Einstein and the Quantum (50 page)

248
glides on its wave
: Asim O. Barut, Alwyn van der Merwe, and Jean-Pierre Vigier, eds.,
Quantum Space and Time—the Quest Continues: Studies and Essays in Honour of Louis De Broglie, Paul Dirac and Eugene Wigner
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 18.

249
a very remarkable geometric interpretation
: Einstein, “Quantum Theory of the Monatomic Ideal Gas, Part Two,” 99.

249
It looks far-fetched
: Abragam, “Louis De Broglie,” 30.

249
read my thesis during the summer
: Louis de Broglie, AHQP interview, 7.

250
remarkable mastery … never has so much…. all I can tell you
: Abragam, “Louis De Broglie,” 30.

251
I believe that it is more
: Einstein, “Quantum Theory of the Monatomic Ideal Gas, Part Two,” 95.

251
this oscillating field
: Ibid., 96.

251
The scientific world of the time
: Klein, “Wave-Particle Duality.” 38.

251
the paper of de Broglie
: Abragam, “Louis De Broglie,” 31.

252
By way of a detour
: Klein, “Wave-Particle Duality,” 39.

252
there was no experimental evidence
(quoted in footnote): Woolf, ed.,
Some Strangeness in Proportion
, footnote, p. 471.

253
uninspiring
: Abragam, “Louis De Broglie,” 37.

253
dry and devoid of passion
: Ibid.

253
not of the highest intellectual caliber
: Ibid.

253
Yesterday I read
: Ibid., 35.

CHAPTER 27. THE VIENNESE POLYMATH

Page

254
Physics does not consist
: Schrödinger to Wilhelm Wien, 25 August 1926, in Walter Moore,
Schrödinger: Life and Thought
(Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1989), 226.

254
When you began this work
: Schrödinger,
Collected Papers on Wave Mechanics
, preface, v.

254
I have read your article
: Einstein to Schrödinger, 2 April 1926, in Martin Klein, ed.,
Letters on Wave Mechanics
(New York: Philosophical Library, 1967), 3.

254
the idea of your article
: Einstein to Schrödinger, 16 April 1926, ibid., 24.

255
In my scientific work
: Moore,
Schrödinger
, 135.

255
devote himself to philosophy
(quoted in footnote): Mehra and Rechenberg,
HDQT
, vol. 5, part 1, p. 225.

256
often been accused of flirtatiousness
: Erwin Schrödinger,
What is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell with Mind and Matter & Autobiographical Sketches
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958), 167.

256
I must refrain from drawing
: Ibid., 184.

256
who did not wish, in consequence
(quoted in footnote): Moore,
Schrödinger
, 272.

256
I have trouble with Dirac
(quoted in footnote): Helge S. Kragh,
Dirac: A Scientific Biography
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 82.

257
I was a good student
: Ibid., 23.

257
only find words of praise
: Schrödinger,
What is Life?
173.

257
I can't recall a single instance
: Moore,
Schrödinger
, 23.

257
das ist der Schrödinger … this man … a fiery spirit
: Ibid., 46.

257
would translate Homer
: Mehra and Rechenberg,
HDQT
, vol. 5, part 1, p. 67.

257
hours of leisure
: Ibid., 68.

257
if it were not for the mathematics
: Moore,
Schrödinger
, 97.

258
I learnt to appreciate
: Schrödinger,
What is Life?
169.

258
his fearlessness and calmness
: Moore,
Schrödinger
, 93.

258
I was impressed by him
: Mehra and Rechenberg,
HDQT
, vol. 5, part 1, p. 177.

258
I know it would be easier
: Moore,
Schrödinger
, 131.

259
No perception in physics
: Schrödinger,
What is Life?
168.

260
beautiful work
: Schrödinger to Bohr, 7 February 1921, in Mehra and Rechenberg,
HDQT
, vol. 5, part 1, p. 306.

260
[your paper] interested me very much
: Bohr to Schrödinger, 15 June 1921, ibid., 307.

