Planck, Einstein, Bohr and Einstein again... home

The history of QM Here I have collected and annotated some interesting papers on the historical and conceptual development of quantum mechanics. Clearly, it has some overlap with the "philosophy of..." section. quantum mechanics (general) In "The Conceptual and the Anecdotal History of Quantum Mechanics" from 1996 Mara Beller draws the attention to psychological factors in the development. ".. I didn't reflect much on what I was doing.. How Planck discovered his radiation formula" by Domenico Giulini and Norbert Straumann "Light Quanta and Molecules: A Contribution to the Annus Mirabilis" by Straumann discuses statistical mechanics approach to the development of quantum mechanics. "P.A.M. Dirac and the Discovery of Quantum Mechanics" by Kurt Gottfried from 2003. "Niels Bohr's Discussions with Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, and Erwin Schrödinger: The Origins of the Principles of Uncertainty and Complementarity" by Jagdish Mehra (Found.Phys.17 (1987) 461.) Kragh (1981) on the development of Dirac's theory. Kragh (2004) is a nice piece called "Quantum Interdisciplinarity: Friedrich Hund and Early Quantum Chemistry". The advent of wave mechanics Kragh (2000) reviews the early history of wave mechanics (1926-28). The following three pieces by Mehra (1987) look at the development of wave mechanics. First the "prehistory", then its actual discovery and finally early applications. This piece by Rohrlich (1987) puts a stronger focus on Schrödinger's interpretation of quantum emchanics. Spin For the anecdotal part of the Stern-Gerlach experiment see here. In "History of Spin and Statistics" by A. Martin one learns more about technicalities. Assorted material "On Wolfgang Pauli's most important contributions to physics" by Norbert Straumann. "The Depth and Breadth of John Bell's Physics" by R. Jackiw, A. Shimony.