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The Golden Age of Quantum Physics
- seaman1921 5y agoWas hoping to find Feynman in there :)
- auntienomen 5y agoFeynman was Silver Age of quantum physics. Dirac was already middle aged when they met.
- billfruit 5y agoWhat about Von Neumann? How do his contributions to Quantum Mechanics weigh up in terms of the development of the field.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- kgwgk 5y agoHe was 23 years old at the time. (But he was already doing important work on QM, like the introduction of the density matrix earlier that year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_Foundations_of_Quantum_Mechanics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_Foundations_of_Qu... would be published five years later.)
- throwaway81523 5y agovon Neumann gave a mathematically rigorous treatment of QM, synthesizing the work by physicists that had previously gotten a confused reaction from mathematicians. In that way he explained QM and also made a mathematical platform for others to build on. It was absolutely brilliant work. But I think he didn't exactly advance QM. He took the physics version that made mathematicians say wtf, and created a mathematician version that made physicists say wtf. I think physicists mostly used Dirac's book "The Principles of QM" (1930), which went through 5 or 6 later editions and may still be in print.
- sam-2727 5y agoHah! For a second, I thought from the HN title that this was written in 1927.
- dang 5y agoThanks - I've taken it out of the title now.
- auntienomen 5y agoThe video at the bottom -- taken at the conference by Langmuir -- is remarkable.
- vardhanw 5y agoIs there a good book which covers the historical development of quantum theory (in the 1900-1930's period) along-with the in depth technical exposition? Reading either independently does not provide the kind of engagement which can be provided with a combined exposition.
- privatdozent 5y agoCheck out Purrington (2018), «The Heroic Age»
- srathi 5y agoQuantum by Manjit Kumar is my favorite. It is a novel like walkthrough of quantum development over the years.
- leopd 5y ago"Thirty Years that Shook Physics", by George Gamow, fits the bill pretty well.
- edge17 5y agoI'm a fan of biographies. The first half of Walter Isaacson's Einstein biography fits this. Helped me appreciate how unobvious certain things were prior to discovery.
- grilledcheez 5y agoWas going to recommend this too, one of the few biographies I have read cover to cover.
- sparrigan 5y agoYou absolutely want this, relatively obscure, book: https://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Interpretation-Quantum-Mechanics-Critical-Historical/dp/9810240392 https://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Interpretation-Quantum-Me... There are some translation/copy-writing issues but don't let that put you off. It has a solid coverage of quantization of Hamiltonian mechanics in both matrix mechanics and wave mechanics, and then the unification of the two - all following the historical narrative.
- drumhead 5y agoDo younger physicists still come up with revolutionary discoveries in physics anymore. Most of the recent Nobel prizewinners have been in their 40's or older.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- leephillips 5y agoEinstein was about 41 when he got the Prize. Usually it’s awarded many years after the work that it’s awarded for. And most of the Prizes were not for “revolutionary discoveries”, just important work.
- tobmlt 5y agoFrom the title, I thought it was going to be an article about the present day. Sort of a “surprise! -it’s right now” kind of feel, and then talk about the second quantum revolution etc etc.
- hackernj 5y agoLove that Curie is in the photo!