You Gotta Know These 20th Century Physicists Flashcards
reconciled Rutherford’s results from the gold foil experiment with Max Planck’s quantum theory to create a model of the atom in which electrons resided in specific energy levels at specific stable radii
Niels Bohr
His model was the basis for Johann Balmer’s work with spectroscopy and Johannes Rydberg’s energy formula
Niels Bohr
He and his son fled to the U.S. in World War II under the pseudonym “Baker,” and contributed to the Manhattan Project.
Niels Bohr
proposed that all particles have a characteristic wavelength dependent on their momentum, which Einstein endorsed
Louis de Broglie
In opposition to the probabilistic interpretation of quantum mechanics, he later worked to define a purely causal interpretation, but his work remained unfinished until David Bohm refined it in the 1950s.
Louis de Broglie
quantified the wave-particle duality of quantum mechanics
Louis de Broglie
had an annus mirabilis (miracle year)
Albert Einstein
explained the photoelectric effect in terms of quantized electromagnetic radiation
Albert Einstein
formed the foundation for modern statistical physics by explaining the seemingly-random motion of particles in a fluid, a behavior called Brownian motion
Albert Einstein
reconciled Maxwellian electrodynamics with classical mechanics by positing a finite, constant speed of light, a theory now known as special relativity
Albert Einstein
published his theory of general relativity, which generalized special relativity to account for gravitational fields
Albert Einstein
best known to the public as a main contributor to the Manhattan Project
Enrico Fermi
applied the Pauli exclusion principle to subatomic particles to create Namesake-Dirac statistics, which accurately predicted the low-temperature behavior of electrons. Particles that obey these statistics are fermions.
Enrico Fermi
suggested the existence of the neutrino in order to balance nuclear beta-decay chains.
Enrico Fermi
created quantum electrodynamics
Richard Feynman
developed a mathematical formalism called the path integral formulation of quantum theory that utilized the “sum over histories,”
Richard Feynman
developed namesake diagrams, which illustrate the interaction of subatomic particles
Richard Feynman
accomplished bongo player and sketch artist.
Richard Feynman
was one of the first to explain the implications of the Big Bang theory of cosmology
George Gamow
correctly predicted the abundance of hydrogen and helium in the early universe, nicknamed Alpher-Bethe-namesake theory (an intentional pun on the first three letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha, beta, and gamma)
George Gamow
theorized that the the heat from the Big Bang would still be visible as the cosmic microwave background radiation
George Gamow
Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, as well as two later observers, John Mather and George Smoot, did receive Nobels for Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation although this physicist didn’t
George Gamow
known for his matrix interpretation of quantum theory, which constructs observable quantities as operators that act on a system
Werner Heisenberg
His famous uncertainty principle states that the more accurately an object’s position can be observed, the less accurately its momentum can
Werner Heisenberg
discovered the allotropic forms of hydrogen.
Werner Heisenberg
solved the ultraviolet catastrophe, which was a predicted unbounded increase in the amount of radiation emitted at high frequencies
Max Planck
His namesake Law of Radiation superseded the Rayleigh-Jeans Law
Max Planck
suggested that electromagnetic energy could only be emitted in specific packages, called quanta (singular quantum)
Max Planck
posited that the energy of this photon was equal to its frequency times a fixed value h, now known as his namesake constant.
Max Planck
his gold foil experiment provided the first evidence that each atom is made up of a large, positively-charged nucleus, surrounded by a cloud of negatively-charged electrons
Ernest Rutherford
an early leader in nuclear fission techniques, having discovered the decay of carbon-14 and providing the impetus for modern carbon dating
Ernest Rutherford
discovered the proton and neutron, the latter in cooperation with James Chadwick
Ernest Rutherford
He is the only native New Zealander with an element named after him (Rutherfordium)
Ernest Rutherford
contributed to the early formulations of quantum theory as a foil to Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr, and Paul Dirac, criticizing their Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics with thought experiments like his famous namesake Cat
Erwin Schrödinger
formulated both the time-independent and time-dependent namesake equations, which are partial differential equations that describe how quantum systems behave
Erwin Schrödinger
work was the basis for Heisenberg’s matrix formalism, Feynman’s path-integral formalism, and quantum mechanical perturbation theory
Erwin Schrödinger
these two scientists isolated and experimented on radioactive materials
Marie and Pierre Curie
one of the first to attempt a generalization of quantum theory to relativistic speeds, the result of which was the namesake equation.
Paul Dirac
predicted the existence of quarks
Murray Gell-Mann
determined the charge of the electron by meticulously observing oil droplets in an electric field and noting the time it took them to fall a certain distance
Robert Millikan
oversaw much of the Manhattan Project, but was later stripped of his security clearance during the McCarthy-era Red Scare, as a result of his acquaintance with communists and his enmity with Edward Teller.
Robert Oppenheimer
his namesake exclusion principle prohibits most types of particles from occupying the same state, and forms the basis for chemical bonds.
Wolfgang Pauli
