"Clouds on the horizon": nineteenth-century origins and the old quantum theory -- 1913: the Bohr theory of the hydrogen atom -- Tyranny of data: atomic spectroscopy to 1925 -- After the war: quantum theory adrift; the correspondence princple -- At the creation: the "new quantum theory" -- The origins of wave mechanics -- The end of certainty: uncertainty and indeterminism -- Formalism, part I. Transformation theory -- Formalism, part II. unitarity and Hilbert space -- Intrinisc spin, the exclusion principle, and statistics -- Angular momentum, symmetries, and conservation laws -- Scattering and reaction theory -- Relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum field theory to 1940: the rise of particle physics -- Foundations and philosophy of quantum mechanics: interpretation and the measurement problem -- Nuclear physics: the first three decades -- Quantum theory and the birth of stellar astrophysics -- Atomic and molecular physics -- Condensed matter: solids and quantum liquids -- Epilogue.
Summary:
"This book is a history of the crucial developmental years of quantum theory with an emphasis on the literature rather than an overview of this period focusing on personalities or personal stories of the scientists involved. This book instead focuses on how the theoretical discoveries came about, when and where they were published, and how they became accepted as part of the scientific canon"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.