Fine Structure Of The by Lamb Willis E Robert (2 items)

Lancaster: American Physical Society, 1947. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE IN ORIGINAL WRAPS of the paper in which Lamb announced the fine structure of the hydrogen atom, discovered the discrepancy in electromagnetic theory called the Lamb Shift, and began the revolution that led to Quantum Electrodynamics (QED). QED basically describes how light and matter interact, addressing it as a small difference between energy levels of two orbitals of the hydrogen atom that was unexplained and at odds with prevailing electromagnetic theory, then Dirac's quantum theory of the electron. Lamb explains "electromagnetic attraction and repulsion... in terms of the exchange of photons between charged particles" (Peacock, The Quantum Revolution, 100). The Lamb Shift, then, is a small difference between energy levels of two orbitals of the hydrogen atom that was unexplained and at odds with prevailing electromagnetic theory, then Dirac's quantum theory of the electron. This small difference, caused by the… Read more

Lancaster and New York: American Physical Society. 1st Edition. Soft cover. Fine. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS of the discovery of the "Lamb shift" "Shortly after World War II, Lamb began his work to check the accuracy of the predictions of Paul Dirac as they related to the energy levels and spectral lines of hydrogen. Dirac's quantum mechanical theory predicted that the hydrogen atom had two possible energy states with equal energies. Lamb's accurate work using radiofrequency resonance techniques, reported in 1947, revealed that there was a minute difference in these energy levels. Small as it was, this Lamb shift necessitated a revision of the theory of the interaction of the electron with electromagnetic radiation. For this work Lamb was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics, which he shared with another leader of research at Columbia, Polykarp Kusch, with whom he had performed wartime research in developing microwave radar" (.Biographical Encyclopedia of… Read more