1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 522: Wave Mechanics! Shocking the Academic World! The Wave-Particle Controversy Reappears! Who is the Orthodox of Quantum Mechanics?

After receiving affirmation from Professor Bruce and Professor Planck, Schrödinger was filled with confidence.

Although his wave mechanics is fundamentally different from matrix mechanics, both can derive the old quantum theory.

Both approaches lead to the same destination.

There must be a profound truth in this.

Schrödinger couldn't wait to publish his paper and let the physics community judge it.

1923 7 Month 20 Day.

A paper titled "Quantization is the Eigenvalue Problem" was published in the journal Nature.

The article combines matter wave theory with classical wave mechanics to obtain the wave equation of the microscopic particle system.

Through this equation, many conclusions of the old quantum theory can also be derived.

As soon as the paper came out, it caused a sensation in the physics community!
No one expected that after Heisenberg's matrix mechanics, there would be a completely new theory that could replace the old quantum theory.

This is incredible!
Is there a second version of quantum mechanics?
"Oh, God!"

"Matter wave theory can actually be used in this way?"

“This is an absolutely genius idea!”

"Two completely different theories can both explain the same problem in a logically consistent way!"

"It seems that nothing like this has ever happened in the physics world?"

“Is this the magic of quantum mechanics?”

“Will there be a third version in the future?”

"."

Soon after the paper was published, the wave equation theory was given the name of wave mechanics.

Because of the existence of matrix mechanics, this quantum theory based on wave mechanics is of course wave mechanics.

Wave mechanics and matrix mechanics shine together, and there is a sense of competition between them.

And when everyone paid attention to the author's information, they all gasped and were extremely surprised.

"hiss!"

"The author is actually from the Quantum Research Institute again!"

"Oh my God! Is the Quantum Institute going to take over everything in quantum mechanics?"

"Who is Schrödinger? Why haven't I heard of this name before?"

Someone explained:
"Dr. Schrödinger was the first researcher recruited by Professor Bruce after he established the Quantum Institute."

“He is now the scientific director of the Quantum Institute.”

Wow!
Everyone was shocked!

Following Professor Bruce, it's not about drinking soup, but about being able to eat meat in big mouthfuls.

Many people are envious.

First Heisenberg, then Schrödinger.

The Quantum Research Institute is indeed a holy place in the hearts of quantum researchers.

This kind of strength and foundation is beyond the reach of other institutions.

Now the emergence of wave mechanics and matrix force has instantly brought quantum mechanics into a new realm.

Ordinary scholars can only watch the development of wave mechanics and admire and envy from the sidelines.

They only know that wave mechanics is the new version of quantum mechanics.

As for where the awesomeness lies, that’s not clear.

After all, most people can't even understand papers on matrix mechanics.

How can we possibly distinguish the differences and advantages and disadvantages between the two in depth and accurately?

But for the physics giants, the shock brought by wave mechanics was too great!

"Incredible, really incredible!"

"Viewing electrons as waves can surprisingly reshape the old quantum theory."

“And the wave equation is easy to calculate.”

“It’s a second-order partial differential equation.”

"I would rather solve a hundred differential equations than one matrix."

Physicists were very happy because they could finally get rid of the nightmare of the Matrix.

That's not something humans should calculate.

What a waste of time.

Wave mechanics is so good!
Everyone finds it easy to use.

But soon, they had a premonition that the field of physics might be facing a storm!

"The physical infrastructure of matrix mechanics and wave mechanics is completely different."

"So, who is the orthodox in quantum mechanics?"

For a time, there were different opinions.

Even the two factions have begun to have their own supporters.

They spare no effort to find out the shortcomings and mistakes of the other faction, while verifying the correctness of the theories they support.

Quantum mechanics has become the hottest topic in the current field of physics, far surpassing any other direction.

Everyone is waiting to see how things will develop.
-
University of Göttingen, Germany.

Heisenberg's lecture tour continued.

He was invited by almost all the famous universities in Germany.

University of Munich, University of Göttingen, University of Berlin.
His name is synonymous with genius.

Because Heisenberg was German.

