H.A. Kramers Between Tradition and Revolution

1 A Remarkable Person in a Very Special Epoch.- 1 H. A. Kramers: Why a Biography?.- 2 The Classical Synthesis: Lorentz.- 3 The Unraveling of Classical Physics: Planck and Einstein.- 4 Conflicts and the Basic Incompatibility.- 5 Bohr: Success and Ambiguity in a Period of Transition.- 6 Bohr, the Photon, and Kramers.- 7 The Bohr Institute: Pauli and Heisenberg.- 8 From Virtual Oscillators to Quantum Mechanics.- 9 The Revolution in Progress.- Notes for Part 1.- 2 Living Through a Revolution.- 10 A Hesitant Start with an Unusual Twist.- I. Youth and General Background.- II. The Leiden Years (1912–1916).- III. The Arnhem Interlude.- 11 The Early Copenhagen Years: From Student to Apostle.- I. Summary: Between Leiden and Copenhagen.- II. The Initial Contacts Between Kramers and Bohr.- III. Elaboration and Extensions of the Bohr Theory.- IV. Kramers’ Contribution to the Bohr Theory: The Thesis.- V. The Changing Status of Kramers.- VI. How Parsimonious the Emotions?.- 12 From Apostle to Prophet: Hints of Trouble to Come.- I. Helium: The First Failure.- II. More Problems: What Is the Right Direction?.- III. The “Virtual” Encounter of Kramers and Heisenberg.- IV. The Gospel According to Kramers and Holst.- V. The Great X-Ray Paper: The Last Success.- 13 The Multifarious Consequences of a Desperation Revolution.- I. The Struggle About the Photon.- II. The Kramers Dispersion Theory: Not a Consequence but a Success.- A. The Unreliability of Chronology.- B. Dispersion Theory: Background and Basic Ideas.- C. The Kramers Derivation.- III. The Bohr—Kramers—Slater Theory.- A. Background:Slater’s Ideas.- B. Bohr—Kramers—Slater: The Interplay of Personalities.- C. The Bohr—Kramers—Slater Theory: Basic Ideas.- D. The BKS Theory: Reflections and Second Thoughts.- E. The Compton Effect in the BKS Theory.- F. The Intellectual Framework of Kramers’ Physics.- G. Kramers’ Personal Elaborations.- H. The Reception of the Theory.- I. The Crash.- IV. The Road to Quantum Mechanics: The Changing of the Guard.- A. The Kramers—Heisenberg Dispersion Theory Paper: Background and Chronology.- B. General Approach Between Virtual Oscillators and Matrices.- C. Technical Matters: The Old Method and New Puzzles.- D. From Virtual Oscillators to Matrices: Heisenberg Goes It Alone.- E. The Personalities of Pauli, Heisenberg, and Kramers: The Strange Path from Deference to Ridicule to Doubt.- F. The Changing Patterns.- G. Why Didn’t Kramers Discover Quantum Mechanics?.- 14 The Curious Copenhagen Interlude.- I. The Events.- II. Recollections and Some Documentation.- III. Conclusions.- Notes for Part 2.- 3 Waiting for a Revolution That Did Not Happen.- 15 The Search for Identity in Changing Times.- I. The Move to Utrecht.- II. The Change in Style and Mood.- III. The Scope of Kramers’ Activities.- IV. Kramers’ Contributions to Statistical Mechanics.- 16 The Recurrent Theme: Electrons and Radiation.- I. Kramers’ Approach: The Legacy of Lorentz and Bohr.- A. Lorentz’s Influence.- B. Kramers’ Uneasiness with the Dirac Radiation Theory.- C. The Chronology of an Obsession.- II. The Struggle Toward a Consistent Theory.- A. The Construction of the “First” Kramers’ Hamiltonian.- B. Further Elaborations of Kramers’ Ideas.- III. The Story of Two Conferences: Shelter Island and Solvay.- A. The Pre-Shelter Island Status: The April 1944 Lecture.- B. The Shelter Island Conference: Kramers’ Presentation.- C. The Solvay Report: Culmination and Termination of Kramers’ Program.- D. Culmination or Oblivion: Van Kampen’s Thesis.- IV. Retrospect: The Postponed Recognition.- A. The Lamb Shift: How High the Stakes.- B. The Convoluted Recognition.- C. What Went Wrong? Can One Be Too Principled?.- Notes for Part 3.- 4 Kramers as a Person and a Scientist: Conflict or Harmony?.- 17 Personality and Style.- I. The Assessments: Public and Personal.- II. The Conundrum of the Near Misses.- A. The Role of Near Misses.- B. The Litany of Near Misses.- C. Interlude: Near Miss Number 9—The S Matrix Incident.- D. Near Misses Concluded: Omissions and Style.- III. Elements of Kramers’ Scientific Style.- A. The Role of Fear and Courage.- B. Characteristics of Kramers’ Scientific Style.- C. The Role of Mathematics, Structures, Abstractions.- IV. Personal Matters.- A. Some Personal Traits.- B. The Surroundings.- C. The Interpersonal Relations.- D. Fear and Decency.- 18 Obligation and Duty.- I. The Equivocal Role of Religion.- II. Obligation and Duty.- III. The Special Role of Teaching.- IV. Duty: The War and Its Aftermath.- A. The Wartime.- B. Kramers’ Work in the United Nations.- 19 Kramers’ Self-Image.- I. Kramers and the Psychology of Physicists.- II. Kramers’ Lecture on Debye: What Is an Ideal Scientific Biography?.- III. Fragments from Notebooks and Diaries.- A. From the Notebooks: Science and Scientists.- B. From the Diaries: The Person and His Demons.- C. From the Diaries: Personal Entanglements.- D. The Story of Camilla.- E. The Poems.- 20 Epilogue: Does One Know Better—Understand More?.- I. The Objective Recognition: Prizes and Awards.- II. Finale.- Appendix: Poems.- Notes for Part 4.