Abstract
Traditional accounts of the history of quantum mechanics often relate events to a few leading figures and their schools, viz. the Sommerfeld school, the Born school and the Bohr school. As suggestive as this picture may be, it tends to oversimplify the more complex state of affairs, in particular when one claims that there was, more generally, a “Göttingen school” or a “Copenhagen school,” since the approach only places the case of Munich in the proper school framework. In Copenhagen, we find something more like a postgraduate institute, as the activities of Bohr’s institute depended heavily on constantly changing combinations of postdocs.
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- 1.
See Kojevnikov (forthcoming).
- 2.
A declaration of independence from his teacher is apparent from an incident in 1916 when Debye angered Sommerfeld by publishing in his domain (Eckert 2013, 52f.).
- 3.
Planck withdrew the invitation to Born after Laue had claimed his interest and priority with respect to the Berlin position; however, as Born ultimately failed to convince the ministry of this rather informal bargaining, he was not able to finish his first lecture course—not only were his students called to the front, he himself decided to serve his country before the term had ended (Born 1975, 164).
- 4.
For the context of Born’s group in World War I and the relation of war science and basic research cf. Schirrmacher (2009, 168–172).
- 5.
Voigt, however, had dismissed his work on the atomism of solids, cf. Sommerfeld to Wien, 1 June 1916 DMA Sommerfeld papers 10.
- 6.
Whether Otto Stern also joined the group late in the war remains unclear. This is claimed in Segre (1973, 219), but there is no mention by Born, who remembers first becoming acquainted with Stern in Frankfurt after the war. Cf. for others like Born’s student Heinrich Herkner, for whom the order became effective after it was too late (Born 1918b, 1978, 190).
- 7.
Among these were Max Wertheimer and Erich Hornbostel, who worked on the psychology of listening (Hornbostel and Wertheimer 1920; cf. also Hoffmann 1994).
- 8.
This point was also stressed by Sommerfeld (1915, 669f.) , who was pointing out Hilbert’s influence to the readers of his review. “Der Verf. hat sich mit den mathematischen Gedanken erfüllt, die Hilbert in der Theorie der Integralgleichungen [...] geschaffen und in seiner Darstellung der Gastheorie zur Anwendung gebracht hat. Die beobachtbaren Gesetze erscheinen hier als die Bedingungen dafür, daß die Gleichungen für die Molekularvorgänge mit ihrer ungeheuren Zahl von Unbekannten auflösbar sind. Es ist dem Verf. gelungen, diese Methode auf die Gittertheorie zu übertragen. In diesem Sinne bildet die Widmung des Buches an David Hilbert einen sinnvollen Schmuck der Theorie.”
- 9.
Madelung (1918), Born and Landé (1918c), Born and Landé (1918a), Born (1978, 183).
- 10.
It should be stressed that the work on sound ranging did go on at the same time, as it also posed many challenges. The historical scholarship here is still not sufficient and the historian faces the problem that most (German) scientists did not report on their military efforts in the same detail as they did on scientific work. Cf. Schirrmacher (2009, 2016).
- 11.
Strictly speaking, Sommerfeld’s extension of the Bohr model had already given rise to the expectation that for many-electron atoms “space quantization” would require the now elliptic orbits to lie in different planes, cf. Eckert (2013, 33).
- 12.
Born to Hilbert, 14 November 1918, Hilbert Papers, folder 40A, Nr. 18.
- 13.
From Landé’s many publications on the cubic atom cf. e.g. Landé (1920). For Landé’s situation in Frankfurt and the context of his work on the Zeeman effect, see the detailed account by Forman (1970a), esp. p. 165, where Forman explains his change of topic as “a response to the exigencies of German academic careers.” On Born’s advice to pursue a research field with some distance to Born’s work, cp. Born to Landé, 27 January 1919, SPKB Landé papers, box 1, folder 5. “[...]; nachdem Sie so lange mein wissenschaftlicher Compagnon waren, empfiehlt es sich, daß Ihre Habilitationsschrift deutlich und sichtbar ohne meine Mitwirkung entsteht.”
- 14.
30 November 1917 and 28 June 1918.
- 15.
Laue to Curator, 10 December 1918, UA-Fra Main personnel file Born, p. 1–3.
- 16.
Ibid.
- 17.
Born to Landé, 27 January 1919, Born to Landé, 27 January 1919, SPKB Landé papers, box 1, folder 5.
- 18.
Their common Jewish background may not have played a role at this stage.
- 19.
However, it took half a year before Born could write Landé that Wachsmuth and the mathematician Schönfliess had no objections, Born to Landé , 6 June 1919, SPKB Landé papers, box 1, folder 5. His thesis was accepted in Okt. 1919, Wachsmuth to Curator, 28 October 1919, UAG Main Personal File Landé, folder 1.
- 20.
Landé interview 1962, AHQP, p. 4. This time however, Sommerfeld’s private assistant Adolf Kratzer may also have worked on perturbation theory, cf. Kratzer (1920).
- 21.
