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This is how Heisenberg created quantum mechanics - a step-by-step guide

Audience:

This is a step-by-step guide into Heisenberg's famous "Umdeutung paper" in which he created quantum mechanics in 1925. I include the experimental reason for the need of matrices, a deep dive into the four key ideas of Heisenberg's paper, and a detailed worked-out example showing how zero-point energy naturally appears in Heisenberg's theory thanks to an early draft of what years later would become Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. A student with no knowledge of textbook quantum mechanics should be able to follow.

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6.98 Overall score*

27 Rank

12 Votes

6 Comments

Comments

8.5

The amount of work put for this video is incredible, not only for the math, but overall for the historical rigour. Congratulations!

As a physicist myself, I have really enjoyed your video (I was already familiar with your channel) and I have learned new things (I had heard about Heisenberg not knowing about matrices, but I had never seen the original calculations that he followed).

My only concern is that it can be “too much” for someone unfamiliar with Quantum Mechanics.

I’m soory I won’t vote for this video, which is by far too difficult for me. I am surprised by what is said that “A student with no knowledge of textbook quantum mechanics should be able to follow.” Apart of that, seems very valuable for graduate physics students, very neat, very clear.

This video covers a lot of content, and the connections between topics are all clear. There is certainly a prerequisite for some theoretical physics understanding, but the mathematics used are accessible. The graphics are nice, and there is some humor throughout. I would have appreciated a couple more links drawn from the equations to the physical nature of what they describe, but absolutely a strong video!

Great video! I didn’t understand what the transition amplitudes are transitioning between, but it’s a great idea to take a historic paper like this and go through the main ideas.

7.8

clear explanation of the historical context and experimental results

This is not a topic for high-school students, due to the content, length, and presentation style. It is suitable for mathematicians or physicists interested in the subject and already with a solid background.