Einstein and the Quantum

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Einstein and the Quantum Page 36

by Stone, A. Douglas


  247Well, all this must be very similar: Mehra and Rechenberg, HDQT, vol. 1, part 2, p. 586.

  247developed rapidly in the summer: De Broglie, AHQP interview, 25.

  247I got the idea that one had to extend: Mehra and Rechenberg, HDQT, vol. 1, part 2, p. 587.

  248a meta law of Nature: De Broglie, PhD thesis, 8.

  248glides on its wave: Asim O. Barut, Alwyn van der Merwe, and Jean-Pierre Vigier, eds., Quantum Space and Time—the Quest Continues: Studies and Essays in Honour of Louis De Broglie, Paul Dirac and Eugene Wigner (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 18.

  249a very remarkable geometric interpretation: Einstein, “Quantum Theory of the Monatomic Ideal Gas, Part Two,” 99.

  249It looks far-fetched: Abragam, “Louis De Broglie,” 30.

  249read my thesis during the summer: Louis de Broglie, AHQP interview, 7.

  250remarkable mastery … never has so much…. all I can tell you: Abragam, “Louis De Broglie,” 30.

  251I believe that it is more: Einstein, “Quantum Theory of the Monatomic Ideal Gas, Part Two,” 95.

  251this oscillating field: Ibid., 96.

  251The scientific world of the time: Klein, “Wave-Particle Duality.” 38.

  251the paper of de Broglie: Abragam, “Louis De Broglie,” 31.

  252By way of a detour: Klein, “Wave-Particle Duality,” 39.

  252there was no experimental evidence (quoted in footnote): Woolf, ed., Some Strangeness in Proportion, footnote, p. 471.

  253uninspiring: Abragam, “Louis De Broglie,” 37.

  253dry and devoid of passion: Ibid.

  253not of the highest intellectual caliber: Ibid.

  253Yesterday I read: Ibid., 35.

  CHAPTER 27. THE VIENNESE POLYMATH

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  254Physics does not consist: Schrödinger to Wilhelm Wien, 25 August 1926, in Walter Moore, Schrödinger: Life and Thought (Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1989), 226.

  254When you began this work: Schrödinger, Collected Papers on Wave Mechanics, preface, v.

  254I have read your article: Einstein to Schrödinger, 2 April 1926, in Martin Klein, ed., Letters on Wave Mechanics (New York: Philosophical Library, 1967), 3.

  254the idea of your article: Einstein to Schrödinger, 16 April 1926, ibid., 24.

  255In my scientific work: Moore, Schrödinger, 135.

  255devote himself to philosophy (quoted in footnote): Mehra and Rechenberg, HDQT, vol. 5, part 1, p. 225.

  256often been accused of flirtatiousness: Erwin Schrödinger, What is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell with Mind and Matter & Autobiographical Sketches (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958), 167.

  256I must refrain from drawing: Ibid., 184.

  256who did not wish, in consequence (quoted in footnote): Moore, Schrödinger, 272.

  256I have trouble with Dirac (quoted in footnote): Helge S. Kragh, Dirac: A Scientific Biography (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 82.

  257I was a good student: Ibid., 23.

  257only find words of praise: Schrödinger, What is Life? 173.

  257I can’t recall a single instance: Moore, Schrödinger, 23.

  257das ist der Schrödinger … this man … a fiery spirit: Ibid., 46.

  257would translate Homer: Mehra and Rechenberg, HDQT, vol. 5, part 1, p. 67.

  257hours of leisure: Ibid., 68.

  257if it were not for the mathematics: Moore, Schrödinger, 97.

  258I learnt to appreciate: Schrödinger, What is Life? 169.

  258his fearlessness and calmness: Moore, Schrödinger, 93.

  258I was impressed by him: Mehra and Rechenberg, HDQT, vol. 5, part 1, p. 177.

  258I know it would be easier: Moore, Schrödinger, 131.

  259No perception in physics: Schrödinger, What is Life? 168.

  260beautiful work: Schrödinger to Bohr, 7 February 1921, in Mehra and Rechenberg, HDQT, vol. 5, part 1, p. 306.

  260[your paper] interested me very much: Bohr to Schrödinger, 15 June 1921, ibid., 307.

  261originality of [Einstein’s] statistical method: Schrödinger to Einstein, 3 November 1925, in Mehra and Rechenberg, HDQT, vol. 5, part 2, p. 387.

  261in order that two molecules: Mehra and Rechenberg, HDQT, vol. 5, part 1, p. 365.

  261I have read with great interest: Einstein to Schrödinger, 26 September 1925, in Mehra and Rechenberg, HDQT, vol. 5, part 2, p. 397.

