Suman Seth, Crafting the Quantum: Arnold Sommerfeld and the Practice of Theory, 1890–1926. Cambridge, MA and London: MIT Press, 2010. Pp. vii+378. ISBN 978-0-262-01373-4. £23.95 (hardback) (original) (raw)
Isis, 2011
Even though Arnold Sommerfeld and his school are commonly regarded as major contributors to the formation of quantum theory, little has been written on the origins, development and impact of Sommerfeld's brand of theory-making. Suman Seth's Crafting the Quantum aims at filling this gap with much attention to the cultural conditions and the diversity of practices in the then-emerging theoretical physics. Seth defines Sommerfeld's approach as a 'physics of problems' in which well-defined rules and sound mathematics are applied to a great variety of specific problems, with much attention to phenomenological and computational details. Seth nuances this picture by bringing in Sommerfeld's early attachment to the electromagnetic world view, his ideal of a complete unified theory of microphysical phenomena, and the aesthetic dimension of his quantum numerology. Seth regards Sommerfeld's mature style as the resultant of his threefold background in mathematics, technical mechanics and physics. Sommerfeld originally saw himself as a mathematician bringing his skills to the service of applied mechanics and physics, in the spirit of his mentor Felix Klein's cross-disciplinary projects. After a few years of teaching technical mechanics at the Technische Hochschule in Aachen, he obtained the chair of theoretical physics in Munich, from which he trained a large number of theoretical physicists of the following generations. Seth explains this enormous success by diverse characteristics of Sommerfeld's teaching: his lively mode of exposition, his frequent appeal to figures and mechanisms, the place he gave to elementary considerations, his dwelling on unsolved problems, sessions of supervised problem solving in parallel with the course, and a personal acquaintanceship with the students. Sommerfeld also benefitted from the contemporary surge of theoretical physics owing to the financial difficulties of experimental physics in the impoverished Weimar Republic. As proofs of this evolution, Seth cites Lenard's and Stark's famous attacks, and what he wittily dubs the 'discovery of the Pauli effect', namely the multiplication of stories of the perturbation of experiments by the mere proximity of the proudly pure theorist Wolfgang Pauli. Seth judiciously contrasts Sommerfeld's physics of problems with the 'physics of principles' of two contemporary theorists, Max Planck and Niels Bohr. By physics of principles, Seth sometimes means any theoretical physics that has the philosophical ambition of providing firm and general foundations. He occasionally means something more similar to Poincaré's physique des principes: a theory defined by means of general principles of empirical origin, and not by the constructive combination of hypothetical elements. The latter definition applies to Max Planck, who sought a via media between Mach's positivism and the rising theoretical microphysics of Ludwig Boltzmann, Hendrik Lorentz and others. As Seth explains, Planck applied the principles of thermodynamics to ideal processes performed on coarsely defined systems. He did not require the experimental realizability of these processes or the experimental accessibility of the finer details of the systems. Seth finds this view embodied in Planck's early works on the thermodynamics of solutions and continued in his later works. In early quantum theory, Planck sought to determine the quantum structure of phase space through thermostatistical considerations that blurred the kinematics of individual atoms and molecules. In contrast, Sommerfeld quantized the motion of individual electrons and intertwined his analysis with aspects of the rising experimental microphysics.
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 2009
The paper detailed what we now know as his ''exclusion principle.'' This essay situates the work leading up to Pauli's principle within the traditions of the ''Sommerfeld School,'' led by Munich University's renowned theorist and teacher, Arnold Sommerfeld (1868-1951). Offering a substantial corrective to previous accounts of the birth of quantum mechanics, which have tended to sideline Sommerfeld's work, it is suggested here that both the method and the content of Pauli's paper drew substantially on the work of the Sommerfeld School in the early 1920s. Part One describes Sommerfeld's turn away from a faith in the power of model-based (modellmässig) methods in his early career towards the use of a more phenomenological emphasis on empirical regularities (Gesetzmässigkeiten) during precisely the period that both Pauli and Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976), among others, were his students. Part two delineates the importance of Sommerfeld's phenomenology to Pauli's methods in the exclusion principle paper, a paper that also eschewed modellmässig approaches in favour of a stress on Gesetzmässigkeiten. In terms of content, a focus on Sommerfeld's work reveals the roots of Pauli's understanding of the fundamental Zweideutigkeit (ambiguity) involving the quantum number of electrons within the atom. The conclusion points to the significance of these results to an improved historical understanding of the origin of aspects of Heisenberg's 1925 paper on the ''Quantum-theoretical Reformulation (Umdeutung) of Kinematical and Mechanical Relations.''
