Authors:	Jordi Taltavull, Marta
Title:	Rudolf Ladenburg and the first quantum interpretation of optical dispersion
Online publication date:	17-May-2021
Year of first publication:	2020
Language:	english
Abstract:	In 1921, the experimental physicist Rudolf Ladenburg put forward the first quantum interpretation of optical dispersion. Theoretical physicists had tried to explain dispersion from the point of view of quantum theory ever since 1913, when Niels Bohr proposed his quantum model of atom. Yet, their theories proved unsuccessful. It was Ladenburg who gave a breakthrough step toward our quantum understanding of dispersion. In order to understand Ladenburg’s step, I analyze Ladenburg’s experimental work on dispersion prior to 1913, the reasons why the first theories of dispersion after 1913 were not satisfactory, and Ladenburg’s 1921 proposal. I argue that Ladenburg’s early experimental work on dispersion is indispensable to understand his 1921 paper. The specific kind of experiments he performed before 1913, the related interpretative problems, and the way he tried to solve them, led him reapproach the dispersion problem in 1921 in a way that was completely different from the way theoretical physicists had done it before.
DDC:	510 Mathematik 510 Mathematics 530 Physik 530 Physics
Institution:	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Department:	FB 08 Physik, Mathematik u. Informatik
Place:	Mainz
ROR:	https://ror.org/023b0x485
DOI:	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-5773
Version:	Published version
Publication type:	Zeitschriftenaufsatz
License:	CC BY
Information on rights of use:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Journal:	The European physical journal : H 45
Pages or article number:	123 173
Publisher:	Springer
Publisher place:	Berlin u.a.
Issue date:	2020
ISSN:	2102-6467
Publisher URL:	https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/e2020-10027-6
Publisher DOI:	10.1140/epjh/e2020-10027-6
Appears in collections:	JGU-Publikationen