His achievements prove that even though Germany has suffered a lot, it still leads the academic world.

Germany is a great nation.

Heisenberg was a young man, and an extremely passionate young man.

He has a strong sense of national pride.

Therefore, he took his lectures at universities in Germany seriously and spared no effort to promote matrix mechanics.

He wanted to put the German physics community at the forefront of quantum mechanics research.

Let the glory of Germany shine on the field of science.

“I dare not say that I can surpass the Quantum Research Institute, but I am sure it will rank just below it.”

At this moment, Department of Physics, University of Göttingen.

After learning about Schrödinger's wave mechanics paper, Heisenberg almost fainted from anger.

He had never hated someone so much!

“This is research for research’s sake!”

"The electron has some of the properties of a wave, but it is still a particle at heart."

"Schrödinger's wave mechanics is playing a tricky mathematical game!"

"This is nonsense, it's totally wrong!"

Heisenberg paced back and forth in anger, constantly criticizing wave mechanics.

He believed that Schrödinger was jealous and envious, and deliberately created something that was opposite to matrix mechanics.

After all, Schrödinger did not give the derivation process of the wave equation in his paper.

It appeared out of nowhere.

This gave Heisenberg a handle to question him.

The physics community will never tolerate a fabricated formula!

The head of the Physics Department, Born, and his good friend Professor Frank looked at each other in bewilderment.

They are not good at comforting people.

Frank and G. Hertz became famous for proving the correctness of Bohr's model through experiments. (Chapter 276)
But later, the two took completely different paths, one in industry and the other in academia.

G. Hertz is currently the head of the Innovation Lab at Philips in the Netherlands.

This laboratory was originally built at the suggestion of Li Qiwei.

Therefore, as the nephew of the famous Hertz, G. Hertz did not feel that this identity was an insult to him.

At Born's invitation, Frank came to the University of Göttingen as a professor of physics.

In real history, like many people, he later left Germany and built a nuclear reactor with Fermi, Compton and others.

There is also a widely circulated story about Frank.

He and G. Hertz jointly won the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of the laws of electron collisions.

When the Nazis came to power, Germany plundered all resources for the war.

Gold was the most important thing, and it was completely monopolized. Frank knew that he could not keep the gold Nobel Prize medal, and he himself was persecuted because of his Jewish identity.

In desperation, he could only flee Germany with his medals.

At that time, many scientists chose to flee to the Bohr Institute in Denmark.

It was almost the base camp for the fugitive scientists.

Frank is no exception.

But he never expected that Germany would soon invade Denmark and officially take over.

Frank was extremely anxious. He had to escape immediately, but he couldn't leave without the medal on him.

At the critical moment, Hungarian chemist De Hevesy came up with a brilliant idea.

"I can prepare aqua regia to dissolve the medal."

"The Germans will never discover the secret."

"After they leave, I will try to recover."

This de Hevesi was once a student of Rutherford. (Chapter 215)
Therefore, his hands-on ability is extremely solid.

In a very short time, he made the horrible aqua regia using the ratio of concentrated hydrochloric acid to concentrated nitric acid = 3:1.

It is so acidic that it can even melt gold.

In a very short time, the aqua regia turned into an orange-yellow liquid, which looked very scary.

People without chemical knowledge would never dare to touch it with their hands.

Sure enough, the German army soon broke into Bohr's laboratory.

They rummaged through the boxes and cabinets rudely, but could not find the medal mentioned in the intelligence.

As for the bottle of aqua regia that melted the medal, in their eyes, it was just an ordinary chemical reagent.

And it looks scary.

In the end I had to give up.

After the German troops left, de Hevesi carefully took out the aqua regia solution and preserved it.

After the end of World War II, de Hevesi restored the Nobel Prize medals to gold.

He sent the gold to the Swedish Nobel Prize Committee and explained the reason.

When the Nobel Prize Committee learned of this story, they were deeply moved and used the gold to make a new medal and returned it to its original owner.

De Hevesy himself later won the 1943 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

This is the story of how scientists battled wits and courage with the Nazis during World War II.

Full of legends.

And now, Frank has not received his golden medal.

