Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-21T01:25:12.406Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - The Heisenberg breakthrough

from Part III - The Discovery of Quantum Mechanics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2013

Malcolm Longair
Malcolm Longair
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

Heisenberg in Göttingen, Copenhagen and Helgoland

Werner Heisenberg studied under Sommerfeld in Munich and was present at the Bohr Festspiele held in Göttingen in 1922 (Sect. 8.2). Although aged only 20, he challenged Bohr's support of Kramers' analysis of the quadratic Stark effect, having studied the paper in detail for Sommerfeld's seminar in Munich. The result was a long walk with Bohr during which they discussed this topic and the more general problems of quantum physics. This encounter made a strong impression on Heisenberg. Much later Heisenberg stated:

‘That discussion, which took us back and forth over Hainberg's wooded heights, was the first thorough discussion I can remember on the fundamental physical and philosophical problems of modern atomic theory, and it has certainly had a decisive influence on my later career. For the first time, I understood that Bohr's view of his theory was much more sceptical than that of many other physicists – for example, Sommerfeld – at that time, and that his insight into the structure of the theory was not a result of mathematical analysis of the basic assumptions, but rather of an intense occupation with the actual phenomena, such that it was possible for him to sense the relationships intuitively rather than derive them formally.’

Heisenberg spent the winter of 1922–1923 working in Göttingen as Born's assistant. The astronomers had made great progress in the use of perturbations techniques within the action–angle formulation of classical dynamics to study the gravitational perturbations of planetary orbits.

Type
Chapter
Information
Quantum Concepts in Physics
An Alternative Approach to the Understanding of Quantum Mechanics
 , pp. 203 - 223
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×