A record of stardust, quietly accumulating.
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In 1928 Gamow, and independently Gurney and Condon, used quantum mechanics to show that alpha particles leave the nucleus by slipping through a wall they cannot climb. From a 10²¹-fold spread in lifetimes to fusion inside stars, and the old physics still hiding in the word “tunnelling”. Part 2 of the series The Rise of Quantum Mechanics.
Science HistoryIn 1927 Heitler and London used the exchange of electrons to explain, with quantum mechanics, why two hydrogen atoms bond. From Sugiura to James and Coolidge, six years of calculation brought the numbers in line with experiment. Part 1 of the new series The Rise of Quantum Mechanics.
Science HistoryFrom 1924 to 1927: de Broglie's matter waves, Heisenberg's matrix mechanics, Schrödinger's wave equation, Born's probabilities and the uncertainty relation. How quantum mechanics was born by letting go of the electron's path, and what it kept from the old quantum theory. The final part of a five-part series.
Science HistoryIn 1916 Sommerfeld let the electron's path be an ellipse, added relativity, and explained the fine splitting of hydrogen and helium-ion lines. But the helium atom, with two electrons, and the anomalous splitting of lines in a magnetic field would not fit, however the theory was patched. Part 4 of a five-part series on the old quantum theory.
Science HistoryIn 1913 Bohr's model of the atom calculated hydrogen's spectral lines from basic quantities alone, and matched the helium-ion measurements to five significant figures. Yet why it worked was never explained. Part 3 of a five-part series on the old quantum theory.
Science HistoryIn 1905 Einstein argued that light is a collection of energy lumps. The idea was not accepted even after experiment showed the predictions were right — the man who tested them did not believe it either. Part two of a five-part series on the old quantum theory.
Science History