Faced with a genius like Heisenberg, he dared not be arrogant and could only treat him as a younger brother.

He smiled and said:

"Heisenberg, your matrix mechanics is well-proven, and that's your advantage."

"Wave mechanics is too extreme. Schrödinger gave up the particle nature of electrons, which I think is a bit inappropriate."

"His theory is bound to run into problems."

Heisenberg felt much better after hearing this.

Finally someone who understands.

Wave mechanics is rubbish, his matrix mechanics is the orthodoxy.

At this time, Frank looked at Born, meaning that you should also praise this guy.

Born said nothing and just smoked.

He didn't know what to say.

Because he had privately solved some problems using wave mechanics.

Compared with matrix mechanics, the advantages of wave mechanics are really huge.

The computing efficiency has been improved many times.

Born even planned to rewrite his paper using wave mechanics.

In other words, he became a traitor to Heisenberg's school.

At this moment, he could only change the subject, and suddenly sighed and said:

"Professor Bruce just ended the wave-particle debate a few years ago."

“I didn’t expect that he would now personally start the wave-particle debate in quantum mechanics.”

Wow!
Frank was shocked when he heard this.

Yes, wave mechanics and matrix mechanics are arguing with each other now.

Everyone claims to be the orthodox in quantum mechanics.

But throughout history, there cannot be two tigers in one mountain.

There can only be one orthodoxy!
So there will inevitably be a heated debate between the two factions.

But what is dramatic is that Heisenberg and Schrödinger have the same origin.

Both of them completed their theories under the guidance of Professor Bruce.

This makes the situation a bit awkward.

This is just like the brothers in the sect killing each other!
Frank sincerely admired:
"Professor Bruce is such a legend."

"I really can't imagine how he could teach two completely opposite theories."

"Could it be that he himself is also struggling?"

Frank and Born thought a lot.

But Heisenberg was much simpler and more brutal.

He doesn't care about whether they are from the same or different sects.

"My matrix mechanics is undisputedly orthodox!"

Heisenberg knew that Professor Bruce's teaching philosophy was to teach everyone.

He does not require everyone to conduct research according to the same scientific thinking.

Everyone is different.

Science develops through comparison of differences, rather than sinking into the same ideas.

Therefore, Heisenberg had to compete with Schrödinger.

Although Boss Xue has a good reputation in the research institute, he will not be polite when it comes to the dispute over the orthodox doctrine.
-
As time went on, everyone couldn't help but sigh that the advantages of wave mechanics were getting bigger and bigger.

Especially physicists who study quantum theory are almost turning to wave mechanics.

They will never need to learn complicated matrices again.

When people meet, they now discuss issues based on wave mechanics.

This made Heisenberg feel extremely frustrated.

But he had no choice, he couldn't control what theories other people used.

Schrödinger ushered in his own spring.

Now he is full of energy and has become the real Boss Xue.

Whenever someone refuted his theory, he would modestly say:

"My theory was evaluated by Professor Bruce."

With just a few words, the person who was refuting was immediately speechless.

No matter how awesome they are, can they ever surpass Professor Bruce?

But Schrödinger knew very well that the contradiction between wave mechanics and matrix mechanics was completely irreconcilable.

The basis of matrix mechanics is particles. It emphasizes the discontinuity of particles and believes that electrons will jump between orbits.

However, the basis of wave mechanics is waves. It denies the transition of electrons and believes that electrons continuously transform between orbits in the form of waves.

The contradiction between the two is a question about the nature of the world.

So, what is the nature of the world?

The physics community is bustling with the dispute between matrix mechanics and wave mechanics.

Physicists of the older, middle-aged and younger generations have all developed a great interest in quantum mechanics.

Because everyone has a very strong premonition and intuition.

This dispute over the orthodox doctrine may completely lay the foundation and improve quantum mechanics, making it a perfect theory like the theory of relativity.

By then, the two major pillars of modern physics will be fully formed!

Physics has ushered in its third era of glory after Newton and Maxwell!

What a prosperous era that would be!
Therefore, quantum mechanics is attracting more and more attention from everyone.

(End of this chapter)