History of Quantum Physics

IN June 1961 the American Physical Society and the American Philosophical Society applied through a joint committee to the US National Science Foundation for a three‐year grant “to record interviews with men central in the 1913–1938 quantum revolution and to retrieve documentary material on quantum theory and related scientific developments, 1898–1938”. The letter of application emphasized that, though quantum physics is the center of a revolution in scientific theory without parallel in modern times, the details of its development are largely unknown. Little of the battle of minds in the decisive period has been described, and even the records from which such a description might be drawn are fragmentary. Only those involved know who influenced whom and how and why in the formulation of quantum physics.

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