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Albert Einstein (1879-1955) in 1921. Credit: American Institute of Physics Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Segrè Collection. 

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) in 1921. Credit: American Institute of Physics Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Segrè Collection. 

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The endeavor of Otto Sackur (1880-1914) was driven, on the one hand, by his interest in Nernst's heat theorem, statistical mechanics, and the problem of chemical equilibrium and, on the other hand, by his goal to shed light on classical mechanics from the quantum vantage point. Inspired by the interplay between classical physics and quantum theory,...

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... the first decade of the 20th century, many proponents of the quantum hypothesis, such as Nernst, Max Planck (1858-1947 figure 3), and Albert Einstein (1879-1955, figure 4), had come to think that kinetic theory, quantum theory, the heat theorem, statistical mechanics, and (physical) chemistry were all closely related. Einstein's 1907 quantum theory of solids exemplifies the power of the quantum in treating what used to be called the kinetic theory of matter, while Nernst at about the same time became convinced that the quantum hypothesis implied the validity of his heat theorem for gases. 26 On a more general level, it became apparent that the quantum called for new ways of applying statistical mechanics to both the theory of radiation and the theory of ...

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I show how the pressure in Fermi and Bose systems, identified in standard discussions of quantum statistical mechanics by the use of thermodynamic analogies, can be derived directly in terms of the flux of momentum across a surface by using the quantum mechanical stress tensor. In this approach, which is analogous to classical kinetic theory, the p...

