Origins of Quantum Theory

John D. Norton
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
University of Pittsburgh

• In a Nutshell
• Theories of Matter at the End of the Nineteenth Century
• Max Planck and the Problem of Black Body Radiation
  • Heat Radiation
  • Planck's Analysis of 1900
• Albert Einstein and the Light Quantum
  • The Proposal
  • Photoelectric Effect
  • "...very revolutionary"
  • Wave-Particle Duality
• Niels Bohr and Atomic Spectra
  • Atomic Spectra
  • Failure of Rutherford's Nuclear Model
  • Bohr's Theory
• de Broglie and Schroedinger's Matter Waves
  • Matter Waves
  • Discreteness of Atom Electron Energies
• The New Quantum Theory
• What you should know

Background Reading: J. P. McEvoy, Introducing Quantum Theory. Totem. This book covers very similar ground to this chapter, but in greater detail. Read as much as you like!


To continue reading click on the link below:

https://www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/teaching/HPS_0410/chapters/quantum_theory_origins/