Otto Stern (1888-1969): The founding father of experimental atomic physics
History and Philosophy of Physics
2015-05-30 v1 Atomic Physics
Abstract
We review the work and life of Otto Stern who developed the molecular beam technique and with its aid laid the foundations of experimental atomic physics. Among the key results of his research are: the experimental determination of the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of molecular velocities (1920), experimental demonstration of space quantization of angular momentum (1922), diffraction of matter waves comprised of atoms and molecules by crystals (1931) and the determination of the magnetic dipole moments of the proton and deuteron (1933).
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1109.4864,
title = {Otto Stern (1888-1969): The founding father of experimental atomic physics},
author = {J. Peter Toennies and Horst Schmidt-Böcking and Bretislav Friedrich and Julian C. A. Lower},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1109.4864},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
39 pages, 8 figures