Jagdish Mehra
Helmut Rechenberg
The Historical Development
of
Quantum Theory
VOLUME 5
Erwin Schrodinger and the Rise of Wave Mechanics
Parti
Schrodinger in Vienna and Zurich
1887-1925
Springer-Verlag
New York Berlin Heidelberg
London Paris Tokyo
Contents—Part 1
Foreword
xiii
Acknowledgments
General Introduction
From the Bohr-Sommerfeld Theory to Quantum Mechanics
The Gottingen Matrix Mechanics and Its Extensions
Status of Quantum Mechanics in Early 1926
Schrodinger's Work in Physics Prior to 1926
Schrodinger's Personality and Method of Work
Schrodinger and Wave Mechanics
Contents of this Volume
Chapter I
Schrodinger in Vienna (1887-1920)
Introduction
1.1 The Viennese Background
An Apergu of Austrian and Viennese History
The Viennese Culture
Austrian Science up to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century
The Foundation of Physics in Vienna
Pioneers in Medicine and Psychoanalysis, Biology and Physiology
Physiology, Physics and Cognition: Ernst Mach
A Giant in Theoretical Physics: Ludwig Boltzmann
Do Atoms Really Exist: Boltzmann or Mach?
1.2
1.3
xvu
1
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
11
11
13
13
17
23
29
34
40
49
57
The Young Erwin Schrodinger, His Youth a n d Study at the
University of Vienna
Schrodinger's Family and School Education
Student at the University of Vienna
Franz Exner and His School
Fritz Hasenohrl and Theoretical Physics
Felix Ehrenhaft and Other Viennese Experimentalists: The Search for
Subelectrons
Two Pioneers of Radioactivity: Stefan Meyer and Egon von Schweidler
The Institut fur Radiumforschung in Vienna
Relativity and Quantum Theory in Vienna
Schrodinger as a Graduate Student
81
87
92
95
104
The Early Scientific Work of Erwin Schrodinger
Assistant at the //. Physikalisches Institut
Schrodinger's Paper on the Kinetic Theory of Magnetism
109
109
111
64
65
68
74
77
viii
1.4
1.5
-
Contents—Part 1
Ambitious Speculations on the Kinetics of Dielectric Substances and
on the Theory of Solids
The Review Article on Dielectrics and a Paper on Anomalous Dispersion
Research on Atmospheric Electricity in Vienna
The Penetrating Radiation and a Paper of Schrodinger
The Hasenohrl School
Schrodinger and the Atomic Structure of Solids
Lattice Dynamics and a Proof of the Atomic Structure of Solids
F r o m Brilliant Pre-War to Dark War Days
The Discovery of Cosmic Radiation {Hohenstrahlung)
The 85th Versammlung Deutscher Naturforscher und Ante
Einstein's Talk at Vienna and Its Consequences
Schrodinger as Privatdozent
World War I and the Physicists
Artillery Officer Erwin Schrodinger
Heavy Losses
The Later War Years
l
152
156
157
162
168
173
177
182
185
189
Schrodinger's Scientific Work in World War I
An Analysis of Smoluchowski's Work on Fluctuations
On the Evaluation of Statistical Data
The Ultimate Proof of Schweidler's Fluctations
Schrodinger and Quantum Statistical Theory in Vienna
Problems and Ideas Connected with General Relativity
Physics and Philosophy
Atomic and Quantum Theory
194
194
200
205
212
216
223
225
Chapter II
Waves and Quanta: Preludes to Wave Mechanics
Introduction
11.1 The Dual Nature of Light
The Origin of the Classical Concepts of Particles and Waves
X- and -y-Rays
Bragg's Corpuscular-Pair Theory of -y-Rays
Heat Radiation and Its Description (1777-1900)
The Hypothesis of Light-Quanta (1905-1909)
Proof of the Light-Quantum (1916-1922)
11.2
11.3
The Side-Stages of the Development in Q u a n t u m Theory
Early Centres of Quantum Theory: Berlin, Berne, Copenhagen, Munich
Post-World War Centres and the Sommerfeld School
Side-Stages: Breslau and Vienna
Adolf Smekal and Quantum Theory in Vienna (1919-1923)
The Physikalische Berichte and the Encyklopadie Article; Start of
Otto Halpern
Paris and Modern Physics from 1900
~
Quantum Theory in Post-War Paris: Dauvillier, L. Brillouin and
L. de Broglie
.
A Newcomer to Zurich: Erwin Schrodinger
The Zurich Background: History of the City, University and E.T.H.
Mathematics and Physics at the E.T.H. (1855-1900)
113
118
121
127
133
14
229
229
231
231
234
235
239
241
244
246
246
248
250
255
260
265
268
273
273
276
Contents—Part 1
11.4
11.5
ix
Einstein, Debye and von Laue at the University of Zurich (1909-1914)
Physics in Zurich until 1920: Greinacher, Meyer, Bar, Ratnowsky, Wolfke
Environment after World War I: Weyl, Debye, Scherrer, Schrodinger
Development of Colour Theory from Newton to Schrodinger
Colour Metric
Causality and Chance: The Nature of Physical Laws
279
284
288
292
297
301
Atomic Structure and Physiological Optics: General Research
Programme of Schrodinger in Zurich (1922-1925)
Getting into the Theory of Atomic Structure
Schrodinger's First 'Student': Erwin Fues
A Letter from Fritz London Concerning an Extension of Weyl's Theory
A Notable Property of Quantum Orbits
Light-Quantum, Doppler Effect and Compton Effect
Statistical Energy and Momentum Conservation
Scientific Exchange with Sommerfeld
Work on Colour Vision
Last Papers on Colour Theory
Problems and Extensions of Statistical Mechanics
Isotopes and Gibbs' Paradox
Extension of the Theory of the Specific Heats of Solids
Thermal Equilibrium Between Light and Acoustic Rays
Outlines of a Book on 'Molecular Statistics' and Related Unpublished Notes
Handbook Article on Specific Heats and a Scattered Publication
Specific Heat of the Hydrogen Molecule
The Problem of Gas Degeneracy
Planck's Problematic Division by N!
Towards a New Statistics?
304
305
310
312
315
319
323
326
331
334
338
339
341
344
348
351
354
357
361
363