261
originality of [Einstein's] statistical method
: Schrödinger to Einstein, 3 November 1925, in Mehra and Rechenberg,
HDQT
, vol. 5, part 2, p. 387.

261
in order that two molecules
: Mehra and Rechenberg,
HDQT,
vol. 5, part 1, p. 365.

261
I have read with great interest
: Einstein to Schrödinger, 26 September 1925, in Mehra and Rechenberg,
HDQT,
vol. 5, part 2, p. 397.

262
the basic idea is yours
: Schrödinger to Einstein, 3 November 1925, ibid., 398.

262
since you have performed
: Einstein to Schrödinger, 14 November 1925, ibid.

262
not even jokingly
: Schrödinger to Einstein, 4 December 1925, ibid., 398–399.

262
because of it, section 8
: Schrödinger to Einstein, 3 November 1925, ibid., 412.

262
return to wave theory
: Schrödinger to Alfred Lande, 16 November 1925, ibid., 418.

263
nothing else but taking seriously
: Klein, “Wave-Particle Duality,” 43.

263
Wave mechanics was born
: Moore,
Schrödinger
, 188.

263
I see no basic difference
(quoted in footnote): Einstein to Schrödinger, 22 April 1926, in Klein, ed.,
Letters on Wave Mechanics
, 25.

263
did his great work
(quoted in footnote): Pais,
Inward Bound
, 252.

266
in this paper, I wish
: Schrödinger,
Collected Papers on Wave Mechanics
, 1.

266
It is, of course, strongly suggested
: Ibid., 9.

266
Above all, I wish to mention
: Ibid.

266
My theory was inspired
: Ibid., footnote, p. 46.

267
What is more magnificent
: Mehra and Rechenberg,
HDQT
, vol. 5, part 1, p. 1.

267
the most astonishing
: Moore,
Schrödinger
, 2.

CHAPTER 28. CONFUSION AND THEN UNCERTAINTY

Page

268
If we are still going to have to
: Moore,
Schrödinger
, 228.

268
I am convinced that you have made a decisive advance
: Einstein to Schrödinger, 26 April 1926, in Klein, ed.,
Letters on Wave Mechanics
, 28.

269
appears rather mystifying
: Born to Einstein, 15 July 1925, in
Born-Einstein Letters
, 82.

269
my beloved master
: Schilpp, ed.,
Albert Einstein
, 177.

269
I was from the beginning quite crushed
: Lindley,
Uncertainty
, 90.

269
he looked like a simple peasant
: Bartel Leendert Van der Waerden, ed.,
Sources of Quantum Mechanics
(Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1967), 19.

269
very quiet and friendly
: Lindley,
Uncertainty
, 90.

270
right now physics is very confused
: Ibid., 108.

271
joie de vivre and hope
: Ibid., 116.

271
based exclusively on relationships
: Ibid., 115.

271
Heisenberg has
: Einstein to Ehrenfest, 30 September 1920, Folsing,
Albert Einstein
, 566.

271
the most interesting thing
: Einstein to Besso, 25 December 1925, ibid., 580.

272
Heisenberg's paper came out
: Mehra, “Satyendra Nath Bose,” 141.

272
more and more I tend
: Einstein to Ehrenfest, 12 February 1926, in Mehra and Rechenberg,
HDQT
, vol. 5, part 2, p. 637.

272
made much more of an impression
: Interview of Max Born by Archives for the History of Quantum Physics Collection, Niels Bohr Library and Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD,
www.aip.org/history/ohilist/LINK
, p. 23. (Cited hereinafter as Born, AHQP interview.)

273
not such an infernal machine
: Folsing,
Albert Einstein
, 582.

273
Schrödinger has come out with
: Einstein to Besso,
Einstein Besso Correspondance
, 225.

273
People were packed
: Mehra and Rechenberg,
HDQT
, vol. 5, part 2, p. 636.

273
discouraged, if not repelled
: Schrödinger,
Collected Papers on Wave Mechanics
, footnote, p. 46.

