Home > Science and Technology > Physics > Physics: Biographies

Research topic:Paul Ehrenfest

Find more facts and information on our topic page about Paul Ehrenfest

Paul Ehrenfest

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Paul Ehrenfest , 1880-1933, Austrian physicist. In 1904, Ehrenfest received his doctorate in theoretical physics in Vienna and married the Russian mathematician Tatyana Alexeyevna Afanassyewa. Together they wrote what has become a classical exposition of statistical mechanics. He was one of the first to take German physicist Max Planck's quantum theory seriously and to try to define its relation to the older physics. In 1912 he succeeded Dutch physicist H. A. Lorentz in the chair of theoretical physics at the Univ. of Leiden. He proved an energetic, lucid, and inspiring teacher. His acute criticisms and his formulation of the adiabatic principle—which Niels Bohr placed among the foundations of quantum theory—were important contributions to advancing modern physics.

Bibliography: See M. J. Klein, Paul Ehrenfest: The Making of a Theoretical Physicist (Vol. 1, 2d ed. 1985).


Find more facts and information related to the .
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press

Related newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles from HighBeam Research

(Including press releases, facts, information, and biographies)

What do they mean, these GCH cues? This book explains theoretical physics and why we should care about it, says, Emma Crichton-Miller
; ...99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 IN MAY 1931 Paul Ehrenfest, a brilliant Austrian physicist who...have completely lost contact with theoretical physics. I cannot read anything any more...all the areas of modern science, theoretical physics, with its dizzying defiance of common... Read more
Nuclear Experts To Find More Role in Economic Development
; ...shifted into the application of theoretical physics in the development of the national...bombs proved the key role played by theoretical physics in the nation's defence sector...communications. Su Zhaobing, director of the Theoretical Physics Research Institute under the Chinese... Read more
Focus: Make a big bang in the sciences Time, space, how the world was made - physics is a subject for those interested in the big questions.
; ...knowledge revealed by theoretical physics underpins most of today...history. But what is theoretical physics concerned with? It is...from school physics. Theoretical physics tries to describe and... Read more
`Copenhagen' has atomic humanity.(Arts and Lifestyle)
; ...levels that even if some of the theoretical physics slip by, the intensity of the relationships...apart - we discover principals of theoretical physics becoming concrete, while long-held...the most complicated concepts of theoretical physics easy to understand, even as the... Read more
Top Kiwi physicist no nerd
; ...living in the country he loved. Theoretical physics, as practised here, is largely his...Since 1987 he had been professor of theoretical physics at Auckland University. In total...300 international publications in theoretical physics. Dan was made a Fellow of the Royal... Read more
History of lubrication: Arnold Sommerfeld
; ...compared to his massive work in theoretical physics, but he is said to have derived...retirement in 1935, he was. professor of theoretical physics at the University of Munich, where...the world came to his Institute of Theoretical Physics to study under him, among them several... Read more
Graphs and patterns in mathematics and theoretical physics; proceedings.(MATH, COMPUTERS)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
; ...2004-062363 0-8218-3666-8 Graphs and patterns in mathematics and theoretical physics; proceedings. Conference on Graphs and Patterns in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (2001: Stony Brook U.) Ed. by Mikhail Lyubich and Leon Takhtajan... Read more
A Career in Theoretical Physics, 2d ed.(PHYSICS)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
; QC20 2004-063652 981-238-865-6 A career in theoretical physics, 2d ed. Anderson, Philip W. (World Scientific...laureate Anderson presents a summary of his career in theoretical physics, collecting research papers, summaries, and reviews... Read more
Path integrals and stochastic processes in theoretical physics.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
; ...Path integrals and stochastic processes in theoretical physics. Masujima, Michio. Feshbach Pub 2007 829 pages...systems, then turns to stochastic methods in theoretical physics. ([c]20072005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR... Read more
PETER CARRUTHERS, PHYSICIST, FORMER LOS ALAMOS LABORATORY LEADER.(News/National/International)
; ...said. Mr. Carruthers' interests in theoretical physics ran from condensed matter to quantum...laboratory and a center of world rank in theoretical physics. Los Alamos, operated by the University...in 1957 and earned a doctorate in theoretical physics in 1960 at Cornell University, ... Read more

Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses

Fermi, Enrico 1901-1954
...the next two years abroad on a fellowship that allowed him to study with physicists Max Born in G ö ttingen and Paul Ehrenfest in Leiden. Returning to Italy in 1924, he became a lecturer in Florence, and by 1927 he had earned a reputation as... Read more
Oppenheimer, J. Robert 1904-1967
...ttingen, where he worked with physicist Max Born and earned a Ph.D. in 1927. Oppenheimer also spent time with physicists Paul Ehrenfest in Leiden and Wolfgang Pauli in Zurich. Berkeley When Oppenheimer returned to the United States in 1929, he was twenty-fi... Read more
Enrico Fermi
...In 1924, on George E. Uhlenbeck's urging, Fermi went to study at the University of Leiden with Uhlenbeck's teacher, Paul Ehrenfest. Several years later, when Uhlenbeck was at the University of Michigan, he arranged for Fermi to spend the summers... Read more

Online videos

Entangled States

For Students and teachers!

HighBeam Encyclopedia provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including:

HighBeam Encyclopedia provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including: