Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Niels Bohr's atomic theory of 1913 is one of the absolute highlights in the history of modern science. It was only with this work that physicists realized that quantum theory is an essential ingredient in atomic physics, and it was also only with this work that Rutherford's nuclear model dating from 1911 was transformed into a proper theory of atomic structure. In a longer perspective, Bohr's quantum atom of 1913 gave rise to the later Heisenberg-Schrödinger quantum mechanics and all its marvellous consequences. This book is a detailed account of the origin of the Bohr atom centred around his original scientific articles of 1913 which are here reproduced and provided with the necessary historical background. In addition to the so-called trilogy - the three papers published in Philosophical Magazine - also two other and less well-known yet important papers are included. The present work starts with a condensed biographical account of Bohr's life and scientific career, from his birth in Copenhagen in 1885 to his death in the same city 77 years later. It then proceeds with a chapter outlining earlier ideas of atomic structure and tracing Bohr's route from his doctoral dissertation in 1911 over his stays in Cambridge and Manchester to the submission in April 1913 of the first part of the trilogy. The reproduction of Bohr's five articles is followed by notes and comments directly related to the texts, with the aim of clarifying some of the textual passages and to explicate names and subjects that may not be clear or well known. The reception of Bohr's radically new theory by contemporary physicists and chemists is discussed in a final chapter, which deals with the immediate reactions to Bohr's theory 1913-1915 mostly among British, German and American scientists. Historians of science have long been occupied with Bohr's atomic theory, which was the subject of careful studies in connection with its centenary in 2013. The present work offers an extensive source-based account of the original theory aimed at a non-specialist audience with an interest in the history of physics and the origin of the quantum world. In 1922 Bohr was awarded the Nobel Prize for his theory. The coming centenary will undoubtedly cause an increased interest in how he arrived at his revolutionary picture of the constitution of atoms and molecules.

Pure sciences. Natural sciences (general) --- wetenschapsgeschiedenis --- Physicists --- Quantum theory --- Teoria quàntica --- Història --- Físics --- History. --- Bohr, Niels, --- Dinamarca

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Quantum mechanics, discovered by Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger in 1925-1926, is famous for its radical implications for our conception of physics and for our view of human knowledge in general. While these implications have been seen as scientifically productive and intellectually liberating to some, Niels Bohr and Heisenberg, among them, they have been troublesome to many others, including Schrödinger and, most famously, Albert Einstein. The situation led to the intense debate that started in the wake of its discovery and has continued into our own time, with no end appearing to be in sight. Epistemology and Probability aims to contribute to our understanding of quantum mechanics and of the reasons for its extraordinary impact by reconsidering, under the rubric of "nonclassical epistemology," the nature of epistemology and probability, and their relationships in quantum theory. The book brings together the thought of the three figures most responsible for the rise of quantum mechanics Heisenberg and Schrödinger, on the physical side, and Bohr, on the philosophical side in order to develop a deeper sense of the physical, mathematical, and philosophical workings of quantum-theoretical thinking. Reciprocally, giving a special emphasis on probability and specifically to the Bayesian concept of probability allows the book to gain new insights into the thought of these figures. The book reconsiders, from this perspective, the Bohr-Einstein debate on the epistemology of quantum physics and, in particular, offers a new treatment of the famous experiment of Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR), and of the Bohr-Einstein exchange concerning the subject. It also addresses the relevant aspects of quantum information theory and considers the implications of its epistemological argument for higher-level quantum theories, such as quantum field theory and string and brane theories. One of the main contributions of the book is its analysis of the role of mathematics in quantum theory and in the thinking of Bohr, Heisenberg, and Schrödinger, in particular an examination of the new (vis-à-vis classical physics and relativity) type of the relationships between mathematics and physics introduced by Heisenberg in the course of his discovery of quantum mechanics. Although Epistemology and Probability is aimed at physicists, philosophers and historians of science, and graduate and advanced undergraduate students in these fields, it is also written with a broader audience in mind and is accessible to readers unfamiliar with the higher-level mathematics used in quantum theory.

Theory of knowledge --- Philosophy of science --- Operational research. Game theory --- Probability theory --- Quantum mechanics. Quantumfield theory --- Elementary particles --- elementaire deeltjes --- quantumfysica --- waarschijnlijkheidstheorie --- stochastische analyse --- kwantumleer --- wetenschapsfilosofie --- kennisleer --- fysica --- kansrekening --- Causality (Physics) --- Complementarity (Physics) --- Heisenberg uncertainty principle --- Knowledge, Theory of --- Physics --- Quantum theory --- Schrödinger equation --- Wave-particle duality --- Philosophy --- History --- Mathematics --- Bohr, Niels, --- Heisenberg, Werner --- Schrödinger, Erwin,