"James Franck, the Ionization Potentials of Helium, and the
Experimental discovery of Metastable states," Studies in History and
Philosophy of Modern Physics, 60 (2017), 95–209.
PDF
"James Franck, the Ionization Potentials of Helium, and the
Experimental discovery of Metastable states," paper delivered to the
Fourth Conference on History of Quantum Physics (HQ-4), Donostia/San
Sebastian, Spain, 15–18 July 2015
Slides (PDF)
“The Franck-Hertz Experiments, 1911–1914:
Experimentalists in Search of a Theory, with an Appendix, ‘On the History
of our Experiments on the Energy Exchange between Slow Electrons and
Atoms’ by Gustav Hertz,” Physics in Perspective,
16 (2014), 293–343.
Abstract (PDF)
Paper and pdf reprints are available from me.
“The Franck-Hertz Experiments, 1911–1914:
Experimentalists in Search of a Theory,” paper delivered to the Physics
Department Colloquium, University of Minnesota—Duluth, 25 September 2014.
Slides (PDF)
“The Franck-Hertz Experiments, 1911–1914:
Experimentalists in Search of a Theory,” paper delivered to the Physics
Interest Group, History of Science Program, University of Minnesota, 28
February 2014.
Slides
(PDF)
“Fritz Reiche's 1921 Quantum Theory Textbook,” in
Massimiliano Badino and Jaume Navarro, eds.,
Research and Pedagogy: A History of Quantum Physics through its
Textbooks (Edition Open Access, 2013); book available on-line at
http://edition-open-access.de/studies/2/index.html.
PDF
“The Franck-Hertz Experiment and the Nature of
Ionization,” paper delivered at the April meeting of the American Physical
Society, 13–16 April 2013, held in
Denver, CO.
Abstract (PDF)
Slides (PDF)
“The Quantum Underground: Early quantum theory textbooks,” paper
delivered at the April meeting of the American Physical Society, 30
April–3May 2011, held at Anaheim, CA.
Abstract (PDF)
Slides (PDF)
“Fritz Reiche’s
1921 Quantum Theory Textbook,” paper delivered at the third
international conference on the history of quantum physics (HQ3), 28
June–2 July 2008, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin.
Slides (PDF)
“The
Rotational Specific Heat of Molecular Hydrogen in Quantum Theory,” paper
delivered to the weekly colloquium of the Program in the History of
Science and Technology,
University
of Minnesota, 29
January 2010.
“Fritz Reiche’s 1921 quantum theory textbook,” paper
delivered at the annual meeting of the History of Science Society, 20–22
November 2009, Phoenix, AZ.
This paper is part of a project on early quantum theory textbooks
sponsored by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin.
“ ‘Astonishing Successes’ and ‘Bitter Disappointment’:
The Specific Heat of Hydrogen in Quantum Theory,”
Archive for History of Exact
Sciences 64 (2010),
113–202.
Abstract
(PDF)
Link to Archive web site
Paper and pdf reprints are available from me.
Essays on “Black-Body Radiation,” “Quantum Theory, Early Period
(1900–1913)” and “Specific Heats,” in
Compendium of Quantum Physics:
Concepts, Experiments, History and Philosophy, Daniel Greenberger,
Klaus Hentschel, and Friedel Weinert (Editors) (Springer, 2009), 39–42,
617–622, 719–721.
“Planck, Max,” with Dieter Hoffmann,
Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography (Charles Scribner’s Sons,
2008). Vol. 24, 111–115.
“Max Planck and black-body radiation,” essay in Dieter
Hoffmann, ed., Max Planck: Annalen Papers (Wiley-VCH (2008),
395–414).
“David Dennison, the specific heat of hydrogen, and the
discovery of nuclear spin,” paper delivered at the second international
conference on the history of quantum physics (HQ2), 14–17 July 2008,
Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Abstract (PDF)
Slides (PDF)
“David
Dennison, the specific heat of hydrogen, and the discovery of nuclear spin:
Experimental Foundations,”
paper delivered at the April meeting of the American Physical Society, 12–15
April 2008, held at St. Louis, MO.
Abstract (PDF)
Slides (PDF)
“Walther Nernst, Albert
Einstein, Otto Stern, Adriaan Fokker, and the rotational specific heat of
hydrogen,” paper delivered at a workshop on the history of quantum theory,
sponsored by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, 2¬6 July
2007, held in Berlin, Germany.
Abstract (PDF)
Slides (PDF)
"Walther Nernst, Albert
Einstein, Otto Stern, and the specific heat of hydrogen,” paper
delivered at the April meeting of the American Physical Society, 14–17
April 2007, held at Jacksonville, FL. Abstract
(PDF)
“The rotational specific heat of molecular hydrogen
in the old quantum theory,” invited paper delivered at a workshop on the
history of early quantum theory, sponsored by the Max Planck Institute for
the History of Science, 13–16 June 2006, held in Berlin, Germany. Abstract (PDF)
Slides (PDF)
“The rotational specific heat of molecular hydrogen
in the old quantum theory,” paper delivered at the annual meeting of the
History of Science Society, 4–6 November 2005, held in Minneapolis, MN.
