The wave nature of the electron

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1、LOUISDEBROGLIEThewavenatureoftheelectronNobelLecture,December12,1929Whenin1920Iresumedmystudiesoftheoreticalphysicswhichhadlongbeeninterruptedbycircumstancesbeyondmycontrol,Iwasfarfromtheideathatmystudieswouldbringmeseveralyearslatertoreceivesuchahighandenviedp

2、rizeasthatawardedbytheSwedishAcademyofScienceseachyeartoascientist:theNobelPrizeforPhysics.Whatatthattimedrewmetowardstheoreticalphysicswasnotthehopethatsuchahighdistinctionwouldevercrownmywork;Iwasattractedtotheoreticalphysicsbythemysteryenshroudingthestructur

3、eofmatterandthestructureofradiations,amysterywhichdeepenedasthestrangequantumconceptintroducedbyPlanckin1900inhisresearchonblack-bodyradiationcontinuedtoencroachonthewholedomainofphysics.Toassistyoutounderstandhowmystudiesdeveloped,Imustfirstdepictforyouthecris

4、iswhichphysicshadthenbeenpassingthroughforsometwentyyears.Foralongtimephysicistshadbeenwonderingwhetherlightwascomposedofsmall,rapidlymovingcorpuscles.Thisideawasputforwardbythephi-losophersofantiquityandupheldbyNewtoninthe18thcentury.AfterThomasYoung’sdiscover

5、yofinterferencephenomenaandfollowingtheadmirableworkofAugustinFresnel,thehypothesisofagranularstructureoflightwasentirelyabandonedandthewavetheoryunanimouslyadopted.Thusthephysicistsoflastcenturyspurnedabsolutelytheideaofanatomicstructureoflight.Althoughrejecte

6、dbyoptics,theatomictheoriesbeganmakinggreatheadwaynotonlyinchemistry,wheretheyprovidedasimpleinterpretationofthelawsofdefiniteproportions,butalsointhephysicsofmatterwheretheymadepossibleaninterpretationofalargenumberofprop-ertiesofsolids,liquids,andgases.Inpart

7、iculartheywereinstrumentalintheelaborationofthatadmirablekinetictheoryofgaseswhich,generalizedun-derthenameofstatisticalmechanics,enablesaclearmeaningtobegiventotheabstractconceptsofthermodynamics.Experimentalsoyieldeddecisiveproofinfavourofanatomicconstitution

8、ofelectricity;theconceptoftheWAVENATUREOFELECTRON245electricitycorpuscleowesitsappearancetoSirJ.J.ThomsonandyouwillallbefamiliarwithH.A.Lorentz’suseofitinhistheoryofelectron