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Topics

Yes--they are highly selective. We cannot do everything.

* indicates a priority topic.
See Resources for decoding references.

*Introductory Survey

*Atomic Spectra and Bohr-Sommerfeld Quantization

A good contemporary summary of the original papers is:
Silberstein, Ludwig Report on the Quantum Theory of Spectra. London: Adam Hilger, 1920.

Bohr, Niels "On the Constitution of Atoms and Molecules," Philosophical Magazine, 26(1913), pp. 1-25.
Sommerfeld, Arnold "Zur Theorie der Balmerschen Serie," Siztungsberischte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,Mathematische-Physikalische Klasse, 1915, pp. 425-58.
Sommerfeld, Arnold, "Zur Quantentheorie der Spektrallinien," Annalen der Physik, 51(1916), pp. 1-94, 125-167.

*Einstein's A and B Coefficients

Einstein, Albert "On the Quantum Theory of Radiation." Van der Waerden, Paper 1.

It is a translation of:
Einstein, Albert, "Zur Quantentheorie der Strahlung". Physikalische Zeitschrift 18(1917), pp. 121–128.
which is nearly the same as the earlier:
Einstein, Albert, "Zur Quantentheorie der Strahlung". Mitteilungen der Physikalischen Gessellschaft Zürich 18 (1916), pp.47–62.

*The Correspondence Principle

Presenter: Michael Miller

The principle is contained in
Bohr, Niels "On the Quantum Theory of Line Spectra" Van der Waerden, Paper 3. (See pp.130-131).

For discussion: Bokulich, Alisa, "Bohr's Correspondence Principle", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

The Anomalous Zeeman Effect and Spin

Presenter: Marina Baldissera Pacchetti

The Compton Effect

*BKS: The Bohr-Kramers-Slater Proposal

Presenter: Nora Boyd

Bohr, N., Kramers, H. A., Slater, J. C. "The Quantum Theory of Radiation." In Van der Waerden, Paper 5.

*Dispersion theory: The background to Heisenberg's "Umdeutung"

Presenter: Bihui Li

*Heisenberg's "Umdeutung"

Heisenberg, Wener, "Quantum-Theoretical Re-Interpretation of Kinematic and Mechanical Relations,"http://ia601208.us.archive.org/14/items/SourcesOfQuantumMechanics/VanDerWaerden-SourcesOfQuantumMechanics.pdf, Paper12.
Umdeutung = Re-interpretation

Discussion: Aitchison, Ian J. R., MacManus, David A., Snyder, Thomas M ."Understanding Heisenberg’s ‘magical’ paper of July 1925: a new look at the calculational details" : American Journal of Physics. 72, (2004) pp. 1370-79. Preprint quant-ph/0404009v1

*Born, Heisenberg, Jordan: Die Dreimännerarbeit

Born, M. and Jordan, P. "On Quantum Mechanics." Van der Waerden, Paper 13.
Born, M., Heisenberg, W. and Jordan, P. "On Quantum Mechanic IIs." Van der Waerden, Paper 15.

The Born Rule

Born, Max "On the Quantum Mechanics of Collisions," 1926. Translated from "Zur Quantenmechanik des Stossvorgüange," Zeitschrift für Physik, 37 (1926), pp. 863-76; with introductory commentary. Wheeler and Zurek, pp. 50-55.

*Dirac's c and q numbers

Presenter: Tom Pashby

Dirac introduced his celebrated notion of c (classical) and q (quantum) numbers and an emphasis on the abstract algebra of operators.

P. A. M. Dirac, "Quantum Mechanics and a Preliminary Investigation of the Hydrogen Atom," (1926) Van der Waerden, Paper 17.

We will read the later paper 17 since it seems to duplicate in clearer terms what is in the earlier:
P. A. M. Dirac, "The Fundamental Equations of Quantum Mechanics." (1926) Van der Waerden, Paper 14
If there's time, we may try to compare them.

de Broglie's Matter Waves

Presenter (if covered): James Simkins

De Broglie, Loius "Investigations on Quantum Theory," 1925, in Ludwig, Wave Mechanics.

Schrödinger's wave mechanics

Schroedinger, Erwin "Quantization as a Problem of Proper Values." Part 1-4. In Ludwig, Wave Mechanics. Also in Schroedinger, Collected Papers on Wave Mechanics.

*Hilbert, von Neumann and Nordheim

The lead up to Von Neumann's canonical formulation of the mathematical framework on quantum theory came in:

Hilbert, David, Neumann, Johann Von, and Nordheim, Lothar. "Über die Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik,". Mathematische Annalen 98 (1928): pp. 1–30.

Despite its date, it was prepared prior to the three von Neumann papers below.

Discussion, Duncan and Janssen, "(Never) Mind your p’s and q’s..." Sect 3.

*von Neumann

In three papers of 1927 von Neumann laid out what becomes the canonical mathematical framework for quantum mechanics.

Neumann, Johann von, "Mathematische Begründung der Quantenmechanik," Nachrichten von der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse 1927, pp. 1- 58.

Neumann, Johann von, "Wahrscheinlichkeitstheoretischer Aufbau der Quantenmechanik, Nachrichten von der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse, 1927, pp. 245-271.

Neumann, Johann von, "Thermodynamik quantenmechanischer Geamtheiten". Königliche Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. Mathematisch-physikalische Klasse. Nachrichten, 1927, pp. 273–291.

These are the grounding of his celebrated

Neumann, Johann von, Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik, Berlin: Springer, 1932. Trans. Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. 1955.

Discussion, Duncan and Janssen, "(Never) Mind your p’s and q’s..." Sect 5-7.

Heisenberg's Principle of Indeterminacy

Heisenberg, W. "The Physical Content of Quantum Kinematics and Mechanics," Trans "Über den anschaulichen Inhalt der quantentheoretischen Kinematik and Mechanik," Zeitschrift für Physik, 43 (1927), pp. 172-98. In Wheeler and Zurek with commentary.
Also translated as "The Actual Content of Quantum Theoretical Kinematics and Mechanics." (By NASA?)

Further Topics

Dirac on quantum electrodynamics (suggested by Tom Pashby)
Early papers on the problem of divergences (suggested by Michael Miller)