Niels Bohr and the Quantum Atom : The Bohr Model of Atomic Structure 1913-1925

Kragh, Helge

Oxford University Press（2012/05発売）

• 製本 Hardcover:ハードカバー版／ページ数 416 p.／サイズ 45 b/w line illus.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9780199654987
• DDC分類 530.12

Full Description

Niels Bohr and the Quantum Atom is the first book that focuses in detail on the birth and development of Bohr's atomic theory and gives a comprehensive picture of it. At the same time it offers new insight into Bohr's peculiar way of thinking, what Einstein once called his 'unique instinct and tact'. Contrary to most other accounts of the Bohr atom, the book presents it in a broader perspective which includes the reception among other scientists and the criticism launched against it by scientists of a more conservative inclination. Moreover, it discusses the theory as Bohr originally conceived it, namely, as an ambitious theory covering the structure of atoms as well as molecules. By discussing the theory in its entirety it becomes possible to understand why it developed as it did and thereby to use it as an example of the dynamics of scientific theories.

Contents

1. Atomic theory before 1913 ; 2. On the constitution of atoms and molecules ; 3. Reception and early developments ; 4. The Bohr-Sommerfeld theory ; 5. A magic wand ; 6. Molecules and other failures ; 7. A theory of the chemical elements ; 8. The end of the Bohr atom ; 9. Appendix: The philosophers' atom