Wave Mechanics

Eckert, Michael

doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-7461-6_9

Michael Eckert²

1180 Accesses

Abstract

In retrospect it seems as though following World War I quantum physics intensified critically and in a revolutionary act in the mid 1920s freed itself from the many contradictions of the old quantum theory. The breakthrough is identified with “matrix mechanics,” sketched out in the summer of 1925 in a solitary stroke of genius by Werner Heisenberg, and then established on a solid foundation by the “triumvirate” of Heisenberg, Pascual Jordan (1902–1980), and Max Born. Early in 1926, the old quantum theory was independently revolutionized in an entirely different fashion by Erwin Schrödinger with “wave mechanics,” and shortly, the equivalence of matrix and wave mechanics was recognized. Since then, physicists have referred to the core of this new physics succinctly as “quantum mechanics.”

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Notes

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Michael Eckert

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Eckert, M. (2013). Wave Mechanics. In: Arnold Sommerfeld. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7461-6_9

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7461-6_9
Published: 24 May 2013
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
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