Where are they?
School year is over, a welcoming sunshine is out there, yet school bell relentlessly
rang for us to get in our class.
Andrew: Come on, it already is the 6th hour, only 40 minutes.
Christine: Yeah, but Physics is endless.
He's full of questions, 'why this; and how do we know it', he doesn't
stop at all.
Getting in our lab a surprise was there for us. Desks were unusually set and he was waiting
for us at the door giving us instructions as to where were we supposed to sit.
Professor: Today we will perform a revision
over time regarding our little world with your parts, which you are to act,
given in pamphlets and you have them right before you.
Your project during the whole past year was to make a research on a
scientist. Extracts of your projects are
distributed among you and you are to act your part trying to connect them. So, Democritus, let's start with you.
Democritus: (460 – 370 B.C.) Please, allow me a short review just to
pay our respect to our ancestors who assisted in our work.
Back in 800 B.C., as you today say, on this blessed land, the awakening
of humanity began. Two great Greeks:
Homer and Hesiod, forged the ancient Greek language while almost at the same
time (in 776 B.C.) the Olympic Games commenced.
In 700 B.C., the Seven Sages (of Greece) through their maxims dealt with the ethos (morality) of the Greeks.
In 600 B.C., two other Greeks - Thales and Pythagoras -founded Science. It is these two who founded the quadruple of
the Greek Miracle:
Language, Athleticisms, Morality and Science,
a quadruple that even now is being followed by the whole Western
Civilization.
Now, in my days (460 - 370 B.C.), two Persian Wars have been ended and
this of Peloponnese is being developed. Starting from Abdera City of Thrace, I
travelled to all familiar places and am influenced by many wise people, mainly
from Leucippus whom I met in Milito City.
We concluded that if I cut an object several (many) times, I will end up
having a tiny part which I will not be able to cut anymore, i.e. the very
well-known 'atom'. That is: matter is
made up of atoms which need vacuum to acquire the property of motion - our
familiar theory of 'existence and non-existence'. Of course down there in Athens views differ.
Aristotle: My turn, Democritus. Here in Athens, your contemporary, Socrates,
through his obstetric (midwifery) method, taught us that 'truth' is hidden
within us and that we simply are a little lazy to look for it. We research ever since, each one of us alone
or altogether in the Academy of your descendant and his (Socrates') student,
Plato (427 - 347 B.C.), who personifies the perfect ideal world, ugly copies of
which we are.
Like you, so did I (384 - 322 B.C.). I started from Northern Greece, precisely from
Stageira City of Macedonia, and in Plato's Academy where I enrolled when I was
17, in which I studied for 20 years, till his death. He was a Philosopher with noble and profound
aspects; though I did not totally agree with him. He sought answers from Heaven, while I sought
answers from Earth. Exactly as the
Italian artist, Rafael, pictured us, more than 2000 years later, in his paintwork
titled 'Athens Academy'.
After Plato's death, I left Athens and headed to Assos City of Minor
Asia, where I carefully studied living organisms setting the corner stone for
Biology. Then Philippe invited me to educate
his son, Alexander, in Mieza City of Naoussa.
Returning back to Athens was my next step, where I founded the Lyceum
known by my name which was sponsored by Alexander, establishing this way one of
the best libraries of the time.
My studies led me to personify that Planet Earth is the center of the
world, that all bodies are made up of 4 elements: earth, water, air and fire;
and that the Moon, the Sun and all the Stars are made of a fifth perfect divine
element, known as the quintessence, outlining their perfect circular orbits.
Therefore, those atoms that you name do not exist and much more the
vacuum which Nature dislikes.
Newton: (1643 – 1727 A.D.)
“nanos gigantum humeris insidentes”
i.e. "if I saw far, I so did because I stepped on giants'
shoulders”.
I so answered, some time ago, when I was asked, meaning all of you back
there, as well as my more contemporaries e.g. Copernicus, Braches, Keppler,
Galileo and many others. The latter one,
actually, must be considered as a great Professor in Physics because with his
telescope he saw things which did not agree with Aristotle and proposed to
totally forget all we knew and go back to square one under the condition:
anything we support now on is to be proved by an experiment.
