A current opinion has it that it is too early to acquaint beginners in science with certain of its facts, and embarrassing to try to explain these facts to persons versed in the art. This is most often referred to when an attempt is made to describe the structure of the atom. This perhaps is why no book has yet been written on quantum mechanics, sufficiently strict to offer no offence to the expert, sufficiently simple not to frighten away the novice and, at the same time, interesting to both.
This book is not for professionals, though they also may find some things here that might seem surprising to them. It is for those who are finishing school and for those who try to take a broader view of this best of all worlds than they have been trained to do in their profession which must of necessity be narrow if it is to be productive.
The history of the atom is related quite rigorously in the book you have before you. But this strictness is no end in itself. As a rule, not only the facts as such are of interest, but their interpretation as well, and the .circumstances in which they were discovered. Therefore, as a stem, I have taken the evolution of the ideas and concepts of atomic physics, showing that they constitute a united system of simple and harmonic design. It was in fact this intrinsic beauty of quantum theory that incited me to write this book. I shall consider my efforts worthwhile if the reader understands the power of the logical constructions of quantum mechanics and perceives the perfection of their unforeseeably simple consequences.
Translated from the Russian by Nicholas Weinstein
Many thanks to @life123 for the scans
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Part One: Facts
Chapter One
Atoms, Rays, Quanta 11
Round and About the Quantum 36
Chapter Two
Rays, Atoms, Electrons: Atoms, Electrons, Rays 40
Round and About the Quantum 62
Chapter Three
Atoms, Rays, Quanta: Complete Victory of Atomic Theory 73
Round and About the Quantum 99
Chapter Four
Pre-Bohr Times, Bohr’s Atom, Post-Bohr Times: Formal Model of the Atom (Niels Henrik David Bohr) 106
Round and About the Quantum 131
Chapter Five
Teachings of the Ancients, First Attempts: Elements and Atoms, Table of Elements, Explaining the Table 135
Round and About the Quantum 161
Part Two: Ideas
Chapter Six
Contemporaries Comment on Bohr’s Theory: Phenomenon, Image, Concept, Formula, Heisenberg’s Atomic Mechanics 171
Round and About the Quantum 191
Chapter Seven
Louis de Broglie: Matter Waves, Optical-Mechanical Analogy, Schrödinger’s Wave Mechanics 198
Round and About the Quantum 217
Chapter Eight
Wave-Corpuscle Duality, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Relation, Complementarity Principle 223
Round and About the Quantum 245
Chapter Nine
Schrödinger’s Equation, The T-Function: The Shape of What Does It Portray? The Atom, Quantum Truth 252
Round and About the Quantum 270
Chapter Ten
Heads or Tails, Target Shooting: Electron Diffraction, Probability Waves, An Electron Wave—Of What Does It Consist? The Atom, Probability and Atomic Spectra, Causality and Chance, Probability and Certainty 276
Round and About the Quantum 300
Chapter Eleven
What Is Quantum Mechanics? What Is an Atom? Physical Reality 307
Round and About the Quantum 325
Part Three: Speculation
Chapter Twelve
Inception of the Scientific Method: Essence of the Scientific Method and Its Development, Truth and Completeness of the Scientific Picture of the Universe, Science and Humanity, Boundaries of the Scientific Method, Science and Art, Future of Science 335
Conclusion 363
Index 365
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