Speaker: Michel Janssen
Title: How it Began
The quantum revolution of the 1925–26 has often been portrayed as the mother of all paradigm shifts. While the new mechanics did indeed give us a whole new framework for doing physics, there is more continuity with the old framework than meets the eye. In this talk, Michel Janssen, professor for history of science in the School of Physics and Astronomy, will tell the story of the development of quantum mechanics from Planck, Einstein, Bohr and others to Heisenberg, Schrödinger, Dirac and others in a way that does justice to both continuous and discontinuous elements. To do so, Janssen will rely on building metaphors such as using a scaffold to erect an arch or combining different styles to build a cathedral to describe the genesis of quantum mechanics. The talk will be based on a series of drawings by a professional illustrator, Laurent Taudin, showing the gradual construction of the highly non-classical cathedral of quantum mechanics.