During Laue’s tenure only one lecture course on quantum theory is known during summer term 1917, just merely one hour long and probably meant for a general student audience. Vorlesungsverzeichnis Frankfurt. In winter 1917/18 there was also a course on relativity (two hours long).
- 22.
For Stern’s (intended) teaching as advertised in the university catalog during the war, including an “Introduction to Quantum Theory” in summer 1916, cf. Schmidt-Böcking and Reich (2011, 39) .
- 23.
In summer 1921 Gerlach also lectured on “Atom- und Molekülbau (für Hörer alle Fakultäten)” as well as on “Höhere Experimentalphysik.”
- 24.
Even before Born received the final confirmation for the Frankfurt position he tried to persuade Ludwig Prandtl to do experiments on compressibility of halides like LiF, LiCl, LiBr or LiJ for him. DLR Archive, GOAR 3664, Born to Prandtl, 2 January 1919.
- 25.
Born to Landé, 12 February 1919, SPKB Landé papers, box 1, folder 5; Born to Meyer, 31 March 1919 and 28 April 1919.
- 26.
Lebenslauf, 19 July 1919, UA-Fra Personal-Hauptakte Bormann, Bl. 3–4.
- 27.
The relevant papers from Born are (Born and Landé 1918b; Born 1919a; Born and Bormann 1919a, b; Born 1921a).
- 28.
The idea came from Hans Kallmann and Fritz Reiche in Berlin who tried to demonstrate that individual polar molecules carry an electric dipole moment (Kallmann and Reiche 1921) as acknowledged in Stern (1921, 250).
- 29.
Born (1920b), Stern (1920) . Born to Sommerfeld, 5 March 1920, (Sommerfeld 2004, 74–75, Born 1978, 195). Hedwig Born to Einstein, 31 July 1920, (Born and Einstein 1969, 55).
- 30.
Born to Klein, 21 November 1920, UAG Klein papers, folder 5D, p. 79. “Ich habe viel zu tun, weil mir sehr viel daran liegt, eine experimentelle Arbeit vor meinem Fortgehen fertig zu stellen. [...]; es sind hier mehrere Doktoranden mit Experimenatlarbeiten beschäftigt, die ich angeregt habe und überwachen muss. Merkwürdiger Weise habe ich aber keinen theoretischen Doktoranden; es schein, dass die Leute diesen Weg scheuen, wenigstens hier in Frankfurt.”
- 31.
Born to Sommerfeld, 5 March 1920, (Sommerfeld 2004, 74) .
- 32.
For the role of the Verein in establishing and supporting the physics institutes, see Fricke (1974).
- 33.
For details see papers of UA-Fra, Katharina und Moritz Oppenheimsche Universitätsstiftung, for the many further foundations cp. Lustiger (1994).
- 34.
See Castagnetti and Goenner (2004).
- 35.
Faculty minutes, 21 February 1920, UAG Phil. Fak. II PH 36 e I.
- 36.
Document 17 (see Chap. 6).
- 37.
Hilbert’s influence on the decisions remains unclear; however he was also asked to join the commission for the succession of Simon, as a connection to Born’s call, might arise. Faculty minutes, 24 June 1920, UAG Phil. Fak. II PH 36 e.
- 38.
Faculty minutes, 3 March 1920, UAG Phil. Fak. II PH 36 e I.
- 39.
Faculty minutes, 13 March 1920, UAG Phil. Fak. II PH 36 e I. The draft was modified by corrections in more than one hand, one of which appears to be Hilbert’s, faculty minutes, Phil. Fak. II Ph. Nr. 36 d, XV.
- 40.
Draft Debye, Runge and Wallach, before 22 March 1920, faculty minutes, Phil. Fak. II Ph. Nr. 36 d, XV. The original reads: “Wir haben den dringenden Wunsch, dass die erledigte Professur durch einen theoretischen Physiker ersten Ranges besetzt wird. Das ist seit Jahrzehnten hier der Fall gewesen, und die so erfreuliche Entwicklung der mathematisch-physikalischen Fächer an unserer Hochschule, die dadurch eine Pflanzstätte für diese Wissenschaften geworden ist, wurde nur dadurch ermöglicht [...]”—The term Pflanzstätte is usually ascribed to Sommerfeld, who employed it in an autobiographical sketch written in 1919, which was, however, published only much later, (Eckert 1993, 38).
- 41.
Document 18 (see Chap. 6).
- 42.
Draft Debye, Runge and Wallach, before 22 March 1920, faculty minutes, Phil. Fak. II Ph. Nr. 36 d, XV. The original reads: “Der jüngst hier verstorbene Prof. Voigt war ein Vertreter der theoretischen Physik von größtem Ruf. Wenn der als sein Nachfolger [...] bekannte Prof. Debye nach dem Tode des etatmäßigen ordentlichen Professors Riecke unter gleichzeitiger Anstellung des außerordentlichen Professors Pohl, in jenes Ordinariat einrücken und einen Teil der Aufgaben auch des Experimentalphysikers übernehmen konnte, so war das durch die seltene doppelte Qualifikation des hervorragenden Gelehrten bedingt und eine Kombination, die nun mit dem Ausscheiden des Professors Debye unhaltbar wird.”
