In scientific revolutions, the quantum revolution (1884-1925) is refers to the establishment of the new science of quantum mechanics, which started with Ludwig Boltzmann’s 1884 thermodynamic analysis of cavity radiation ending, essentially, with Erwin Schrodinger’s 1926 quantum mechanical Lagrangian formulation of movement of the nuclei and electrons of an atom, a formulation later to be called the Schrodinger equation. The following 2007 quote by German physicist Ingo Muller captures the essence of the quantum revolution: [1]
“The ultraviolet catastrophe of cavity radiation heralded the fall of classical physics which amounted to a scientific revolution. It started in 1900 with Planck’s paper ‘On the Law of Energy Distribution in the Normal Spectrum’.”
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References
1. Müller, Ingo. (2007). A History of Thermodynamics: the Doctrine of Energy and Entropy (ch. 7: Radiation Thermodynamics, pgs. 197-232; quote: pg. 203). New York: Springer.
Further reading
● Peacock, Kent A. (2008). The Quantum Revolution: a Historical Perspective. Greenwood Publishing Co.
