EINSTEIN AS A TRANSITIONAL FIGURE: THE BIRTH OF WAVE MECHANICS 439
by treating Einstein's molecular gas according to the Debye method? That is, why
not start from a wave picture of the gas and superimpose on that a quantization
condition a la Debye? Now comes the key sentence in the article: 'That means
nothing else but taking seriously the de Broglie-Einstein wave theory of moving
particles' [S2]. And that is just what Schroedinger did. It is not necessary to discuss
further details of this article, which was received by the publisher on December
25, 1925.
Schroedinger's next paper was received on January 27, 1926 [SI]. It contains
his equation for the hydrogen atom. Wave mechanics was born. In this new paper,
Schroedinger acknowledged his debt to de Broglie and Einstein:
I have recently shown [S2] that the Einstein gas theory can be founded on the
consideration of standing waves which obey the dispersion law of de Broglie....
The above considerations about the atom could have been presented as a gen
eralization of these considerations.
In April 1926, Schroedinger again acknowledged the influence of de Broglie and
'brief but infinitely far-seeing remarks by Einstein' [S3].
References
Bl. L. de Broglie, C. R. Acad. Sci. Pans 177, 507 (1923).
B2. , C. R. Acad. Set. Pans 177, 548 (1923).
B3. L. Brillouin, /. de Phys. 2, 142 (1921).
B4. W. Bothe, Z. Phys. 20, 145 (1923).
B5. H. Bateman, Phil. Mag. 46, 977 (1923).
B6. L. de Broglie, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 177, 630 (1923).
B7. , preface to his reedited 1924 PhD thesis, Recherches sur la Theorie des
Quanta, p. 4. Masson, Paris, 1963.
B8. , letter to A. Pais, August 9, 1978.
B9. —, letter to A. Pais, September 26, 1978.
Dl. P. Debye, AdP 33, 1427 (1910).
El. A. Einstein, letter to H. A. Lorentz, December 16, 1924.
E2. , PAW, 1925. p. 3.
HI. W. Heisenberg, Z. Phys. 33, 879 (1926).
Kl. F. Kubli, Arch. Hist. Ex. Sci. 7, 26 (1970).
K2. M. Klein, Nat. Phil. 3, 1 (1964).
Ol. L. S. Ornstein and F. Zernike, Proc. K. Akad. Amsterdam 28, 280 (1919).
PI. W. Pauli in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (P. A. Schilpp, Ed.), p. 156.
Tudor, New York, 1949.
- E. Schroedinger, AdP 79, 361 (1926).
- , Phys. Zeitschr. 27, 95 (1926).
- , AdP 79, 734, (1926); footnote on p. 735.
Wl. M. Wolfke, Phys. Zeitschr. 22, 315 (1921).