- 43.
Born to Dean (Hans Stille) , 4 July 1920.
- 44.
Born to Wende, 15 Mai 1920, SBB Born papers, folder 1826, p. 2–14, on 2. “Ich gebe gern zu, daß der Experimentalphysiker Vorrecht auf den Hörsaal hat, weil er zum Aufbau seiner Versuche volle Freiheit haben muß. Aber ich halte es für gut, daß der Theoretiker das Recht hat, wöchentlich ein oder zwei Stunden in dem Hörsaal zu lesen; es gibt gelegentlich Vorlesungen mit Demonstrationen, für die der kleine Hörsaal nicht ausreicht.”
- 45.
Cf. for the long relation between Franck and Pohl e.g. Ebner (2013).
- 46.
Born to Wende, 15 Mai 1920, SBB Born papers, folder 1826, p. 2–14, on 3.
- 47.
Ibid. p. 6.
- 48.
Born to Wende, 15 Mai 1920, SBB Born papers, folder 1826, p. 2–14, on 5f.
- 49.
Born to Vorsitzenden des Kuratioriums der Uni Frankfurt, Oberbürgermeister Voigt, 18 May 1920, UA-Fra Personal-Hauptakte Born, Bl. 4.
- 50.
Born to Voigt, 7 June 1920, UA-Fra Personal-Hauptakte Born, Bl. 5.
- 51.
Voigt to Born, 3 July 1920, UA-Fra Personal-Hauptakte Born, Bl. 12f.
- 52.
Max Born to Einstein, 16 July 1920, and Hedwig Born to Einstein, 31 July 1920, (Born and Einstein 1969, 54–55).
- 53.
Born to Voigt, 10 July 1920, UA-Fra Personal-Hauptakte Born, Bl. 14. Agreement Born and Wende, 10 November 1920, GSPtKB Rep. 76 V a, Sekt. 6, Tit. IV, Nr. 1, Bd. XXVII, Bl. 76.
- 54.
Stille to Wende, 25 June 1920, UA-Fra Phil. Fak. II Ph. Nr. 36 d, XV. Wende to Stille, 2 July 1920, UAG, Phil. Fak. II Ph. Nr. 36 e, I.
- 55.
Stille to Wende, 7 July 1920, GSPtKB. Rep. 76 V a, Sekt. 6, Tit. IV, Nr. 1, Bd. XXVI, Bl. 418–419
- 56.
Born to Stille, 4 July 1920, UAG, Phil. Fak. II Ph. Nr. 36 e, I.
- 57.
Minutes “Nachfolge Simon” entry of session on 5 July 1920. = UAG Phil. Fak. II Ph. Nr. 36 e, I.
- 58.
Born to Klein, 11 July 1920, SUB Göttingen, Klein Papers, 5 C Bl. 68/69.
- 59.
Agreement Wende and Franck, 6 October 1920, GStA PK. Rep. 76 V a, Sekt. 6, Tit. IV, Nr. 1, Bd. XXVII, Bl. 63–64. Agreement Wende and Born, 10 November 1920, GstA PK. Rep. 76 V a, Sekt. 6, Tit. IV, Nr. 1, Bd. XXVII, Bl. 76.
- 60.
Born to Klein, 21 November 1920, SUB Göttingen, Klein Papers, 5 D, Bl. 79.
- 61.
Dean Lorenz to Kurator, 8 February 1921, UA-Fra Personal-Hauptakte Gerlach, Bl. 9.
- 62.
Bormann to Curator, 2 April 1921, UA-Fra Personal-Hauptakte Born, Bl. 6.
- 63.
Hilbert to Minstry, 10 November 1920, GstA PK. I. HA Rep. 76, Nr. 591, Bl. 280.
- 64.
Stille to Ministry, 23 August 1920, GstA PK. Rep. 76 V a, Sekt. 6, Tit. IV, Nr. 1, Bd. XXVII, Bl. 7.
- 65.
Born to Gerlach, 11 May 1925 and 16 May 1925, DMA, Gerlach papers 83. “Kommen Sie mal auf ein paar Tage zur Erholung nach Göttingen.”
- 66.
“Grundgedanken der Relativitätstheorie (für Hörer aller Fakultäten),” the lecture notes went under the title “Über Geometrie und Physik” (by Bernays) and “Über Geometrie und Physik” (by Hückel).
- 67.
Statistische Mechanik (listed as “Statistische Methoden, insbes. der Physik”), summer term 1922, lecture notes by Lothar Nordheim, Mathematisches Institut Göttingen. [SS 1922], Mathematisches Institut Göttingen.
- 68.
Lecture notes of 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21 and 23 June 1922, SBB, Born papers 1819.
- 69.
Nordheim’s dissertation was published in Nordheim (1923a) and Nordheim (1923b).
- 70.
No lecture notes on this course are known to have survived.
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Schirrmacher, A. (2019). The Born “Schools” in Berlin, Frankfurt and Göttingen. In: Establishing Quantum Physics in Göttingen. SpringerBriefs in History of Science and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22727-2_4
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