelstrasse 2, D-30167 Hannover, Germany and Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM), University of Bremen, Am Fallturm 1, D-28359 Bremen, Germany. [email protected] Abstract A little more than half a year before Matrix Mechanics was born, Max Born finished his book Vorlesungen uber¨ Atommechanik, Erster Band, which is a state-of-the-art presentation of Bohr-Sommerfeld quantisation. This book, which today seems almost forgotten, is remarkable for its epistemological as well as technical aspects. Here I wish to highlight one aspect in each of these two categories, the first being concerned with the roleˆ of axiomatisation in the heuristics of physics, the second with the problem of quantisation proper be- fore Heisenberg and Schrodinger.¨ This paper is a contribution to the project History and Foundations of Quantum Physics of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Sciences in Berlin and will appear in the book Research and Pedagogy. The History of Quantum Physics through its Textbooks, edited by M. Badino and J. Navarro. Contents 1 Outline 2 2 Structure of the Book 3 3 Born’s pedagogy and the heuristic roleˆ of the deductive/axiomatic method 7 3.1 Sommerfeld versus Born . 7 3.2 A remarkable introduction . 10 4 On technical issues: What is quantisation? 13 5 Einstein’s view 20 6 Final comments 23 1 1 Outline Max Born’s monograph Vorlesungen uber¨ Atommechanik, Erster Band, was pub- lished in 1925 by Springer Verlag (Berlin) as volume II in the Series Struktur der Materie [3]. -
Conformational Transition in Immunoglobulin MOPC 460" by Correction. in Themembership List of the National Academy of Scien
Corrections Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 74 (1977) 1301 Correction. In the article "Kinetic evidence for hapten-induced Correction. In the membership list of the National Academy conformational transition in immunoglobulin MOPC 460" by of Sciences that appeared in the October 1976 issue of Proc. D. Lancet and I. Pecht, which appeared in the October 1976 Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 73,3750-3781, please note the following issue of Proc. Nati. Acad. Sci. USA 73,3549-3553, the authors corrections: H. E. Carter, Britton Chance, Seymour S. Cohen, have requested the following changes. On p. 3550, right-hand E. A. Doisy, Gerald M. Edelman, and John T. Edsall are affil- column, second line from bottom, and p. 3551, left-hand col- iated with the Section ofBiochemistry (21), not the Section of umn, fourth line from the top, "Fig. 2" should be "Fig. 1A." Botany (25). In the legend of Table 2, third line, note (f) should read "AG, = -RTlnKj." On p. 3553, left-hand column, third paragraph, fifth line, "ko" should be replaced by "Ko." Correction. In the Author Index to Volume 73, January-De- cember 1976, which appeared in the December 1976 issue of Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 73, 4781-4788, the limitations of Correction. In the article "Amino-terminal sequences of two computer alphabetization resulted in the listing of one person polypeptides from human serum with nonsuppressible insu- as the author of another's paper. On p. 4786, it should indicate lin-like and cell-growth-promoting activities: Evidence for that James Christopher Phillips had an article beginning on p.