An excellent work which innovatively combines conceptual clarity with penetrating analysis of relevant theory.

Helge Kragh, Annals of Science

Engineers and scientists from across the board will get a kick out of being able to read about the origins of their everyday toolkits - this is lucid historical reasoning about one of the great accomplishments of modern science. After seeing the author's track the launch of the old quantum theory, I'm looking forward to their account of full-blown quantum mechanics to come in volume 2!

Peter Galison, Harvard University

Clearly written, by highly competent authors, giving full reasoning and calculations for all important developments.

Olivier Darrigol, CNRS, France

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This will be a widely read book and used in many physics and history of physics courses at the undergraduate college-university level. It will be greeted most enthusiastically by scholars and teachers alike.

Roger H. Stuewer, University of Minnesota

Indeed a very important and valuable contribution to the history of quantum mechanics.

Michael Eckert, Deutsches Museum, Muenchen

What seemed a good piece of work at the start is magisterial. This is the book I have been waiting to see for a long time.

Steven N. Shore, University of Pisa

This book will very likely become a new point of reference for everyone working on the history of quantum physics.

Christian Joas, Niels Bohr Archive

This two-volume book is on the genesis of quantum mechanics. The first volume covers the key developments in the period 1900-1923, which provided the scaffold on which the arch of modern quantum mechanics was built. This volume traces the early contributions by Planck, Einstein, and Bohr to the theories of black-body radiation, specific heats, and spectroscopy, all showing the need for drastic changes to the physics of their day. It examines the efforts by Sommerfeld and others to provide a new theory, now known as the old quantum theory. After some striking initial successes (explaining the fine structure of hydrogen, X-ray spectra, and the Stark effect), the old quantum theory ran into serious difficulties (failing to provide consistent models for helium and the Zeeman effect) and eventually gave way to matrix and wave mechanics. The second volume provides detailed analysis of the classic papers by Heisenberg, Born, Jordan, Dirac, De Broglie, Einstein, Schrödinger, von Neumann and other authors. Drawing on the correspondence of these and other physicists, their later reminiscences and the extensive secondary literature on the "quantum revolution," this volume places these papers in the context of the discussions out of which modern quantum mechanics emerged. It argues that the genesis of modern quantum mechanics can be seen as the construction of an arch on a scaffold provided by the old quantum theory, discarded once the arch could support itself.
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This two-volume book is on the genesis of quantum mechanics. This first volume covers the key developments in the field in the period between 1900-1923. The second volume covers the rapid transition from the old to the new quantum theory in the years 1923-1927.
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1: Introduction to Volume One I: Early Developments 2: Planck, the Second Law, and Black-Body Radiation 3: Einstein, Equipartition, Fluctuations, and Quanta 4: The Birth of the Bohr Model II: The Old Quantum Theory 5: Guiding Principles 6: Successes 7: Failures Appendices A: Classical Mechanics B: Spectroscopy Volume II 8: Introduction to Volume 2 III. Transition to the New Quantum Theory 9: The Exclusion Principle and Electron Spin 10: Dispersion Theory in the Old Quantum Theory 11: Heisenberg's Umdeutung paper 12: The Consolidation of Matrix Mechanics 13: De Broglie's Matter Waves and Einstein's Quantum Theory of the Ideal Gas 14: Schrödinger and Wave Mechanics 15: Successes and Failures of the Old Quantum Theory Revisited IV. The Formalism of Quantum Mechanics and Its Statistical Interpretation 16: Statistical Interpretation of Matrix and Wave Mechanics 17: Von Neumann's Hilbert Space Formalism 18: Conclusion: Arch and Scaffold Appendices C: The Mathematics of Quantum Mechanics
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2026 Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics
Michel Janssen studied physics and philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and history and philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned his PhD in 1995. He was an editor at the Einstein Papers Project before joining the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Minnesota as a historian of science in 2000. He has also been a regular visitor at the Max Planck Institute for History of Science in Berlin. His research focuses on the genesis of relativity and quantum theory. Anthony Duncan received his PhD in theoretical elementary particle physics in 1975 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, under the supervision of Steven Weinberg. Following postdoctoral and junior faculty positions at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and Columbia University in New York, he joined the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh in 1981 as Associate Professor of Physics. He has taught a wide range of courses, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, including courses on the history of modern physics. He is now (since 2015) professor emeritus of Physics at the University of Pittsburgh.
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Careful analysis of the early development of quantum mechanics, one of the signature scientific achievements of 20th century A contemporary and comprehensive treatment of the period, providing both selective and reliable coverage and drawing out new insights Includes reconstructions of the derivations of all key results of the physics discussed, making it a suitable textbook for a variety of physics courses Offers new perspectives on classic papers by famed physicists involved in the movement: Planck, Einstein, and Bohr Detailed bibliography of both primary and secondary sources as well as a detailed person and subject index Set of "web resources" (made available on the web page for the book) providing further details on derivations covered in the main text
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780198887034
Publisert
2023
Utgiver
Oxford University Press
Vekt
2900 gr
Høyde
252 mm
Bredde
174 mm
Dybde
71 mm
Aldersnivå
U, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Kombinasjonsprodukt
Antall sider
1136

Biografisk notat

Michel Janssen studied physics and philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and history and philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned his PhD in 1995. He was an editor at the Einstein Papers Project before joining the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Minnesota as a historian of science in 2000. He has also been a regular visitor at the Max Planck Institute for History of Science in Berlin. His research focuses on the genesis of relativity and quantum theory. Anthony Duncan received his PhD in theoretical elementary particle physics in 1975 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, under the supervision of Steven Weinberg. Following postdoctoral and junior faculty positions at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and Columbia University in New York, he joined the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh in 1981 as Associate Professor of Physics. He has taught a wide range of courses, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, including courses on the history of modern physics. He is now (since 2015) professor emeritus of Physics at the University of Pittsburgh.