Table Of ContentFritz London was one of the twentieth century's key figures in the
development of theoretical physics and chemistry. A quiet and
self-effacing man, he was one of the founders of quantum chemistry,
and was also the first to suggest that superconductivity and super-
fluidity could be viewed as macroscopic quantum phenomena. This
thoroughly researched biography gives a detailed account of Lon-
don's life and work, and, by following his correspondence with
other leading physicists and chemists (such as Erwin Schrodinger,
Walter Heitler, Max Born, John Bardeen, Max von Laue and Brian
Pippard), examines the process by which scientific theories become
legitimized.
Unusually, London first worked in philosophy, but then in 1925
he moved to Munich to study physics with Sommerfeld. Moving in
1927 to Zurich, he met Walter Heitler, with whom he published the
classic paper on the homopolar bond. He then worked for a time in
Berlin with Schrodinger, but, with the advent of Nazi rule, London
was forced to resign his post. Leaving Germany, he went first to
Oxford and together with his brother, Heinz, proposed the first
successful theory of superconductivity. He then moved to Paris,
where he worked on the problem of superfluidity, and continued to
develop his views on macroscopic quantum phenomena. Before the
outbreak of World War II, London took up a position at Duke
University in the USA, where he died in 1954, at the age of just 54.
Covering a fascinating period in the development of theoretical
physics, and containing an appraisal of London's work by the late
John Bardeen, this book will be of great interest to physicists,
chemists, and to anyone interested in the history of science.
Fritz London
a scientific biography
Fritz London
a scientific biography
Kostas Gavroglu
University of Athens, Greece
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www. Cambridge. org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521432733
© Cambridge University Press 1995
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1995
This digitally printed first paperback version 2005
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Gavroglu, Kostas.
Fritz London: a scientific biography/Kostas Gavroglu.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0 521 43273 1
1. London, Fritz, 1900-1954. 2. Physicists - Germany - Biography. 3. Chemists -
Germany — Biography. I. Title.
QC16.L645G38 1995
530'.092-dc20 [B] 94-691 CIP
ISBN-13 978-0-521-43273-3 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-43273-1 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-02319-1 paperback
ISBN-10 0-521-02319-X paperback
To Annie, loli and Maria. To each for different reasons.
Contents
Preface page Xlll
Acknowledgements xxi
1 From philosophy to physics 1
The years that left nothing unaffected 2
The appeal of ideas 5
Goethe as a scientist 7
How absolute is our knowledge? 8
Acquiring knowledge 10
London's teachers in philosophy: Alexander Pfander and Erich
Becher 11
Husserl's teachings 12
Abhorrence of reductionist schemata 14
The philosophy thesis 15
Tolman's principle of similitude 23
The necessary clarifications 25
Work on quantum theory 26
Transformation theory 28
Unsuccessful attempts at unification 31
2 The years in Berlin and the beginnings of quantum
chemistry 38
The mysterious bond 39
London in Zurich 42
Binding forces 44
The Pauli exclusion principle 48
[ix]
X FRITZ LONDON
The early years in Berlin 49
Reactions to the Heitler-London paper 51
Polyelectronic molecules and the application of group theory to
problems of chemical valence 53
Chemists as physicists? 57
London's first contacts in Berlin 59
Marriage 61
Job offers 64
Intermolecular forces 66
The book which could not be written 69
Leningrad and Rome 71
Difficulties with group theory 74
Linus Pauling's resonance structures 75
Robert Mulliken's molecular orbitals 78
Trying to save what could not be saved 82
3 Oxford and superconductivity 96
The rise of the Nazis 97
The changes at the University 102
Going to Oxford 105
Lindemann, Simon and Heinz London 106
Electricity in the very cold 110
The end of old certainties 113
The thermodynamic treatment 116
The Londons' theory of superconductivity 117
Initial reactions by von Laue 123
The discussion at the Royal Society 127
Termination of the ICI fellowship 129
4 Paris and superfluidity 139
The Popular Front 140
The article in Nature 1937 and Une Conception Nouvelle de la
Supraconductibilite 143
Von Laue again 144
The structure of solid helium 147
The peculiar properties of helium 151
Bose—Einstein condensation 152
The note in Nature 157
The two-fluid model 159
The trip to Jerusalem 163
Leaving again 167
The role of the observer in quantum mechanics 169
Description:This is something more than an unalloyed biographical sketch of Fritz London. In addition, this is something more than a typical run-of-the-mill review, as it is also a commentary on the progress of science. The book, Fritz London: A Scientific Biography (Cambridge, 1995), by Kostas Gavroglu, is its
