Crafting the Quantum: Arnold Sommerfeld and the Practice of Theory, 1890-1926

Time: 3:30 PM-5:00 PM

Location: Stein Auditorium Nesbitt 111, 3215 Market Street, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19106

Suman Seth is the third speaker in the Science and Society Speaker Series. Dr. Seth is Associate Professor in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University and his talk is entitled "Crafting the Quantum: Arnold Sommerfeld and the Practice of Theory, 1890-1926".

Drawn from Dr. Seth’s book, Crafting the Quantum: Arnold Sommerfeld and the Practice of Theory, 1890-1926 (MIT, 2010), this talk will explore the role of “craft” in two different, yet related, areas of research in the Sommerfeld school. The first being the connection between research problems taken up during peacetime in Munich and the roles played by German theoretical physicists during WWI. Theoretical physics was once eminently practical. And the second, the meaning of “craft” in Sommerfeld’s theoretical practice in the 1920s, with a focus on what became known as the “number mysticism” of the older quantum theory.

See: http://www.drexel.edu/sts/news/calendar/details/?eid=7389&iid=22579