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... The absence of the concept of spin, albeit electronic, is what would confuse and confound the interpretation of the SGE as well. However, a key quantum feature of the Bohr-Sommerfeld-Debye atom whose existence the SGE was designed to test -namely space quantization of electronic angular momentum -was robust enough to transpire independent of whether the electronic angular Stern (1888Stern ( -1969 was trained in Physical Chemistry by Otto Sackur [2] at the University of Breslau and in Theoretical Physics by Albert Einstein a at the German University in Prague and at the ETH Zurich [3]. In 1913, Stern became Privatdozent for Theoretical Physics at Zurich and in 1914, under Max von Laue's auspices, at the University of Frankfurt. ...
... The absence of the concept of spin, albeit electronic, is what would confuse and confound the interpretation of the SGE as well. However, a key quantum feature of the Bohr-Sommerfeld-Debye atom whose existence the SGE was designed to test -namely space quantization of electronic angular momentum -was robust enough to transpire independent of whether the electronic angular Stern (1888Stern ( -1969 was trained in Physical Chemistry by Otto Sackur [2] at the University of Breslau and in Theoretical Physics by Albert Einstein a at the German University in Prague and at the ETH Zurich [3]. In 1913, Stern became Privatdozent for Theoretical Physics at Zurich and in 1914, under Max von Laue's auspices, at the University of Frankfurt. ...
... After the outbreak of WWI he was enlisted in military research at Haber's institute, but continued on the side his experiments on the behavior of gases at low temperatures. In December of 1914, he was killed in a laboratory accident at his work bench, while trying to tame cacodyl chloride for use as an irritant and propellant (Badino and Friedrich 2013). He was just 34 years old. ...
... To be sure, Sackur was not on that list either. However, Sackur made a name for himself in a research area that lay outside of Abegg's range of interests and published his key work only after Abegg's death (Badino and Friedrich 2013). It should also be noted that Clara's work, unlike Abegg's or Sackur's, did not seek to enrich the conceptual framework of physical chemistry in any way or to launch a new research direction. ...
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We examine the life of Clara Haber, nee Immerwahr (1870-1915), including her tragic suicide and its possible relation to the involvement of her husband, Fritz Haber, in chemical warfare. Clara earned a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Breslau, in 1900, as the first woman ever, and married the physical chemist Fritz Haber within a year of her graduation. With no employment available for female scientists, Clara freelanced as an instructor in the continued education of women, mainly housewives, while struggling not to become a housewife herself. Her duties as the designated head of a posh household hardly brought fulfillment to her life. The outbreak of WWI further exacerbated the situ- ation, as Fritz Haber applied himself in extraordinary ways to aid the German war effort, which included his initiative to develop chemical weapons. The night that he celebrated the "success" of the first chlorine cloud attack and his promotion to the rank of captain, Clara committed suicide. However, we found little evidence to support express claims that Clara was an outspoken pacifist who took her life because of her disapproval of her husband's engagement in chemical warfare. We examine the origin of this "myth of Clara Immerwahr" that took root in the 1990s from the perspective offered by the available scholarly sources, including those that have only recently come to light. © Springer International Publishing AG 2017. All rights reserved.
... After the outbreak of WWI he was enlisted in military research at Haber's institute, but continued on the side his experiments on the behavior of gases at low temperatures. In December of 1914, he was killed in a laboratory accident at his work bench, while trying to tame cacodyl chloride for use as an irritant and propellant (Badino and Friedrich 2013). He was just 34 years old. ...
... To be sure, Sackur was not on that list either. However, Sackur made a name for himself in a research area that lay outside of Abegg's range of interests and published his key work only after Abegg's death (Badino and Friedrich 2013). It should also be noted that Clara's work, unlike Abegg's or Sackur's, did not seek to enrich the conceptual framework of physical chemistry in any way or to launch a new research direction. ...
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This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. On April 22, 1915, the German military released 167 tons of chlorine gas at Ypres, Belgium. Carried by a long-awaited wind, the chlorine cloud passed within a few minutes through the British and French trenches, leaving behind at least 1,000 dead and 4,000 injured. This chemical attack, which amounted to the first use of a weapon of mass destruction, marks a turning point in world history. The preparation as well as the execution of the gas attack was orchestrated by Fritz Haber, the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Berlin-Dahlem. During World War I, Haber transformed his research institute into a center for the development of chemical weapons (and of the means of protection against them). Bretislav Friedrich and Martin Wolf (Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, the successor institution of Haber’s institute) together with Dieter Hoffmann, Jürgen Renn, and Florian Schmaltz (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science) organised an international symposium to commemorate the centenary of the infamous chemical attack. The symposium examined crucial facets of chemical warfare from the first research on and deployment of chemical weapons in WWI to the development and use of chemical warfare during the century hence. The focus was on scientific, ethical, legal, and political issues of chemical weapons research and deployment — including the issue of dual use — as well as the ongoing effort to control the possession of chemical weapons and to ultimately achieve their elimination. The Proceedings volume consists of papers presented at the symposium and supplemented by additional articles that together cover key aspects of chemical warfare from 22 April 1915 until the summer of 2015.
... In December of 1914, he was killed in alaboratory accident at his work bench-while trying to tame cacodyl chloride for use as an irritant and propellant. [101] ...
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"Physical chemistry is not just a branch on but the blossom of the tree of knowledge," declared Ostwald, a most vocal advocate of his field, conceived as the basis for all of chemistry. This Essay describes the historical development of physical and theoretical chemistry with a focus on Berlin and Leipzig, its foremost centers in Germany.