Until Thales and Pythagoras, the world was governed by gods and
demons. After that, we looked for
reasons and Aristotle connected them so well that his theory prevailed because
it suited the ruling-power convenience, which had transposed the natural
stratification (earth - water - air - fire) to a social one. Up to my time, the ruling powers have two
books: the Holy Scripture and that of Aristotle. If you support anything different – written
in these books – you are considered a dangerous member of the Society and for
your welfare, you must be turned to ashes to sanctify your soul, like it almost
happened to Galileo.
Considering all these while I was in my estate during 1665 – 1666
(because of the bubonic plague - and having experienced the fall of an apple on
my head, as it is said), I established my theory regarding the 3 laws of
motion, as well as that of the world gravity.
Dalton: (1766 – 1844 A.D.) Hey buddies, I do not know what you Physicists say; but I, being busy with chemical reactions, and on trying to reason out the results with the continuance of Aristotle, all fall apart, but with the atomic theory (fundamental indivisible components) of Democritus all bind together.
Therefore,
the atoms of Democritus do exist. Matter
is consisted of microscopic, indivisible atoms which when bound together
compose a kind of particle; then again if they are bound differently, then they
compose another kind of particle.
Maxwell: (1831 – 1879 A.D.) In my time,
current events in Physics proceed speedily, as far as electricity and magnetism
are concerned. Thus, I thought of going
back to square one.
In 600 B.C., the Greek Thales, who is one of the Seven Sages, said that
if we rub the electron (i.e. amber), then it attracts light objects like strips
of hair falling from his head - as few as he still had.
Moreover, he noticed that a mineral from Magnesia, the magnet, when hung
on thread, it orients itself. No other
record is available ever since till 1600 A.D. when Gilbert, after reading
Thales, started rubbing everything around him with everything and kept records
i.e. others presented attraction and others repulsion.
Experiments commenced with children being hung from silk ropes, with
kites and others until 1800 A.D. when Volta constructed the first battery. He so did because he (Volta) had disagreed
with Galvani who had spoken about animal electricity. The whole electricity castle started
collapsing ever since.
In 1820, Oersted connected electricity with magnetism entitling thus
Laplace to figure out and formulate the dawn of motors and in 1831, the year I
was born, Faraday presented the first generator of electric power.
While I was growing, the field of electricity and magnetism was full of
theories and Physics laws, as one followed the other. It was then that I remembered
that Greek 'geometra' who gathered all known at that time, organised them,
enriched them all with his impending view and wrote his Geometry which is being
taught, up to this day, at all schools all over the world. Consequently, I decided to put some order on
this whole mess.
Having paper and pencil on my desk, I concluded in only 4 equations
which described all other laws. Even I
was surprised. Really? Only four?
Hence, I started interrogating one by one and all of them, after all
they weren’t many, only four of them.
So, I asked them:
Maxwell: If I have a motionless load
what happens?
Equation: An electric field is created.
Maxwell: Correct, so said Faraday, too.
But if a load is moving at an equal speed, what do I notice?
Equation: While it transfers its
electric field at an equal speed, then a magnetic
field is being created, as well.
Maxwell: Correct, also Oersted said
so; but what if it accelerates while it moves or oscillates?
Equation: Then it must scatter energy around it in form of waves.
Maxwell: Hold on a moment, all 4 of
you, nobody said so before; but if you are right, then with what speed does
this energy travel?
Equation: With the speed of light.
Maxwell: Oh, this is a
revelation. If you are right, then it
must be proved by an experiment. More
than 30 years were required till Hertz showed up and proved with experiment the
existence of electro-magnetic waves justifying totally my equations. I was so told in the 'world across' where I am
and from where I am talking to you presently.
Professor: Physicists remind me of Tarzan
who visited the city from the jungle, tried to cross the bustling road and the
traffic policeman stopped him.
