THE BIRTH OF WAVE MECHANICS

SCHRÖDINGER (SCHROEDINGER), ERWIN.

Quantisierung als Eigenwertproblem. (Erste-Vierte Mitteilung) + Über das Verhältnis der Heisenberg-Born-Jordanschen Quantenmechanik zu der meinen.

Leipzig, J.A. Barth, 1926. 8vo. All five paper bound separately in blank blue wrappers. Extracted from In "Annalen der Physik. Hrsg. von W. Wien und M. Planck., Vierte Folge, Bde. 79-81."Entire issue 4, 6, 8, 13 and 18 offered. A fine and clean set. [Schrödinger's papers:] Pp. 361-376; Pp. 489-527; Pp. 734-756 (Bd. 79). Pp. 438-490 (Bd. 60). Pp. 109-131 (Bd. 81).

First printing and first appearence of these 5 papers which introduces Schrödinger's wave-equations and explains the stationary states of electrons in Bohr's theory of the atom by way of applying de Broglie's concept of electron waves. These papers are among the most important in modern physics and "almost overnight, made Schrödinger famous" (Brandt, Harvest of a Century).

"The intensity of Schrödingers work on the problem (he found the earlier Bohr-Sommerfeld quantum theory unsatisfactory) increased as he saw that he was on the track of "a new atomic theory", and it reached a peak during his winter vacation in Arosa. On 27 December 1925 he wrote to Wilhelm Wien, editor of the "Annalen der Physik" inMunich that he was very optimistic: "I believe that I can give a vibrating system...thatyields the hydrogen frequency levels as it eigenfrequencies." The frequences of the emitted light rays are then obtained, as Schrödinger observed, by establishing the differences of the two eigenfrequencies respectively. "Consequently the way is opened toward a real understanding of Bohr's frequency calculation - it is really a vibration (or, as the case may be, interference) process, which occurs with the same frequency as the one we observe in the spectroscope. I hope, that I will soon be able to report on this subject in a little more detail and in a more comprehensive fashion" (Schrödinger's letter to Wien)...The so-called Klein-Gordon equations which Schrödinger used gives an incorrect description of the relativistic structures Schrödinger tried to describe. As this equation he tried to use, describes particles without spin, whereas a a description of electrons requires the Dirac equation..."After a brief interruption Schrödinger took up his method again, but this time he treated the electron nonrelativistically. It soon became apparent that he had arrived at a theory that correctly represented a the behavior of the electron to a very good approximation. THE RESULT WAS THE EMERGENCE OF WAVE MECHANICS IN JANUARY 1926. Schrödinger published the results of his research in a series of four papers in the "Annalen der Physik" bearing the overall title "Quantisierung als Eigenwertproblem." The first installment, sent on 26 January and received by Wien the next day, contains the first apperarance in the literature of his famous wave equation, written out for the hydrogen atom..."(DSB).
In the fifth paper offered, Schrödinger himself shows that there is an essential equivalence of his theory and that of Heisenberg, Born and Jordan's.

Brandt, Harvest of a Century, no. 39.

Order-nr.: 57200