Abstract (PDF)
“The rotational specific heat of molecular hydrogen in the old quantum
theory,” paper delivered at the April meeting of the American Physical
Society, 16–19 April 2005, held at Tampa, FL. Abstract
(PDF)
“Black-Body Radiation,” essay in Jürgen Renn, ed.,
Albert Einstein, Chief Engineer of the Universe, (Wiley VCH 2005,
116–119). Published in
connection with an Einstein exhibition in Berlin, sponsored by the Max
Planck Institute for the History of Science, celebrating the 100th
anniversary of Einstein’s famous 1905 papers.
"Planck, the Quantum, and the Historians," Physics in
Perspective 4 (2002), 170–215.
PDF
Review of David Lindley, Boltzmann’s Atom (Free Press, New
York, 2001), in Physics Today 54 (September 2001), 53.
"The Kater Pendulum," paper delivered at the Spring meeting
of the Minnesota Area Association of Physics Teachers, held at Moorhead State University,
Moorhead, MN, 29 April 2000.
Review of James Evans, The History and Practice of Early Astronomy
(Oxford University Press, New York, 1998), and Noel Swerdlow, The Babylonian Theory of
the Planets (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1998), for Symposium (SJU
Faculty Journal), No. 17 (1999).
Review of Crosbie Smith, The Science of Energy: A Cultural History
of Energy Physics in Victorian Britain (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1998), Physics
in Perspective 1 (1999): 458–459.
"A Windows graphing, curve fitting, and data analysis
program," paper delivered at the Conference on Computational Science in Undergraduate
Education, Gustavus Adolphus College, 26-27 March 1999
"The Objects of Loyalty: Werner Heisenberg, Nuclear Fission, and
the Nazi State," talk delivered to the CSB/SJU Honors Seminar, 3 April 1997
Review of Jeremy Bernstein, Hitler’s Uranium Club, (AIP, Woodbury, NY,
1996) and Ruth Lewin Sime, Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics, (U. of California
Press, Berkely, 1996) Symposium (SJU Faculty Journal), Number 14 (Fall 1996,
74–79).
Article on Ludwig Boltzmann for Macmillan Encyclopedia of Physics,
John Rigden, editor, (Macmillan, New York, 1997).
"Specific heats and the equipartition law in introductory
textbooks," American Journal of Physics 64 (1996): 995–1000.
PDF
Review of Einstein, History, and other Passions by Gerald Holton
(AIP Press, Woodbury, NY, 1995), American Journal of Physics 63 (1995):
1055–1056.
Review of The Private Lives of Albert Einstein by Roger
Highfield and Paul Carter (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1995), American Journal
of Physics 62 (1994): 1054–1055.
"The Education of Albert Einstein," SJU Faculty Colloquium,
January 1992; published in Symposium (SJU Faculty Journal), No. 10 (1992),
21–43.
"Einstein before 1905: The Early Papers on Statistical
Mechanics," American Journal of Physics, 58 (1990):468-480.
PDF
"Avogadro's Number and the Acceptance of Atomic Theory,"
paper delivered to the History of Chemistry workshop, December 1989
"Einstein before 1905: The Early Papers on Statistical
Mechanics," paper delivered at the History of Science Program Seminar, University of
Minnesota, 5 June 1987
Review of Comet Halley: Once in a Lifetime by Mark Littmann and
Donald K. Yeomans, in Isis (journal of the History of Science Society), 77
(1986):161
"Epicycles, Eccentrics, and Ellipses: The Predictive Capabilities
of Copernican Planetary Models," Archive for History of Exact Sciences,
32 (1985):207-222
"Gibbs, Liouville's Theorem, and the American Frontier," American
Journal of Physics, 51 (January 1983):81
Query Response, "Eddington quote," History of Physics
Newsletter, 1 (1983):30
"The Predictive Capabilities of Copernican Planetary
Astronomy," paper delivered at the Midwest Junto for the History of Science, 15-17
April 1982, held at Iowa State University, Ames
"Paradigm Lost: The Geocentric Copernicans," paper delivered
to the Faculty Colloquium, St. John's University, 20 March 1982
"Has Astronomy Discovered God?" paper prepared for the
Theology/Arts and Sciences Dialogue Group, St. John's University, 22 October 1980
"Differential Osmotic Pressure Measurements of the Concentration
Susceptibility of Liquid 3He/4He Mixtures near the Lambda Curve and
Tricritical Point" (with W. Zimmermann, Jr.), Physical Review B, 19 (1
March 1979): 2677
"Simple High-Stability Potentiometric ac Bridge Circuits for High-
Resolution Low-Temperature Resistance Thermometry" (with J. A. McLinn and W.
Zimmermann, Jr.), Review of Scientific Instruments, 46 (November 1975):
1493.
"Observations of Wall Film Superfluidity in the Bulk Normal Phase
of Liquid 3He/4He Mixtures at Values of 3He Mole Fraction
down to 0.55" (with W. Zimmermann, Jr.), Physics Letters, 48A (20 May
1974): 49.
"Differential Osmotic Pressure Measurements on Liquid He3/He4
Mixtures near the Tricritical Point" (with W. Zimmermann, Jr.), paper delivered (by
W.Z.) at the Gordon Conference on the Dynamics of Quantum Solids and Fluids, 16-20 July
1973, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.
