Traditions and Transformations in the History of Quantum Physics

Third International Conference on the History of Quantum Physics, Berlin, June 28 – July 2, 2010

Contributors

Introduction

From Classical to Quantum Physics

1 Theoretical Challenges by Experimental Physics:
Radiation and Its Interaction with Matter
Shaul Katzir

2 Challenging the Boundaries between Classical and
Quantum Physics: The Case of Optical Dispersion
Marta Jordi Taltavull

3 Putting the Quantum to Work: Otto Sackur’s Pioneering
Exploits in the Quantum Theory of Gases
Massimiliano Badino, Bretislav Friedrich

Quantum Mechanics in the Making

4 The Concepts of Light Atoms and Light Molecules and
Their Final Interpretation
Dieter Fick, Horst Kant

5 Early Interactions of Quantum Statistics and
Quantum Mechanics
Daniela Monaldi

6 Pourparlers for Amalgamation: Some Early Sources of
Quantum Gravity Research
Dean Rickles

Extending the Framework of Quantum Physics

7 Superposing Dynamos and Electrons: Electrical Engineering and Quantum Physics in the Case of Nishina Yoshio
Kenji Ito

8 The Origins of Maria Göppert’s Dissertation on
Two-Photon Quantum Transitions at Göttingen’s
Institutes of Physics 1920-1933
Barry R. Masters

9 An Act of Creation: The Meitner-Frisch Interpretation
of Nuclear Fission
Roger H. Stuewer

The Challenges of Quantum Field Theory

10 Tsung-Sui Chang’s Contribution to the Quantization
of Constrained Hamiltonian Systems
Xiaodong Yin, Zhongyuan Zhu, Donald C. Salisbury

11 Feynman’s Struggle and Dyson’s Surprise: The Development and Early Application of a New Means of Representation
Adrian Wüthrich

Traditions and Debates in Recent Quantum Physics

12 Orthodoxies on the Interpretation of Quantum Theory:
The Case of the Consistent History Approach
Olival Freire

13 From Do-it-yourself Quantum Mechanics to Nanotechnology? The History of Experimental Semiconductor Physics,
1970–2000
Christian Kehrt