Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2008 APS April Meeting and HEDP/HEDLA Meeting
Volume 53, Number 5
Friday–Tuesday, April 11–15, 2008; St. Louis, Missouri
Session T9: History of Physics |
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Sponsoring Units: FHP Chair: Don Howard, University of Notre Dame Room: Hyatt Regency St. Louis Riverfront (formerly Adam's Mark Hotel), Promenade E |
Monday, April 14, 2008 3:30PM - 3:42PM |
T9.00001: David Dennison, the specific heat of hydrogen, and the discovery of nuclear spin Clayton Gearhart The specific heat of hydrogen gas at low temperatures, first measured by Arnold Eucken in 1912, decreases sharply as the two rotational degrees of freedom freeze out. The ``old quantum theory'' could never explain this behavior satisfactorily, despite persistent efforts. Then in 1926, Heisenberg showed that in the new quantum mechanics, identical particles must have either symmetric or antisymmetric wave functions, and were the key to the spectrum of helium. Friedrich Hund first applied this concept to the rotational specific heat of hydrogen, with limited success. An experimental breakthrough came in 1926, when for the first time, spectral lines involving the ground state of molecular hydrogen were found in the far ultraviolet. Further measurements by the Japanese spectroscopist Takeo Hori led to a moment of inertia for molecular hydrogen more than double earlier estimates. Using this result, the American physicist David Dennison devised the modern theory in 1927, and in the process, found persuasive evidence for proton spin. Most of these actors were at Bohr's institute in Copenhagen in 1926--27; their interaction plays a central role in this story. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 14, 2008 3:42PM - 3:54PM |
T9.00002: Grete Hermann: Mathematician, Physicist, Philosopher Caroline Herzenberg When we look back at the history of quantum mechanics, we can find some scientists who in retrospect had significant roles but were unfortunately largely disregarded at the time. Among them was a very interesting woman, Grete Hermann, whose work in mathematics, philosophy, and physics took place mainly during the early to mid twentieth century. She is best known for discovering a flaw in John von Neumann's attempt at proof of the impossibility of hidden variable theory in quantum mechanics, but she also did further interesting work on the foundations of quantum mechanics. Her life, her collaboration with Emmy Noether, her involvement with Heisenberg's group in Leipzig, and some aspects of her further work in philosophy and education will be described briefly. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 14, 2008 3:54PM - 4:06PM |
T9.00003: Hermann Weyl: Between Mathematics, Physics, and Philosophy Peter Pesic Hermann Weyl introduced gauge theories into physics in the context of his extensions of general relativity. His important mathematical contributions are much better-known than his involvement in philosophy, which was significant as he considered how to respond to Einstein's criticisms of Weyl's unified field theory. Weyl's philosophical approach also affected his own response to quantum theory, very different from Einstein's. The way Weyl dealt with these dilemmas may illuminate this important parting of the ways in theoretical physics and also show how philosophical reflection can be important in dealing with unsolved problems in physics. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 14, 2008 4:06PM - 4:18PM |
T9.00004: Albert Einstein and Wernher von Braun - the two great German-American physicists seen in a historical perspective. Friedwardt Winterberg It was Albert Einstein who for the first time changed our view of the universe to be a non-euclidean curved space-time. And it was Wernher von Braun who blazed the trail to take us into this universe, leaving for the first time the gravitational field of our planet earth, with the landing a man on the moon the greatest event in human history. Both these great physicists did this on the shoulders of giants. Albert Einstein on the shoulders of his landsman, the mathematician Bernhard Riemann, and Wernher von Braun on the shoulders of Goddard and Oberth. Both Einstein and von Braun made a Faustian pact with the devil, von Braun by accepting research funds from Hitler, and Einstein by urging Roosvelt to build the atom bomb (against Hitler). Both of these great men later regretted the use of their work for the killing of innocent bystanders, even though in the end the invention of nuclear energy and space flight is for the benefit of man. Their example serves as a warning for all of us. It can be formulated as follows: ``Can I in good conscience accept research funds from the military to advance scientific knowledge, for weapons developed against an abstract enemy I never have met in person?'' Weapons if used do not differentiate between the scientist, who invented these weapons, and the non-scientist. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 14, 2008 4:18PM - 4:30PM |