  262the basic idea is yours: Schrödinger to Einstein, 3 November 1925, ibid., 398.

  262since you have performed: Einstein to Schrödinger, 14 November 1925, ibid.

  262not even jokingly: Schrödinger to Einstein, 4 December 1925, ibid., 398–399.

  262because of it, section 8: Schrödinger to Einstein, 3 November 1925, ibid., 412.

  262return to wave theory: Schrödinger to Alfred Lande, 16 November 1925, ibid., 418.

  263nothing else but taking seriously: Klein, “Wave-Particle Duality,” 43.

  263Wave mechanics was born: Moore, Schrödinger, 188.

  263I see no basic difference (quoted in footnote): Einstein to Schrödinger, 22 April 1926, in Klein, ed., Letters on Wave Mechanics, 25.

  263did his great work (quoted in footnote): Pais, Inward Bound, 252.

  266in this paper, I wish: Schrödinger, Collected Papers on Wave Mechanics, 1.

  266It is, of course, strongly suggested: Ibid., 9.

  266Above all, I wish to mention: Ibid.

  266My theory was inspired: Ibid., footnote, p. 46.

  267What is more magnificent: Mehra and Rechenberg, HDQT, vol. 5, part 1, p. 1.

  267the most astonishing: Moore, Schrödinger, 2.

  CHAPTER 28. CONFUSION AND THEN UNCERTAINTY

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  268If we are still going to have to: Moore, Schrödinger, 228.

  268I am convinced that you have made a decisive advance: Einstein to Schrödinger, 26 April 1926, in Klein, ed., Letters on Wave Mechanics, 28.

  269appears rather mystifying: Born to Einstein, 15 July 1925, in Born-Einstein Letters, 82.

  269my beloved master: Schilpp, ed., Albert Einstein, 177.

  269I was from the beginning quite crushed: Lindley, Uncertainty, 90.

  269he looked like a simple peasant: Bartel Leendert Van der Waerden, ed., Sources of Quantum Mechanics (Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1967), 19.

  269very quiet and friendly: Lindley, Uncertainty, 90.

  270right now physics is very confused: Ibid., 108.

  271joie de vivre and hope: Ibid., 116.

  271based exclusively on relationships: Ibid., 115.

  271Heisenberg has: Einstein to Ehrenfest, 30 September 1920, Folsing, Albert Einstein, 566.

  271the most interesting thing: Einstein to Besso, 25 December 1925, ibid., 580.

  272Heisenberg’s paper came out: Mehra, “Satyendra Nath Bose,” 141.

  272more and more I tend: Einstein to Ehrenfest, 12 February 1926, in Mehra and Rechenberg, HDQT, vol. 5, part 2, p. 637.

  272made much more of an impression: Interview of Max Born by Archives for the History of Quantum Physics Collection, Niels Bohr Library and Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD, www.aip.org/history/ohilist/LINK, p. 23. (Cited hereinafter as Born, AHQP interview.)

  273not such an infernal machine: Folsing, Albert Einstein, 582.

  273Schrödinger has come out with: Einstein to Besso, Einstein Besso Correspondance, 225.

  273People were packed: Mehra and Rechenberg, HDQT, vol. 5, part 2, p. 636.

  273discouraged, if not repelled: Schrödinger, Collected Papers on Wave Mechanics, footnote, p. 46.

  273what [he] writes about Anschaulichkeit: Heisenberg to Pauli, 8 June 1926, Moore, Schrödinger, 221.

  274thrown out of the room: Moore, Schrödinger, 222.

  274we suddenly found him: Stachel, “Einstein and Bose,” 527.

  275We are all here fascinated: Einstein to Epstein, 10 June 1926, in Folsing, Albert Einstein, 583.

  276I saw Franck counting pa
rticles: Born, AHQP interview, 25.

  276I discussed this with him: Ibid., 26.

  277Here the whole problem of determinism: Pais, Inward Bound, 257.

  277the motion of particles follows: Ibid., 258.

  277acrimonious debate … he believed: Born, AHQP interview, 25.

  277I am entirely satisfied: Born to Einstein, 30 November 1926, Mehra and Rechenberg, HDQT, vol. 6, part 1, p. 243. (This letter is not in the published Born-Einstein correspondence.)

  277Quantum mechanics calls for: Einstein to Born, 1926, in Folsing, Albert Einstein, 585.

  278isn’t that precisely: Stachel, “Einstein and the Quantum,” 388.

  278possibly I did … but it is nonsense. … It is the theory: Ibid.

  278It must have been one evening: Stachel, “Einstein and the Quantum,” 388.