273
what [he] writes about Anschaulichkeit
: Heisenberg to Pauli, 8 June 1926, Moore,
Schrödinger
, 221.

274
thrown out of the room
: Moore,
Schrödinger
, 222.

274
we suddenly found him
: Stachel, “Einstein and Bose,” 527.

275
We are all here fascinated
: Einstein to Epstein, 10 June 1926, in Folsing,
Albert Einstein
, 583.

276
I saw Franck counting particles
: Born, AHQP interview, 25.

276
I discussed this with him
: Ibid., 26.

277
Here the whole problem of determinism
: Pais,
Inward Bound
, 257.

277
the motion of particles follows
: Ibid., 258.

277
acrimonious debate
…
he believed
: Born, AHQP interview, 25.

277
I am entirely satisfied
: Born to Einstein, 30 November 1926, Mehra and Rechenberg,
HDQT
, vol. 6, part 1, p. 243. (This letter is not in the published Born-Einstein correspondence.)

277
Quantum mechanics calls for
: Einstein to Born, 1926, in Folsing,
Albert Einstein
, 585.

278
isn't that precisely
: Stachel, “Einstein and the Quantum,” 388.

278
possibly I did
…
but it is nonsense.
…
It is the theory
: Ibid.

278
It must have been one evening
: Stachel, “Einstein and the Quantum,” 388.

278
A good joke
(quoted in footnote): Frank,
Einstein
, 216.

CHAPTER 29:
NICHT DIESE TÖNE

Page

279
All the fifty years
: Einstein to Besso, 12 December 1951, in
Einstein Besso Correspondance
, 453.

279
Here I sit
: Einstein, “Autobiographical Notes,” 3.

279
only a temporary way out
: Ibid., 51.

280
I know this business
: Pais,
Subtle Is the Lord
, 449.

280
I am convinced that this theory
: Ibid., 448.

282
Einstein is therefore clearly involved
: Schilpp, ed.,
Albert Einstein
, 174.

283
the years of searching
: Alice Calaprice,
The Quotable Einstein
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), 174.

283
it is my experience
: Einstein, “Autobiographical Notes,” 89.

283
obviously not [a] satisfactory solution
: Mehra and Rechenberg,
HDQT
, vol. 1, part 2, p. 547.

284
the other day I was
: M. Born to Bohr, 15 January 1925, ibid., 611.

284
to give our revolutionary efforts
: N. Bohr to R. Fowler, 21 April 1925, in Mehra and Rechenberg,
HDQT
, vol. 1, part 2, p. 613.

284
fond
…
[which] has a great similarity
: Pais,
Inward Bound
, 259.

285
Do you really believe
: Pais,
Subtle Is the Lord
, 5.

285
Physics is an attempt
: Einstein, “Autobiographical Notes,” 81.

285
We have become Antipodean
: Einstein to Born, 7 September 1944,
Born-Einstein Letters
, 146.

285
nothingness of the hopes
: Einstein, “Autobiographical Notes,” 3.

285
out yonder there was this huge world
: Ibid., 5.

285
I believe … that one of the strongest motives
: Albert Einstein, “Principles of Research,” in
Ideas and Opinions
, trans. Sonja Bargmann (New York: Random House, 1954), 225

REFERENCES

EINSTEIN'S WRITINGS AND CORRESPONDENCE

Einstein, Albert. “Autobiographical Notes.” In
Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist
, pp. 1–94. Edited by P. A. Schilpp. La Salle: Open Court, 1970.

Einstein, Albert.
The Born-Einstein Letters, 1916–1955: Friendship, Politics and Physics in Uncertain Times
. Translated by Irene Born. New York: MacMillan, 1971.

Einstein, Albert.
The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein.
Translated by Anna Beck and consultation by Don Howard. 12 vols. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987–2009. References are to the English translations unless otherwise noted.

Einstein, Albert.
Einstein Besso Correspondance, 1903–1955
. Translated into French by Pierre Speziali. Paris: Hermann, 1972. English translations in the text by the author.