The Copenhagen Network: The Birth of Quantum Mechanics from a Postdoctoral Perspective

129 Pages·2020·2.319 MB·English

by  Alexei Kojevnikov

SPRINGER BRIEFS IN HISTORY OF SCIENCE
AND TECHNOLOGY
Alexei Kojevnikov
The Copenhagen
Network
The Birth of Quantum
Mechanics from a
Postdoctoral
Perspective
SpringerBriefs in History of Science
and Technology
Series Editors
Gerard Alberts, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Theodore Arabatzis, University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Bretislav Friedrich, Fritz Haber Institut der Max Planck Gesellschaft, Berlin,
Germany
Ulf Hashagen, Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany
DieterHoffmann,Max-Planck-InstitutefortheHistoryofScience,Berlin,Germany
Simon Mitton, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
David Pantalony, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Matteo Valleriani, Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science, Berlin,
Germany
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10085
Alexei Kojevnikov
The Copenhagen Network
The Birth of Quantum Mechanics
from a Postdoctoral Perspective
123
AlexeiKojevnikov
Department ofHistory
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC,Canada
ISSN 2211-4564 ISSN 2211-4572 (electronic)
SpringerBriefs inHistory ofScience andTechnology
ISBN978-3-030-59187-8 ISBN978-3-030-59188-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59188-5
©TheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicensetoSpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2020
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsaresolelyandexclusivelylicensedbythePublisher,whether
thewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseof
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
transmissionorinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilar
ordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfrom
therelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained
hereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.Thepublisherremainsneutralwithregard
tojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations.
ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG
Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland
In memory of my teacher,
Igor Serafimovich Alekseev (1935–1988),
philosopher and Marxist interpreter of
Bohr’s complementarity
Acknowledgements
ThisprojectwassupportedbytheMax-Planck-InstitutfürWissenschaftsgeschichte,
Berlin,andbytheSSHRCgrant410-2011-0936.Iwishtothankallmembersofthe
quantum history group at the institute, in particular Jürgen Renn, Giuseppe
Castagnetti,HubertGoenner,DieterHoffmann,EdwardJurkowitz,HorstKant,and
Arne Schirrmacher, for many productive discussions. My special gratitude goes to
FinnAaserud,ChristianJoas,FelicityPors,andthestaffoftheNielsBohrArchive
in Copenhagen for their hospitality and invaluable advice. For further comments
andsuggestions,IamthankfultoRichardBeyler,CathrynCarson,OlivierDarrigol,
Paul Forman, Olival Freire Jr., John L. Heilbron, Anja Skaar Jacobsen, Diana
Kormos Barkan, Helge Kragh, Dorinda Outram, Ted Porter, Helmut Rechenberg,
Eric Scerri, Skuli Sigurdsson, and participants at the colloquia at Deutsches
Museum, Munich; Institute for History of Science and Technology, Moscow;
Harvard University; University of California Los Angeles; and Universidade
Federal da Bahia. I am grateful to Lindy Divarci and Stefanie Ickert for editorial
assistance. An earlier version of Chap. 6 was published in (Kojevnikov 2011).
vii
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 KnabenPhysik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 “Mecca of Theoretical Physics”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2 Scandinavian Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1 Experiment Under Theory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2 New Blood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3 Meanings of Internationalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3 International Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.1 The Manchester Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.2 First German Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.3 New Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.4 The Value of Neutrality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4 A “Kuhnian” Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.1 The Field in Disarray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4.2 American Voyage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.3 The Copenhagen Putsch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5 Revolt of the Postdoc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.1 Marginal Intruders and the Light Quantum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.2 Inflation and Quasi-Free Postdocs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
5.3 Werner Heisenberg’s Wanderjahre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.4 Quantum Mechanics Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6 Philosophical Wrangling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6.1 The Problem with Quantum Philosophy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6.2 Matrix Mechanics (Fall 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
6.3 Wave Mechanics (Spring 1926). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
6.4 Quantum Mechanics (Fall 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
ix
x Contents
6.5 Philosophies of Compromise (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6.6 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
7 Conclusions: The Precarious Copenhagen Network
and the Forman Thesis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Appendix A. Visitors at Bohr’s Institute in Copenhagen
(Chronological Order, up to 1927)... .... .... ..... .... 107
AppendixB.InformationConcerningFellowshipsinScienceAwarded
by the International Education Board (1925) .. ..... .... 111
Appendix C. IEB: Excerpts from Applications and Correspondence
Regarding Individual Fellows... .... .... .... ..... .... 113
References.... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 117
Index .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 123
Abbreviations and Archives
AHQP Archive for the History of Quantum Physics, APS and many other
depositories
AP Annalen der Physik
APS American Philosophical Society Library, Philadelphia
BCW Bohr Collected Works (Bohr 1972–2008)
BGC Bohr General Correspondence, NBA
BKS Bohr–Kramers–Slater theory
BSC Bohr Scientific Correspondence, NBA
DM Deutsches Museum Archive, Munich
ETH ETH Library, Zurich
HDQT The Historical Development of Quantum Theory (Mehra and
Rechenberg 1982–2001)
HSP(B)S Historical Studies in the Physical (and Biological) Sciences
IEB International Education Board
IMN Intellectual Mastery of Nature (Jungnickel and McCormmach 1986)
NBA Niels Bohr Archive, Copenhagen
NW Die Naturwissenschaften
PWB Pauli Wissenschaftlicher Briefwechsel (Pauli 1979)
PZ Physikalische Zeitschrift
RAC Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, NY
SWB SommerfeldWissenschaftlicherBriefwechsel(Sommerfeld2000–2004)
ZP Zeitschrift für Physik
Unless otherwise stated, cited archival documents and letters are microfilm copies
from AHQP; Bohr’s correspondence from BSC.
xi