How Sommerfeld extended Bohr’s model of the atom (1913–1916)
The European Physical Journal H, 2014
Sommerfeld's extension of Bohr's atomic model was motivated by the quest for a theory of the Zeeman and Stark effects. The crucial idea was that a spectral line is made up of coinciding frequencies which are decomposed in an applied field. In October 1914 Johannes Stark had published the results of his experimental investigation on the splitting of spectral lines in hydrogen (Balmer lines) in electric fields, which showed that the frequency of each Balmer line becomes decomposed into a multiplet of frequencies. The number of lines in such a decomposition grows with the index of the line in the Balmer series. Sommerfeld concluded from this observation that the quantization in Bohr's model had to be altered in order to allow for such decompositions. He outlined this idea in a lecture in winter 1914/15, but did not publish it. The First World War further delayed its elaboration. When Bohr published new results in autumn 1915, Sommerfeld finally developed his theory in a provisional form in two memoirs which he presented in December 1915 and January 1916 to the Bavarian Academy of Science. In July 1916 he published the refined version in the Annalen der Physik. The focus here is on the preliminary Academy memoirs whose rudimentary form is better suited for a historical approach to Sommerfeld's atomic theory than the finished Annalen-paper. This introductory essay reconstructs the historical context (mainly based on Sommerfeld's correspondence). It will become clear that the extension of Bohr's model did not emerge in a singular stroke of genius but resulted from an evolving process.
PHYSICS, MATHEMATICS AND PHILOSOPHY : The Legacy of James Clerk Maxwell and Hermann von Helmholtz
The philosopher-Physicists centers on the origins of modern mathematical physics developed primarily by Maxwell and Helmholtz. In alternate chapters, the contributions of the principals are placed in the context of the prevailing discourses and controversies in physics and philosophy. Cultural contexts, such as art (e.g. the pre-Raphaelites), literature (e.g. romanticism) and historical events (e.g. the revolutions of 1848 and the Franco-Prussian war) are presented. Contemporaries, such as Boltzmann, Gibbs, Oersted, and Riemann in mathematical physics, and Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, and Frege in philosophy are considered. The last chapters deal with the influence of the work of Maxwell and Helmholtz on the developments in 20 th century mathematical physics, focusing on the origins of quantum mechanics. The theme of the arguments is in the influence of Kantian epistemology and metaphysics on the authors. The epilogue examines the work of Arthur Compton as founded on Maxwell's electrodynamics and field theory and Helmholtz' concept of energy (all modified by Einstein), and Boltzmann's Statistical Mechanics. It highlights the difficulties of modern wave-particle dualism inherent on their dependence on the mathematical formalism and on innovations of the principals. The arguments are paraphrased with a minimum of both scientific and philosophical technical terminology, and there is no mathematical notation. This is to make the work accessible to non-specialists, typically at the undergraduate level.
Re-thinking a Scientific Revolution: An inquiry into late nineteenth-century theoretical physics
In the early 1890s, before his well-known experiments on cathode rays, J.J. Thomson outlined a discrete model of electromagnetic radiation. In the same years, Larmor was trying to match continuous with discrete models for matter and electricity. Just starting from Faraday"s tubes of force, J.J. Thomson put forward a reinterpretation of the electromagnetic field: energy, placed both in the tubes of force and in the motion of tubes of force, spread and propagated by discrete units, in accordance with a theoretical model quite different from Maxwell and Heaviside"s.