Policeman: What are you doing there?
Tarzan: Crossing the road.
Policeman: It’s not allowed. Don’t you see the red light?
Tarzan: Which
red light?
Policeman: That little man? That little red man? You are allowed to cross the road only when
this red goes off and the other one, the green one, turns on.
So do Physicists, while experimenting they disregard the laws, they
learn the laws of Nature and he who interprets them correctly the correct
interpretation, when given, is named after the Physicist who so does. Therefore, Thomson, tell us about your work.
Thomson: (1856 – 1940 A.D.) About a
century ago, chemist Dalton brought back the theory of Democritus regarding the
atoms. In my time, some cathode rays
were known; 'something' moved upwards, i.e. from cathode to anode. Thus, I started my game (experiments) forcing
them to pass through electric and magnetic fields. I realized that this 'something' deflected
from its straight line when it got through an electric or a magnetic field. I thought to pass them through a combined
field – electric and magnetic – simultaneously and by regulating their
intensity I succeeded in not allowing deflection; therefore I had a clear
indication of their speed. After that,
it was a matter of time (based on well-known laws of Physics) to calculate its
charge-to-mass ratio. It is worth to
note that this ratio remained constant, no matter which metal I used for
cathode.
The conclusion is that this 'something' is a 'particle', not a 'wave',
and that it even is negatively charged.
Therefore, the atoms of Democritus and of Dalton are not that much of
'atoms'. When negatively charged
particles leave neutral matter, then positively charged ones must exist, too. i.e. those that we named 'atoms' do have
structure which I was obliged to describe.
Thus, I considered that all the mass and all the positive charge construct
the atom itself and that the negatively charged particles are scattered among
them. Some named it the Plum Pudding
Model.
Planck: (1858 – 1947 A.D.) "In Physics we discovered everything. You better follow Chemistry or Biology; fields where knowledge is being developed" said my Professor when I went to enroll in the Physics Course and my answer was that "I do not wish to discover new things, just to understand those that already exist". So, I started my carrier in Physics stuck on the already known.
Try to imagine how I
felt when in 1900 I was working on the emission of black body. I was forced to declare that I found a good mathematical
trick to interpret the transmission of energy, i.e. that energy is transmitted discontinuously
in packs. This discovery led to Modern
Physics. I set a borderline between Classical Physics and Quantum
Mechanics. Without aiming so, I turned
all upside down. Till my days, only 2
books dominated: that of Newton for any mechanical
problem, and that of Maxwell for any electromagnetism one and all were in good
order. I stirred them up all over again.
Rutherford: (1871 – 1937 A.D.) I was Thompson's student when he suggested his
Plum Padding Model. After researches in
radio energy - a recent discovery of Becquerel with Curie couple -, I found a
way to calculate the decay rate of radio energy nucleus, so I constructed a
source of 'a' (alpha) particles with which I started striking all substances
succeeding, for the first time, the dream of alchemists: transmutation, in
converting nitrogen to oxygen (1919).
However, the experiment that became worldwide known (1911) is when with
Geiger and Marsden, while trying to prove the Plum Padding Model, I ended up in
contradicting it and established the Planet Model. I struck a thin golden foil with 'alpha'
particles in vacuum and one in 8.000 disappeared. It was incredible! We repeated the experiment for days, but this
'one' could not be found. Finally, we
desperately looked for it behind the Golden Leaf and there it was. I then declared that: "It was quite the most incredible event
that has ever happened to me in my life".
This alone margined the Plum Padding Model because all the positive
charge and the mass of the atom must have been gathered in a space 100.000
times smaller than the space occupied by the atom. As for the electrons, they must have been
orbiting around the rest of the vacuum space just like the planets do around
the sun. The Planet Model seemed very
good but it had some inherent problem.
When the planets orbit they do not radiate energy; however, when the
electric charges orbit – accelerate -, they must continuously loose energy,
according to Maxwell, and thus end up at the nucleus, which is impossible.
