PIRSA:25100160

Einstein, Schrödinger, and the Birth of Wave Mechanics

(2025). Einstein, Schrödinger, and the Birth of Wave Mechanics. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/25100160

Einstein, Schrödinger, and the Birth of Wave Mechanics. Perimeter Institute, Oct. 23, 2025, https://pirsa.org/25100160 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:25100160,
            doi = {10.48660/25100160},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/25100160},
            author = {},
            keywords = {Quantum Foundations},
            language = {en},
            title = {Einstein, Schr{\"o}dinger, and the Birth of Wave Mechanics},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2025},
            month = {oct},
            note = {PIRSA:25100160 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }
Don Howard
Talk numberPIRSA:25100160
DOI10.48660/25100160
Collection
Talk Type Conference
Subject

Abstract

This talk will explore an underappreciated chapter in the history of the development of wave mechanics. It focuses upon the interactions between Einstein and Schrödinger in the wake of Einstein’s promotion of Bose’s new derivation of the Planck formula for the energy distribution of black-body radiation in 1924 and Einstein’s subsequent extension of Bose’s technique to material bodies. The main claim is that what Schrödinger was really attempting to do was to find a dynamical equation that would provide a bottom-up explanation for why bosons obeyed Bose-Einstein statistics.