Boris Hessen: Physics and Philosophy in the Soviet Union, 1927–1931
History of Physics, 2021
The Springer book series History of Physics publishes scholarly yet widely accessible books on all aspects of the history of physics. These cover the history and evolution of ideas and techniques, pioneers and their contributions, institutional history, as well as the interactions between physics research and society. Also included in the scope of the series are key historical works that are published or translated for the first time, or republished with annotation and analysis. As a whole, the series helps to demonstrate the key role of physics in shaping the modern world, as well as revealing the often meandering path that led to our current understanding of physics and the cosmos. It upholds the notion expressed by Gerald Holton that "science should treasure its history, that historical scholarship should treasure science, and that the full understanding of each is deficient without the other." The series welcomes equally works by historians of science and contributions from practicing physicists. These books are aimed primarily at researchers and students in the sciences, history of science, and science studies; but they also provide stimulating reading for philosophers, sociologists and a broader public eager to discover how physics research-and the laws of physics themselves-came to be what they are today. All publications in the series are peer reviewed. Titles are published as both printand eBooks.
The period 1895-1913 represents a watershed in the history of modern physics. i Indeed, experimental and theoretical work within the physics community during this time culminated in a new perspective on the structure of matter and the way that physicists viewed the world. ii The existence of a structured subatomic world was confirmed and classical theories were found deficient in fitting the new evidence. New theories were proposed to explain relationships between new phenomena. New models of the atom were constructed and shaped as metaphors for modern perspectives on the subatomic world. Methods, experiments and theories developed during these decades marked the beginning of a shift from classical theories of matter toward quantum mechanics. The new questions, along with the increasing lure of science during that time, helped transform the physics establishment. Scientists worked to contradict media and public reactions associating atomic physics with elixirs, poisons and doomsdays. Throughout the world, the thought of probing the atomic world inspired visions of both hope and fear. Historically, these developments reflected the complex interaction between cultural, economic, intellectual, technological and factors that underlie modern science.
Quantum theory and the electromagnetic world-view
Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences, 2004
ABSTRACT: This paper has two goals: to use the electromagnetic world-view as a means of probing what we now know as the quantum theory, and to use the case of the quantum theory to explicate the practices of the electromagnetic program. It focuses on the work of Arnold Sommerfeld (1868––1951) as one of the leading theorists of the so-called ““older”” quantum theory. By 1911, the year he presented a paper on the ““Quantum of action”” at the Solvay Conference, Sommerfeld vocally espoused the necessity of some form of a quantum hypothesis. In his earlier lectures, however, his reservations about Max Planck's position were far more apparent. Section 1 argues that Sommerfeld's hostility towards Planck's derivation of the Black-body law, and his support for the result achieved by James Jeans and rederived using the electron theory by Lorentz, can be traced to his commitment to the programmatic aims of the electromagnetic world-view. Section 2 suggests that this conclusion has ...
Martin J. Klein: From Physicist to Historian
To his friends, colleagues, and students, Martin Klein was a gentle and modest man of extraordinary integrity whose stellar accomplishments garnered him many honors. I sketch his life and career, in which he transformed himself from a theoretical physicist at Columbia University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Case Institute of Technology into a historian of physics while on leave at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Study and the University of Leiden and then pursued this field full time at Yale University.
Philosophical Problems of Modern Physics — Peter Mittelstaedt 1929–2014
2015
The University of Cologne and the international community of researchers in foundations of physics mourn the loss of Peter Mittelstaedt, who passed away on November 21, 2014, after a short period of illness. Peter Mittelstaedt held a chair in theoretical physics at the University of Cologne from 1965 until his retirement in 1995. In addition to his engagement as a scientist and academic teacher he was elected first as Dean of the Faculty of Science (1968–1969) and then Rector of the University of Cologne (1970–1971). Subsequently he served as Prorector (1971–1973) and Prorector for Research (1991–1994). He was an elected member of l’Académie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences and founding member and president of the International Quantum Structures Association (1994–1996).Peter Mittelstaedt was born in Leipzig on November 24, 1929. In his childhood home he may already have witnessed the spirit of philosophical discourse about the world-picture of modern physics. For Werner Heis ...
