The summer of 1924 converges again. Satyendra N. Bose put forward a new method to explain Planck's radiation law. He regards light as a gas composed of particles (now called photons) without (static) mass, and does not follow the classical Boltzmann statistical law, but follows a new statistical theory based on the indefiniteness (i.e. isotropy) of particles. Einstein immediately applied Bose reasoning to the actual gas with mass, and thus obtained a distribution law describing the number of particles in gas relative to energy, namely the famous Bose-Einstein distribution. However, under normal circumstances, the old and new theories will predict the same behavior of atomic gases. Einstein was no longer interested in this aspect, so these achievements were shelved for 10 years. However, its key idea-particle isotropy is extremely important. Suddenly, a series of events followed, which finally triggered a scientific revolution. 1 month 1925 to 1 month 1928:
Wolfgang Pauli put forward the principle of incompatibility, which laid a theoretical foundation for the periodic table.
Werner Heisenberg, Max Born and pascual Jordan put forward the first version of quantum mechanics-matrix mechanics. People finally gave up the historical goal of understanding the movement of electrons in atoms by systematically sorting out the observable spectral lines.
Irving Schrodinger proposed the second form of quantum mechanics, wave mechanics. In wave mechanics, the state of the system is described by the solution of Schrodinger equation-wave function. Matrix mechanics and wave mechanics seem contradictory, but they are essentially equivalent.
Electrons have been proved to follow a new statistical law, Fermi-Dirac statistics. It is further recognized that all particles follow Fermi-Dirac statistics or bose-einstein statistics, and the basic properties of these two kinds of particles are quite different.
Heisenberg expounded the uncertainty principle.
Paul ·A·M· Dirac proposed a relativistic wave equation to describe electrons, explain their spins and predict antimatter.
Dirac put forward the quantum description of electromagnetic field, which laid the foundation of quantum field theory.
Bohr put forward the complementary principle (a philosophical principle), trying to explain some obvious contradictions in quantum theory, especially the wave-particle duality.
The main founders of quantum theory are all young people. 1925, Pauli was 25, Heisenberg and Enrico Fermi were 24, Dirac and Jordan were 23. Schrodinger was a late bloomer, aged 36. Born and Bohr are older. It is worth mentioning that most of their contributions are explanatory. Einstein's reaction reflected the profundity and radicalization of quantum mechanics, which was an intellectual achievement: he rejected many key concepts that led to quantum theory, and his paper on bose-einstein statistics was his last contribution to theoretical physics and his last important contribution to physics.
It is not surprising that the creation of quantum mechanics needs a new generation of physicists. Sir Kelvin expressed the reason in a letter congratulating Bohr on his paper on hydrogen atom published in 19 13. He said there were many reasons in Bohr's paper that he couldn't understand. Kelvin believes that the basic new physics must come from an unrestrained mind.
1928, the revolution is over, and the foundation of quantum mechanics has been established in essence. Later, Abraham Pais recorded this frenzied revolution with anecdotes. There is such a passage. 1925 Samuel Goodmitt and George Uhlenbeck put forward the concept of electron spin, which Bohr deeply doubted. On June+10, 5438, Bohr took a train to Leiden, the Netherlands, to attend the 50th birthday celebration of Hendrick A. Lorenz. Pauli met Bohr in Hamburg, Germany, and asked Bohr about the possibility of electron spin. Bohr replied with his famous low-key evaluation language that the proposal of spin was "very, very interesting". Later, Einstein and paul ehrenfest met Bohr in Leiden and discussed spin. Bohr explained his objection, but Einstein showed a way of spin, which made Bohr a supporter of spin. On Bohr's return trip, he met more discussants. When the train passed through Gottingen, Germany, Heisenberg and Jordan met at the station and asked his opinion. Paulie also made a special trip from Hamburg to Berlin airport. Bohr told them that the discovery of spin was a great progress.
The creation of quantum mechanics triggered the scientific gold rush. The early achievements are as follows: Heisenberg obtained the approximate solution of Schrodinger equation of helium atom in 1927, which laid the foundation of atomic structure theory; John Slater, Douglas Reina Hartree and Vladimir Fogg then put forward the general calculation skills of atomic structure; Fritz London and Walter Hai Telei solved the structure of hydrogen molecule. On this basis, linus pauling established theoretical chemistry. Sommerfeld and Pauli laid the foundation of metal electronic theory, and felix bloch founded the theory of energy band structure. Heisenberg explained the cause of ferromagnetism. 1928 George Gamow explained the mystery of the randomness of alpha radioactive decay, and he proved that alpha decay was caused by the tunneling effect of quantum mechanics. In the next few years, hans bethe laid the foundation of nuclear physics and explained the energy sources of stars. With these advances, atomic physics, molecular physics, solid state physics and nuclear physics have entered the era of modern physics.