  278A good joke (quoted in footnote): Frank, Einstein, 216.

  CHAPTER 29: NICHT DIESE TÖNE

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  279All the fifty years: Einstein to Besso, 12 December 1951, in Einstein Besso Correspondance, 453.

  279Here I sit: Einstein, “Autobiographical Notes,” 3.

  279only a temporary way out: Ibid., 51.

  280I know this business: Pais, Subtle Is the Lord, 449.

  280I am convinced that this theory: Ibid., 448.

  282Einstein is therefore clearly involved: Schilpp, ed., Albert Einstein, 174.

  283the years of searching: Alice Calaprice, The Quotable Einstein (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), 174.

  283it is my experience: Einstein, “Autobiographical Notes,” 89.

  283obviously not [a] satisfactory solution: Mehra and Rechenberg, HDQT, vol. 1, part 2, p. 547.

  284the other day I was: M. Born to Bohr, 15 January 1925, ibid., 611.

  284to give our revolutionary efforts: N. Bohr to R. Fowler, 21 April 1925, in Mehra and Rechenberg, HDQT, vol. 1, part 2, p. 613.

  284fond … [which] has a great similarity: Pais, Inward Bound, 259.

  285Do you really believe: Pais, Subtle Is the Lord, 5.

  285Physics is an attempt: Einstein, “Autobiographical Notes,” 81.

  285We have become Antipodean: Einstein to Born, 7 September 1944, Born-Einstein Letters, 146.

  285nothingness of the hopes: Einstein, “Autobiographical Notes,” 3.

  285out yonder there was this huge world: Ibid., 5.

  285I believe … that one of the strongest motives: Albert Einstein, “Principles of Research,” in Ideas and Opinions, trans. Sonja Bargmann (New York: Random House, 1954), 225

  REFERENCES

  EINSTEIN’S WRITINGS AND CORRESPONDENCE

  Einstein, Albert. “Autobiographical Notes.” In Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist, pp. 1–94. Edited by P. A. Schilpp. La Salle: Open Court, 1970.

  Einstein, Albert. The Born-Einstein Letters, 1916–1955: Friendship, Politics and Physics in Uncertain Times. Translated by Irene Born. New York: MacMillan, 1971.

  Einstein, Albert. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Translated by Anna Beck and consultation by Don Howard. 12 vols. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987–2009. References are to the English translations unless otherwise noted.

  Einstein, Albert. Einstein Besso Correspondance, 1903–1955. Translated into French by Pierre Speziali. Paris: Hermann, 1972. English translations in the text by the author.

  Einstein, Albert. Ideas and Opinions. Translated by Sonja Bargmann. New York: Random House, 1954.

  BIOGRAPHICAL WORKS ON EINSTEIN

  Bernstein, Jeremy. Albert Einstein. Edited by Frank Kermode. New York: Penguin Books, 1973.

  Calaprice, Alice. The Quotable Einstein. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.

  D’Amour, Thibault. Once Upon Einstein. Translated by Eric Novak. Wellesley: A. K. Peters, 2006.

  Dukas, Helen, and Banesh Hoffman, eds. Albert Einstein: The Human Side. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979.

  Folsing, Albrecht. Albert Einstein: A Biography. Translated and abridged by Ewald Osers. New York: Penguin Press, 1998.

  Frank, Phillip. Einstein: His Life and Times. Translated by George Rosen and edited by Schuichi Kusaka. New York: Da Capo Press, 1947.

  French, A. P., ed. Einstein: A Centenary Volume. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979.

  Hentschel, Ann M., and Gerd Grasshoff. Albert Einstein: Those Happy Bernese Years. Bern: Staempfli, 2005.

  Highfield, Roger, and Paul Carter. The Private Lives of Albert Einstein. London: Faber & Faber, 1993.

  Hoffmann, Banesh, with the collaboration of Helen Dukas. Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel. New York: Viking Press, 1972.

  Isaacson, Walter. Einstein: His Life and Universe. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.

  Levenson, Thomas. Einstein in Berlin. New York: Bantam Books, 2003.

  Moszkowski, Alexander. Conversations with Einstein. Translated by Henry L. Brose. New York: Horizon Press, 1970.

  Neffe, Jurgen. Einstein: A Biography. Translated by Shelley Frisch. New York: Farrar Strauss Giroux, 2007.

  Pais, Abraham. Einstein Lived Here. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

  Pais, Abraham. Subtle Is the Lord. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

  Schilpp, P. A., ed., Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist. La Salle: Open Court, 1970.

  Seelig, Carl. Albert Einstein: A Documentary Biography. Translated by Mervyn Savill. London: Staples Press, 1956.