... Er wurde bekannt für die Herleitung eines Ausdrucks für die Entropie eines (idealen) Gases:der Sackur-Tetrode-Gleichung.Haber holte ihn Ende 1913 an sein KWI, wo er nach Ausbruch des Ersten Weltkriegs der Militärforschung zugeteilt wurde.I mD ezember 1914 starb er bei einem Laborunfall an seiner Werkbank beim Versuch, Cacodylchlorid für die Verwendung als Reizstoff und Treibladung zu bändigen. [101] 8. Das Empyreum -der hçchste Himmel -d er Wissenschaft ...
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„Die physikalische Chemie ist nicht nur ein Zweig, sondern sie ist die Blüte des Baumes des Wissens” – damit feierte Ostwald, dass es der physikalischen und der theoretischen Chemie gelungen war, zur gemeinsamen Ausgangsbasis für die Chemie insgesamt zu werden. Wie das an den beiden historisch wichtigsten Standorten in Deutschland – Berlin und Leipzig – sichtbar wurde, wird in diesem Essay geschildert.
... In December of 1914, he was killed in a laboratory accident at his work bench -while trying to tame cacodyl chloride for use as an irritant and propellant. [21] He was just 34 years old. In response to this tragedy, Fritz Haber halted explosives research at his institute. ...
... Sackur is remembered as a pioneer of quantum statistical mechanics, known for deriving a quantum expression for the entropy of a gas, the Sackur-Tetrode equation. [21] ...
Article
We examine the life, work, and legacy of Clara Haber, nee Immerwahr, who became the first woman to earn a doctorate from the University of Breslau, in 1900. In 1901 she married the chemist Fritz Haber. With no employment available for female scientists, Clara freelanced as an instructor in the continued education of women, mainly housewives, while struggling not to become a housewife herself. Her duties as a designated head of a posh household hardly brought fulfillment to her life. The outbreak of WWI further exacerbated the situation, as Fritz Haber applied himself in extraordinary ways to aid the German war effort. The night that he celebrated the "success" of the first chlorine cloud attack, Clara committed suicide. We found little evidence to support claims that Clara was an outspoken pacifist who took her life because of her disapproval of Fritz Haber's involvement in chemical warfare. We conclude by examining "the myth of Clara Immerwahr" that took root in the 1990s from the perspective offered by the available scholarly sources, including some untapped ones.
Article
In 1921, Otto Stern conceived the idea for an experiment that would decide between a classical and a quantum description of atomic behavior, as epitomized by the Bohr–Sommerfeld–Debye model of the atom. This model entailed not only the quantization of the magnitude of the orbital electronic angular momentum but also of the projection of the angular momentum on an external magnetic field – the so‐called space quantization. Stern recognized that space quantization would have observable consequences: namely, that the magnetic dipole moment due to the orbital angular momentum would be space quantized as well, taking two opposite values for atoms whose only unpaired electron has just one quantum of orbital angular momentum. When acted upon by a suitable inhomogeneous magnetic field, a beam of such atoms would be split into two beams consisting of deflected atoms with opposite projections of the orbital angular momentum on the magnetic field. In contradistinction, if atoms behaved classically, the atomic beam would only broaden along the field gradient and have maximum intensity at zero deflection, i. e., where there would be a minimum or no intensity for a beam split due to space quantization. Stern anticipated that, although simple in principle, the experiment would be difficult to carry out – and invited Walther Gerlach to team up with him. Gerlach's realism and experimental skills together with his sometimes stubborn determination to make things work proved invaluable for the success of the Stern–Gerlach experiment (SGE). After a long struggle, Gerlach finally saw, on 8 February 1922, the splitting of a beam of silver atoms in a magnetic field. The absence of the concept of electron spin confused and confounded the interpretation of the SGE, as the silver atoms were, in fact, in a ² S state, with zero orbital and spin angular momentum. However, a key quantum feature whose existence the SGE was designed to test – namely space quantization of electronic angular momentum – was robust enough to transpire independent of whether the electronic angular momentum was orbital or due to spin. The SGE entails other key aspects of quantum mechanics such as quantum measurement, state preparation, coherence, and entanglement. Confronted with the outcome of the SGE, Stern noted: “I still have objections to the idea of beauty of quantum mechanics. But she is correct.”
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Motivated by his interest in thermodynamics and the emerging quantum mechanics, Otto Stern (1888–1969) launched in 1919 his molecular beam method to examine the fundamental assumptions of theory that transpire in atomic, molecular, optical, and nuclear physics. Stern’s experimental endeavors at Frankfurt (1919–1922), Hamburg (1923–1933), and Pittsburgh (1933–1945) provided insights into the quantum world that were independent of spectroscopy and that concerned well-defined isolated systems, hitherto accessible only to Gedanken experiments. In this chapter we look at how Stern’s molecular beam research came about and review six of his seminal experiments along with their context and reception by the physics community: the Stern-Gerlach experiment; the three-stage Stern-Gerlach experiment; experimental evidence for de Broglie’s matter waves; measurements of the magnetic dipole moment of the proton and the deuteron; experimental demonstration of momentum transfer upon absorption or emission of a photon; the experimental verification of the Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution via deflection of a molecular beam by gravity. Regarded as paragons of thoroughness and ingenuity, these experiments entail accurate transversal momentum measurements with resolution better than 0.1 atomic units. Some of these experiments would be taken up by others where Stern left off only decades later (matter-wave scattering or photon momentum transfer). We conclude by highlighting aspects of Stern’s legacy as reflected by the honors that have been bestowed upon him to date.
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To my dear mom, Lilia Pavlovna Starikova (1939–1973) To my dear grandpa, Yosef Yakovlevich Volisson (1913–1987) To my dear grandma, Marina Naumovna Gorer (1918–1991) To my respected teacher, Vladimir Yakovlevich Maleev (1930–2018) To my dear friend, Amarin Chateau Sallarde, the Oriental Shorthair Cat (2013–2018)