Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics
An important physical theory, a modification of classical mechanics, which has arisen from the study of atomic structure and phenomena of emission and absorption of light by matter, embracing the matrix mechanics of Heisenberg, the wave mechanics of Schrdinger, and the transformation theory of Jordan and Dirac. The wave mechanics introduces a duality between waves and particles, according to which an electron, or a photon (quantum of light), is to be considered in some of its aspects as a wave, in others as a particle. See further quantum and uncertainty principle. — A.C.
F. A. Lindemann, The Physical Significance of the Quantum Theory, Oxford, 1932. J. Frenkel, Wave Mechanics, Elementary Theory, Oxford 1937. Louis de Broglie, Matter and Light, The New Physics, translated by W. H. Johnston, New York, 1939.