  Woolf, Harry, ed. Some Strangeness in Proportion: Einstein Centennial. Reading: Addison-Wesley, 1980.

  EINSTEIN AND QUANTUM THEORY

  Bolles, Edmund Blair. Einstein Defiant: Genius versus Genius in the Quantum Revolution. Washington, DC: John Henry Press, 2005.

  Klein, Martin J. “Einstein and Wave-Particle Duality.” The Natural Philosopher, vol. 3, 1964, pp. 1–49.

  Stachel, John. “Einstein and the Quantum” and “Bose and Einstein.” In Einstein from B to Z, vol. 9, pp. 367–444. Edited by Don Howard. Boston: Birkhauser, 2002.

  QUANTUM THEORY AND QUANTUM MECHANICS

  Haar, D. Ter. The Old Quantum Theory. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1967.

  Hermann, Armin. The Genesis of Quantum Theory (1899–1913). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1971.

  Kuhn, Thomas S. Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity, 1894–1912. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978.

  Lindley, David. Uncertainty: Einstein, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science. New York: Doubleday, 2007.

  Mehra, Jagdish, and Helmut Rechenberg. The Historical Development of Quantum Theory, vols. 1–5. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1982–1987.

  Pais, Abraham. Inward Bound: Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World. New York: Clarendon Press, 1986.

  Van der Waerden, Bartel Leendert, ed. Sources of Quantum Mechanics. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1967.

  Wheaton, B. R. The Tiger and the Shark: Empirical Roots of Wave-Particle Dualism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

  BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL ON OTHER SCIENTISTS

  Abragam, A. “Louis De Broglie.” Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, vol. 34, 1988, pp. 22–41.

  AHQP Interviews of Louis De Broglie, by T. S. Kuhn, A. George, and T. Kahan, on January 7 and 14, 1963. Archives for the History of Quantum Physics Collection, Niels Bohr Library and Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD, www.aip.org/history/ohilist/LINK.

  AHQP Interview of Max Born, by T. S. Kuhn and F. Hund on October 17, 1962. Archives for the History of Quantum Physics Collection, Niels Bohr Library and Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD, www.aip.org/history/ohilist/LINK.

  Barkan, Diana Kormos. Walther Nernst and the Transition to Modern Physical Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

  Barut, Asim O., Alwyn van der Merwe, and Jean-Pierre Vigier, eds. Quantum Space and Time—the Quest Continues: Studies and Essays in Honour of Louis De Broglie, Paul Dirac and Eugene Wigner. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

  Blanpied, W. “Satyen
dranath Bose: Co-founder of Quantum Statistics.” American Journal of Physics, September 1972, pp. 1212–1220.

  Coffey, Patrick. Cathedrals of Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

  Crawford, Elisabeth. “Arrhenius, the Atomic Hypothesis, and the 1908 Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry.” Isis, vol. 75, 1984, pp. 503–22.

  Cropper, William. Great Physicists: The Life and Times of Leading Physicists from Galileo to Hawking. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

  Crowther, James Gerald. Scientific Types. New York: Dufour, 1970.

  Duck, Ian, and E.C.G. Sudarshan, eds. 100 Years of Planck’s Quantum. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 2000.

  Heilbron, J. L. Dilemmas of an Upright Man: Max Planck as Spokesman for German Science. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.

  Heisenberg, Werner. Encounters with Einstein: And Other Essays on People, Places, and Particles. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989.

  Heisenberg, Werner. Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science. World Perspectives, vol. 19. Edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958.

  Klein, Martin J., ed. Letters on Wave Mechanics. New York: Philosophical Library, 1967.

  Klein, Martin J. Paul Ehrenfest: The Making of a Theoretical Physicist, vol. 1. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1970.

  Lorentz, H. A. Impressions of His Life and Work. Edited by G. L. de Haas-Lorentz. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1957.

  Kragh, Helge S., Dirac: A Scientific Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

  Marage, Pierre, and Grégoire Wallenborn, eds. The Solvay Councils and the Birth of Modern Physics. Science Networks, vol. 22. Basel: Birkauser Verlag, 1999.

  Maxwell, J. C. The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, vol. 2. Edited by W. D. Niven. Dover, NY: Dover Publications, 1965.

  Maxwell, James Clerk. “Molecules.” Nature, September 1873, pp. 437–441, Victorian Web, http://www.victorianweb.org/science/maxwell/molecules.html, accessed July 20, 2008.

  Mehra, Jagdish. “Satyendra Nath Bose.” Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, vol. 21, 1975, pp. 117–154.

  Mendelssohn, K. The World of Walther Nernst: The Rise and Fall of German Science, 1864–1941. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973.

 

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