Bibliography

N. Bohr. Abhandlungen über Atombau aus den Jahren 1913—1916. Authorized German translation, with a foreword by N. Bohr, by Dr. N. Stintzing, pp. XX + 156, 1921. Fr. Vieweg Verlag.

The present collection, the appearance of which can, of course, only be welcomed, contains translations of nine famous memoirs by N. Bohr, which laid a firm foundation for the theory of line spectra of the elements on the basis of quantum theory and Rutherford’s atomic model. To these nine memoirs there is appended the translation of a new, remarkable memoir appearing in print for the first time. The article was to have appeared in the April issue of Philosophical Magazine for 1916, but was withdrawn by the author because of the appearance of Sommerfeld’s work, in which a number of problems touched upon by Bohr were resolved. The title of the memoir is: “The Application of the Quantum Theory to Periodic Systems.” Proceeding from views close to the ideas of P. Ehrenfest and connected with the so-called “adiabatic invariants,” Bohr considers from this standpoint: 1) the conditions that must be fulfilled in the stationary states of the atom, 2) the nature of the light emitted and absorbed in transitions between different stationary states, 3) the probability of the various stationary states in statistical equilibrium. The new memoir contains a large number of new propositions and assumptions, not developed in detail. In particular, the transition to the most general “correspondence principle” is quite distinctly outlined. It is precisely by such “correspondence,” for example, that Bohr explains the success of Debye’s theory of the dispersion of the hydrogen molecule. Thus Bohr’s first printed memoir is the natural precursor of the new cycle of works devoted to the “correspondence principle.” These new works constitute an entirely new epoch in quantum theory; therefore the collection under review is quite self-contained and at the present time already has historical significance as a completed stage.

In the rather lengthy introduction, written by the author himself, the latter sets forth the essence of his new works in connection with the “correspondence principle.”

The German translation has been carefully checked and reviewed by the author himself.

S. Vavilov.