T9.00005: William Band at Yenching University Danian Hu William Band (1906-1993) has been widely remembered by his American colleagues and students as ``a fine physicist and teacher,'' who taught at Washington State University in Pullman between 1949 and 1971 and authored Introduction to Quantum Statistics (1954) and Introduction to Mathematical Physics (1959). Not many, however, knew much about Band's early career, which was very ``uncommon and eventful.'' Born in England, Band graduated from University of Liverpool in 1927 with an MsSc degree in physics. Instead of pursuing his Ph.D. at Cambridge, he chose to teach physics at Yenching University, a prestigious Christian university in Beijing, China. Arriving in 1929, Band established his career at Yenching, where he taught and researched the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, pioneered the study on low-temperature superconductivity in China, founded the country's first graduate program in physics, and chaired the Physics Department for 10 years until he fled from Yenching upon hearing of the attack on Pearl Harbor. It took him two years to cross Japanese occupied areas under the escort of the Communist force; he left China in early 1945. This presentation will explore Band's motivation to work in China and his contributions to the Chinese physics research and education. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 14, 2008 4:30PM - 4:42PM |
T9.00006: In Franklin's Path: Establishing Physics at the University of Pennsylvania Paul Halpern In 1751 Benjamin Franklin established the Academy of Philadelphia, the precursor of the University of Pennsylvania. Among its curricular mandates he envisioned included ``Natural and Mechanic History,'' using a popular text he suggested by No\"el Antoine Pluche that encompassed optics and celestial dynamics among its subjects. This talk will trace the history of physics research and education at Penn from its establishment, to the appointment of the first designated physics professor, George Frederic Barker, in 1873, to the opening of the Randall Morgan Laboratory in 1901 under the directorship of Arthur Goodspeed, and finally to the inauguration of the David Rittenhouse Laboratory in 1954 under the university leadership of Gaylord Harnwell. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 14, 2008 4:42PM - 4:54PM |
T9.00007: Scientific Revolutions to the nth power: n = 0, 1, 2, 3. James Beichler Thomas Kuhn's description and characterization of scientific revolutions set the standard for interpreting and understanding these events, but his characterization introduced an anomaly. Newtonian science was at the pinnacle of its success immediately prior to the Second Scientific Revolution. From an evolutionary point-of-view, there were no crises to be solved just problems within the Newtonian paradigm, whereas the specific crises that initiated the revolution are evident from everyone's point-of-view after the revolution. This paradox is well recognized, but it seems not to be a problem and is just ignored as if it were not important or significant. Yet this discrepancy strikes at the very heart of physics and the overall progress of science. Historical conditions currently parallel the period immediately prior to the Second Scientific Revolution indicating that a new scientific revolution is approaching. When a comparison of the two periods is made, new characteristics of scientific revolutions are identified, the paradox is solved and evidence of a Zeroth Scientific Revolution emerges from the historical record. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 14, 2008 4:54PM - 5:06PM |
T9.00008: The Genesis of SESAPS Ronald Mickens On March 23, 1935, a meeting of ``Southern Physicist" was held at the Candler Hotel in Decatur, Georgia. In addition to a scientific program the next day, consisting of the presentation of twenty-five papers (held in the Emory University's chemistry building), an address was given by Professor A.~H.~Compton on that Friday night during a banquet sponsored by the Georgia Academy of Science. However, the main goal of this meeting was to work out the details of a new organization, which was called the ``Southern Association of Physicists." My talk provides background on the genesis of this gathering and gives a brief summary of the new organization's subsequent activities, including its ``absorption" by the American Physical Society as its Southeastern Section, i.e., SESAPS. In particular, I discuss its management structure; its three awards for teaching, research, and leadership; and the planning process for its annual meeting. My general conclusion is that SESAPS has been very successful in promoting ``physics" in the southeastern states. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 14, 2008 5:06PM - 5:18PM |
T9.00009: Well, It Was Big When We Built It! Virginia Trimble Many of the fundamental discoveries of astronomy were made with telescopes that we now regard as derisorally small, but which were often the largest and most expensive that then existed. Everything Galileo did obviously comes under this heading, but also the discovery of parallax with 8-10" heliometers and such by Bessell, Struve, and Henderson; the existence of external galaxies (1923, Hubble with the Mt. Wilson 60"), and the later expansion of the universe (1929, Hubble again, with th 100"); the spiral structure of galaxies (Lord Rosse 1855 with a 72" speculum mirror); and the discovery of Neptune (Galle, another of those heliometers). There are also counterexamples of frontier work done with marginal facilities (the dominance of hydrogen in stars, from routine Harvard spectra examined by Payne; the first optical counterparts of a pulsar and a gamma ray burst with 36" telescopes - maybe even the same one - in Arizona). The talk will dash madly through the growth of telescope apertures, pausing briefly at a few interesting cases. [Preview Abstract] |
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