41–50 of 55 posts
so many threads on hacker news get voted to the top without any comments at all. usually you're supposed to read the article, but in this case i doubt anyone is really capable of understanding it. so in conclusion, aside from this one the article has the appropriate number of comments.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait, Feynman wasn't one of the "great names in quantum mechanics"??
Feyman was too young for the really fundamental work on quantum mechanics. He won his Nobel prize for his work on quantum electrodynamics. However, he created the path-integral formulation of quantum mechanics, which can be thought of as another way of describing quantum mechanics.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed, although some of this is the luck of timing. E.g. Richard Feynman would likely have been one of the great names in quantum mechanics ... if it weren't for the fact he was 8 years old right then. Linus Pauling, born 17 years earlier, became the 20th century's most preeminent chemist in part because he was a fricking genius and writer (many of his books are still useful today), but key was that also in 1926 he…
Wait, Feynman wasn't one of the "great names in quantum mechanics"??
Gamow's Thirty Years that Shook Physics: The Story of Quantum Theory http://www.amazon.com/Thirty-Years-that-Shook-Physics/dp/048... is the standard non-specialist account of this, it starts with Plank right after the turn of the century and is essentially complete in 3 decades, about when Feynman was in high school and teaching himself serious math.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed, he went to Bristol and Cambridge, whence he developed his relativistic quantum theory. He relocated to Florida towards the end of his life. *edited the part where I assert OP was wrong.
We are splitting hairs here. What is wrong? That his career dawned in Florida?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed, he went to Bristol and Cambridge, whence he developed his relativistic quantum theory. He relocated to Florida towards the end of his life. *edited the part where I assert OP was wrong.
We are splitting hairs here. What is wrong? That his career dawned in Florida?
There's also the word "dusk", which is the opposite of "dawn", but it tends not to be used metaphorically.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Relativistic quantum mechanics typically isn't covered during undergrad. Maybe touched on briefly.
I don't know what university you went to, but it definitely was on my course. Second or third year. The idea that you wouldn't cover relativistic QM in undergrad physics is pretty absurd, and probably indicative of how shallow American undergrad degrees are.
http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/80/35/str...
http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/80/36/str...
These three lectures by Hans Bethe are really interesting to watch and gives you a historical perspective on the development of Quantum Physics. Given his age, the delivery is a bit slow, but it piques your interest in the subject.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Relativistic quantum mechanics typically isn't covered during undergrad. Maybe touched on briefly.
I don't know what university you went to, but it definitely was on my course. Second or third year. The idea that you wouldn't cover relativistic QM in undergrad physics is pretty absurd, and probably indicative of how shallow American undergrad degrees are.