Einstein: (1879 - 1955 A.D.) My contribution in comprehending the atom
starts in 1905 when I published my researches regarding the (kinetic energies
of molecules) 'Brownian Motion', the 'Photoelectric Phenomenon' and the 'Special
Theory of Relativity'.
80 years ago, Brown noted the random and disorder move of pollen grains
on the water surface being unable to interpret it, which I did, attributing it
to the random Thermodynamic Motion of the underlying groundwater
molecules. i.e. it was a proof of atom
and molecule existence.
On the other hand, I interpreted the phenomenon observed in labs: the
Photoelectron one. i.e. the extraction
of electrons from metal with a weak green light beam and our inability in
extracting electrons from a bright red one, acknowledging that what Plank had
considered as a mathematical trick, 5
years earlier, actually is a law of Nature.
Energy is being transmitted in energy packs of specified values which
depend on its (energy) frequency. Every
green photon, having higher frequency than the red one, transfers more energy.
However, it actually is the 'Special Theory of Relativity' to which I
owe my reputation. Knowing from Maxwell
that speed light is constant in vacuum, I added that there is no greater speed
in Nature than this speed and that it is the same speed no matter what speed does
the transmitter or receiver has.
A month later, I completed the equivalence of mass and energy through
the 3-lettered equation very familiar to all around this Planet, whether they
are Physicists or not, E = mc2. This
alone interprets the form of the nucleus of the atoms.
When protons and neutrons formed the nucleus, they lost (as free) part
of the mass they had in form of energy.
In order to release them from the nucleus, I have to return this energy
to them.
Bohr: (1885 – 1962 A.D.) On completing my studies in Denmark, I went across, to England, to follow Thomson. There was this something that I disliked in his Plum Padding Model, and I told him so. His answer was: "Rutherford says so, too. He is there across, go and follow him". So I changed sides (1911), and listened to Rutherford; but again there was this something I disliked. He, too, knew that of course, because of the energy lost by the electrons during their orbiting. Thus, I started my research from the simplest atom that exists in Nature, the Hydrogen one, hoping that if I understood what happens with this, then I would easily understand all the rest.
Rutherford equated Coulombs Force with that
of centripetal and concluded in a relation which bound the rotating radius of
the electron with its speed (set the electron wherever you want, give it the
speed that corresponds to the relevant speed of this radius and it will rotate
infinitely).
Then, in 1913, I remembered Plank and
Einstein's quantization and I forced it on the angular momentum of the
electrons; all puzzle pieces fall in place.
Two equations with two unknowns are always solved. Rutherford put an order to the nucleus and I
to the electrons which cannot rotate wherever they want; but only in specified
(quantified) orbits.
This admission interpreted, in each and every
quantifiable detail, the Hydrogen Spectrum (one light line on red, one on
green, one on blue and one on iodine).
However, unluckily I did not succeed in interpreting the spectrum of any
other atom.
Luis de Broglie: (1892 – 1987 A.D.) It is History that I studied and I was actually enjoying it until my elder brother - being a famous experimental Physicist who conducted experiments at his family mansion in Paris - changed my way.
This happened after World War II where
I served in the army as radio operator.
I started my studies in Physics and enjoyed
German, English, Danish declarations stating that radiation (wave) does also
has a particulate character (a wave-particle character). It is in 1924 that I included in the game the
French finesse on giving a wavy character to the particles, as well, with a
3-lettered equation, that the electron is also a wave, which Einstein
immediately accepted and it was so proved experimentally a year later. Therefore, I supported even better the
wave-particle dualism which already existed.
Of course, above all I enjoyed the 1929 Nobel Price for this research of
mine.
Schrödinger: (1887 – 1961 A.D.) It was Christmas in 1925 when I gathered my notes, took with me an unknown-to-you friend of mine and isolated myself at the snowy mountains of Austria to work. My idea was to put in practice the thoughts of that French, regarding the electrons, i.e. to consider that the electron is a wave. In some way, I was looking for some kind of 'wave function':
Writing, erasing, calculating again and again and back to square
one. It finally dawned. I ended up with a wave function "Ψ = Ψ (x, y, z, t)" which describes a particle – wave
and which does not respond to any space property or acts upon any natural
meaning; as Born simply suggested: 'its square implies the possibility the
particle to exist in some given volume of the space'.
