George Uhlenbeck and the Discovery of Electron Spin

DEC 01, 1989

How two young Dutchmen, one with only o master’s degree, the other a graduate student, made a most important finding in theoretical atomic physics.

DOI: 10.1063/1.881186

Abraham Pais

The owl depicted on the signet ring George Uhlenbeck used to wear—“Uhlenbeck” in German means “owl’s brook”—derives from his family’s coat of arms. The shield reads, in the language of heraldry: Azure, on a tree trunk proper rising from water argent, an owl contourne, head affronty. In plain language, it depicts an owl with its head turned toward you, sitting on a tree trunk in natural color, which rises up out of a silvery brook. (I owe the transcription of the Dutch blazon into English heraldry to Michael Maclagan, the Richmond Herald in the College of Arms, in London.)

References

1. P. Ehrenfest, T. Ehrenfest, in Enzyklopädie der Mathematischin Wissenschaften vol. 4, part 2, Teubner, Leipzig (1911), section 28;
English translation by M. J. Moravcsik, in The Conceptual Foundations of the Statistical Approach in Mechanics, Cornell U.P., Ithaca, New York (1959).
2. G. E. Uhlenbeck, Am. J. Phys. 24, 431 (1956).https://doi.org/AJPIAS
3. G. E. Uhlenbeck, Commun. Dutch Hist. Inst. Rome 4, 217 (1924).
4. G. E. Uhlenbeck, Physica (Utrecht) 5, 266 (1925).
5. P. Ehrenfest, G. E. Uhlenbeck, Proc. R. Acad. Amsterdam 29, 1280 (1926).
6. D. Lang, The New Yorker, 7 November 1953, p. 47;
14 November 1953, p. 45.
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8. S. Goudsmit, Ned. Tijdschr Natuurk. 37, 386 (1971); https://doi.org/NTNKAX
English translation in Delta, Summer 1972, p. 77.
9. S. Goudsmit, Physica B1 21, 445 (1946).
10. G. E. Uhlenbeck, PHYSICS TODAY, June 1976, p. 43.
11. S. Goudsmit, Physica (Utrecht) 5, 281 (1925).
12. S. Goudsmit, G. E. Uhlenbeck, Physica (Utrecht) 5, 266 (1925).
13. M. Abraham, Ann. Phys. (Leipzig) 10, 105 (1903), section 11.https://doi.org/ANPYA2
14. G. E. Uhlenbeck, S. Goudsmit, Naturwissenschaften 13, 953 (1925).https://doi.org/NATWAY
15. P. Ehrenfest, letter to H. A. Lorentz, 16 October 1925, Lorentz Archives, University of Leiden. Microfilmed as part of the Archives for the History of Quantum Physics project and available at the AIP Niels Bohr Library in New York and at the 16 other AHQP libraries of deposit around the world.
16. H. A. Lorentz, Collected Works, vol. 7, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague (1936), p. 179.
17. W. Heisenberg, letter to S. Goudsmit, 21 November 1925; reproduced in ref. 8 and available at AHQP libraries of deposit.
18. S. Goudsmit, G. E. Uhlenbeck, Nature 117, 264 (1926).https://doi.org/NATUAS
19. N. Bohr, letter to P. Ehrenfest, 22 December 1925; available at AHQP libraries of deposit.
20. For more details on the spin story see A. Pais, Inward Bound, Oxford U.P., New York (1985), chap. 13, sections c and d.
21. R. de L. Kronig, letter to H. A. Kramers, 6 March 1926; available at AHQP libraries of deposit.
22. N. Bohr, letter to R. de L. Kronig, 26 March 1926; available at AHQP libraries of deposit.
23. R. de L. Kronig, letter to N. Bohr, 8 April 1926; available at AHQP libraries of deposit.
24. A. Pais, G. E. Uhlenbeck, Phys. Rev. 79, 145 (1950); https://doi.org/PHRVAO
A. Pais, G. E. Uhlenbeck, 116, 250 (1959).

More about the Authors

Abraham Pais. Rockefeller University, New York.