SCHRÖDINGER, ERWIN.

Über den Comptoneffekt (+) Der Energieimpulssatz der Materiewellen.

Leipzig, Ambrosius Barth, 1927. 8vo. In contemporary full cloth with gilt lettering to spine. In "Annalen der Physik", Band 82. Entire volume offered. Library stamp to pasted down front free end-paper. Traces after a paper label to lower part of spine. A fine and clean copy. Pp. 257-64; Pp. 265-73. [Entire volume: VIII, 1168 pp. + 14 plates.

First appearance of Schrödinger's famous treatment of the Compton effect.

"Schrödinger approached the wave mechanical treatment of the Compton effect in his own paper [the present] on a far less technical level [than Gordon]. He practically went back to the optical analogies that had stimulated the whole development in November 1925, and in which the properties of microscopic particles were described by matter waves and their propagation in homogeneous media. From such consideration, he now - a year later - drew the following conclusion: "It is to be expected, nay, even demanded, that we should be able, by means of quite simple phase considerations…, to explain the connection between the changes in direction and frequency of the ether wave which occur in the Compton effect and the change of velocity of the electron." (Mehra, The Historical Development of Quantum Theory)

"Compton was able to account for this (lenghtening of wavelenght) by presuming that a photon of light struch an electron, which recoiled, subtracting some energy from the photon and therefore increasing its wavelenght. This made it seem that a photon acted as a particle: thus after more than a century, the particulate natuer of light, as evolved by Newton, was revived... What itamounted to was that Compton brought to fruition the view that electromagnetic radiation had both a wave aspect and a particle aspect, and that the aspect which was most evident depended on how the radiation was tested. De Broglie was, at the same time, showing that this held true also for ordinary particles, such as electrons." (Asimov)

Order-nr.: 50597