Heisenberg: (1901 – 1976 A.D.) Me, too, here in Germany, thought like my Austrian colleague and succeeded, that same year, to end up with the very same conclusion but used a more difficult mathematical way (matrix theory) as all worldwide descendant Physicists admit.
However in 1927, my research led me to the uncertainty principle which
is being applied all over our microcosm.
Its first expression states that it is impossible to specify accurately
position and momentum of a particle. The
'position uncertainty' times 'momentum uncertainty' is greater than Planck's
Constant divided by 4π or equally 'the uncertainty of the
measurement of energy' multiplied by 'the uncertainty of time period that a
system has it', is greater than h/4π. This principle declares a rule of Nature and
not a temporary technological weakness of ours.
Dirac: (1902 – 1984 A.D.) I was completing my Physics Course when experimental data indicated that Classical Physics could not interpret the atom and the electrons. Therefore, I got down to work and in 1925 developed a quantum-mechanics theory which included wave-mechanics, quantum mechanics of Schrödinger and those of Heisenberg matrices, as special cases.
In 1928 I linked
'Quantum Mechanics' with 'Special Theory of Relativity' in an equation known by
my name. In this equation the magnetic
properties of the electron and its spin are explained. The original flaw of this equation concerns negative
energy. My experimental trials to cover
it with the existence of some possible positive particle, led Anderson, in
1932, to the discovery of the positron (positive electron) which belongs to
anti-matter. It is a very simple
equation, like that of Euler. Of course,
you need a whole academic year to explain each of its symbols. My few words actually characterize me; my
colleagues had even named Dirac's Constant as "a word per minute".
Fermi: (1901
– 1954 A.D.) In 1926, I was appointed
Professor in Physics at the University of Rome where I formed a small but
enthusiastic team of young scholars around me.
My fellow countrymen used to call me 'Pope' because with my team we
struck one element after another due to the recently (1932) discovered neutrons
- by the English Scientist, Chadwick – looking for radioactive
transformations. In 1933, I formulated
the Theory that interpreted the 'b X-ray' from radioactive particles,
introducing the forth force of Nature: the weak nuclear force.
"The Italian navigator landed on New
World" was the encrypted message which was briefing Washington that I set
in operation the first nuclear reactor that has ever been created by Man, in
December 1942.
In 1950, while having a conversation at the
Los Alamos Observatory, during some break for lunch, my colleagues were joking
with the recent reports regarding the UFO, and I wondered "Where are
they?" aiming to express my concern for humanity. Since the big-bang, 13,7 billion years have
elapsed and our Sun appeared only the last 5 billion years. Statistics states that there must have been
other civilizations, superior to ours, which existed earlier. Worst case, which causes my agony, is that
they reached our Science level and their selfishness led them to
self-destruction and that for this reason we cannot see them. It is certain that the discovery of the basic
laws, regarding the structure of matter, predicts rapid technological progress. What is less certain, and what we all strongly
wish, is that Man will mature relatively fast so as to make a wise use of the
power which Man acquired on Nature.
Professor: With your school-year projects, you covered
in two school-hours a story of 2500 years, as far as Science is concerned.
Only 50 years elapsed between 1900 (Plank) and
1950 (Fermi) and humanity had two World Wars and one Scientific Revolution (to
remember Heraclitus' words). Another 70
years elapsed till our days and the rapid progress of Science and Technology
continuous. Quantum Mechanics has been
founded and now we are discussing about 'quantum-computers' using quantum
entanglement. It refers to a concept
that disturbed Einstein who responded with that inimitable: "God does not
play dice with the Universe".
Bright days are lying ahead of you, as far as
you get promptly mature, according to Fermi.
Maistros Constantinos.