arXiv: History and Philosophy of Physics, 2018
The radical changes in the concepts and approach in Physics at the turn of the Nineteenth century were so deep, that is acknowledged as a revolution. However, in 1970 Thomas Kuhn's careful reconstruction of the researches on the black body problem, the concept itself of the revolution seemed to vanish in his diluted discussion of every details. In the present paper, after an examination of the limitations of Kuhn's response to his critics, I put forward the idea, although it is not new, that these changes in Physics cannot be reduced to a point-like event, but happened instead through multiple successive (and even contradictory) changes in the course of decades. Such as the old quantum hypothesis, wave mechanics, orthodox quantum mechanics. In fact, the innovative perspectives started in the 1980s have been considered as a third quantum revolution. My basic argument is that these changes, in order to be really understood, must be interpreted not as mere specific changes in P...
Introduction to Collection "Physics in a Mad World" (an Abridged Version)
This Introduction opens the collection "Physics in A Mad World" devoted to two outstanding physicists whose destinies were deeply intertwined with the tragedies and drama of the times in which they lived. Friedrich (Fritz) Houtermans was the first to understand why stars shine. He endured Stalin's prisons in the Moscow of the late 1930s, then faced the Gestapo in Germany. In the early 1970s, Yuri Golfand was among the discoverers of theoretical supersymmetry, a concept which completely changed mathematical physics in the 21st century. After his discovery, his research institution in Moscow fired him. He knew the humiliations of the Brezhnev regime firsthand, blacklisted and unemployed for the rest of the decade due to his desire to emigrate to Israel. This introduction gives a detailed review of background and supplemental information to the events described in the three main essays authored by V. Frenkel, B. Eskin and B. Bolotovsky who presented captivating stories of the physicists' lives, as told by their friends, colleagues and relatives
Early Years of Quantum Mechanics. Unknown lecture of Rudolf Peierls (1987)
Early Years of Quantum Mechanics by Rudolf Peierls, 1988
Talk given by Rudolf Peierls, one of the pioneers of nuclear physics, in 1987 at a session in Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems in Moscow. This memoir lecture was delivered in Russian and remains unknown in the West. I translated it to English and added a few footnotes where necessary. The original Russian version was published in Kvant, (Moscow), Rannie gody kvantovoj mekhaniki, in Russian, No. 10, 1988.
Remembering Ludwig Dmitrievich Faddeev, Our Lifelong Partner in Mathematical Physics
2018
We briefly recount the long friendship that developed between Ludwig and us (Moshe Flato and I), since we first met at ICM 1966 in Moscow. That friendship extended to his school and family, and persists to this day. Its strong personal impact and main scientific components are sketched, including reflexions on what mathematical physics is (or should be). Since there are, and will certainly be (including in this volume) many accounts of the seminal works of Ludwig Faddeev (23 March 1934 -26 February 2017) and their impact on modern science, especially modern mathematical physics and mathematical physicists, I shall concentrate this short contribution on events, sometimes anecdotical, that are characteristic and not so well known, and on reflexions on mathematical physics. Most involve my friend and coworker for almost 35 years, Moshe Flato (17 September 1937 -27 November 1998). Inevitably, these include also a number of major scientific developments and prominent Russian scientists. Though (at the start) younger than many of the latter, Ludwig quickly rose to their level. Like them (maybe even more than them) he created and developed his own school, a scienfific family, where appeared and flourished a number of leading mathematical physicists, now present in a variety of academic institutions in leading scientific countries. At the level attained, that was possible only in the USSR of that time, and only with a scientist with a vision. Moshe Flato and I first met Ludwig Faddeev at the International Congress of Mathematicians that was held in Moscow (August 16-26, 1966), where the acronym ICM came into wide usage, and later that year when he spent