Max Born and the Discovery of the Born Rule

Max Born and the Discovery of the Born Rule Max Born (December 11, 1882–January 5, 1970) was a German physicist who played an important role in the development of quantum mechanics. He is known for the â€Å"Born rule,† which provided a statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics and enabled researchers in the field to predict results with specific probabilities. Born won the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics for his fundamental contributions to quantum mechanics. Fast Facts: Max Born Occupation: PhysicistKnown For: Discovery of the Born rule, a statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics.Born: December 11, 1882 in Breslau, PolandDied: January 5, 1970 in Gà ¶ttingen, GermanySpouse: Hedwig EhrenbergChildren: Irene, Margarethe, GustavFun Fact: The singer and actress Olivia Newton-John, who starred in the 1978 musical film Grease with John Travolta, is the granddaughter of Max Born. Early Life Max Born was born on December 11, 1882 in Breslau (now Wroclaw) Poland. His parents were Gustav Born, an embryologist at the University of Breslau, and Margarete (Gretchen) Kaufmann, whose family worked in textiles. Born had a younger sister named Kthe. At a young age, Born attended school at the Kà ¶nig Wilhelms Gymnasium in Breslau, studying Latin, Greek, German, history, languages, math, and physics. There, Born may have been inspired by his math teacher, Dr. Maschke, who showed the students how wireless telegraphy worked. Born’s parents died at an early age: his mother when Born was 4, and his father shortly before Born finished school at the Gymnasium. College and Early Career Afterwards, Born took courses on a variety of science, philosophy, logic, and math subjects at Breslau University from 1901–1902, following his father’s advice to not specialize in a subject too soon at college. He also attended the Universities of Heidelberg, Zà ¼rich, and Gà ¶ttingen. Peers at Breslau University had told Born about three mathematics professors at Gà ¶ttingen – Felix Klein, David Hilbert, and Hermann Minkowski. Born went out of favor with Klein due to his irregular attendance at classes, though he subsequently impressed Klein by solving a problem on elastic stability at a seminar without reading the literature. Klein then invited Born to enter a university prize competition with the same problem in mind. Born, however, did not initially take part, offending Klein again. Born changed his mind and later entered, winning the University of Breslau’s Philosophy Faculty Prize for his work on elasticity and obtaining a PhD in mathematics on the subject in 1906 under his doctoral advisor Carl Runge. Born subsequently went to Cambridge University for about six months, attending lectures by J. J. Thomson and Joseph Larmor. He went back to Gà ¶ttingen to collaborate with the mathematician Hermann Minkowski, who died after a few weeks due to an operation for appendicitis. In 1915, Born was offered a professor position at the University of Berlin. However, the opportunity coincided with the beginning of World War I. Born joined the German air force and worked on sound ranging. In 1919, after World War I, Born became a professor at the University of Frankfurt-am-Main. Discoveries in Quantum Mechanics In 1921, Born returned to the University of Gà ¶ttingen as a professor, a post he held for 12 years. At Gà ¶ttingen, Born worked on the thermodynamics of crystals, then became primarily interested in quantum mechanics. He collaborated with Wolfgang Pauli, Werner Heisenberg, and a number of other physicists who would also make groundbreaking advances in quantum mechanics. These contributions would help lay out the foundation of quantum mechanics, particularly its mathematical treatment. Born saw that some of Heisenberg’s calculus was equivalent to matrix algebra, a formalism that is used extensively in quantum mechanics today. Furthermore, Born considered the interpretation of Schrà ¶dinger’s wavefunction, an important equation for quantum mechanics, which had been discovered in 1926. Though Schrà ¶dinger had provided a way to describe how the wavefunction describing a system changed over time, it was unclear exactly what the wavefunction corresponded to. Born concluded that the square of the wavefunction could be interpreted as a probability distribution that would predict the result given by a quantum mechanical system when it was measured. Though Born first applied this discovery, now known as the Born rule, to help explain how waves scattered, it was later applied to many other phenomena. Born was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on quantum mechanics, with particular emphasis on the Born rule. In 1933, Born was forced to emigrate due to the rise of the Nazi party, which caused his professorship to be suspended. He became a lecturer at Cambridge University, where he worked with Infeld on electrodynamics. From 1935–1936, he stayed in Bangalore, India at the Indian Institute of Science and worked with Sir C.V. Raman, a researcher who won the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1936, Born became a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, staying there for 17 years until his retirement in 1953. Awards and Honors Born won a number of awards during his lifetime, including: 1939 – Fellowship of the Royal Society1945 – Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize, from the Royal Society of Edinburgh1948 – Max Planck Medal, from the German Physical Society1950 – Hughes Medal, from the Royal Society of London1954 – Nobel Prize in Physics1959 – Grand Cross of Merit with Star of the Order of Merit, from the German Federal Republic Born was also made an honorary member of several academies, including the Russian, Indian, and Royal Irish academies. After Born’s death, the German Physical Society and the British Institute of Physics created the Max Born Prize, which is awarded annually. Death and Legacy After retiring, Born settled in Bad Pyrmont, a spa resort near Gà ¶ttingen. He died on January 5, 1970 at a hospital in Gà ¶ttingen. He was 87 years old. Born’s statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics was groundbreaking. Thanks to Born’s discovery, researchers can predict the result of a measurement performed on a quantum mechanical system. Today, the Born rule is considered one of the key principles of quantum mechanics. Sources Kemmer, N., and Schlapp, R. â€Å"Max Born, 1882-1970.†Landsman, N.P. â€Å"The Born Rule and Its Interpretation.†O’Connor, J.J., and Robertson, E.F. â€Å"Max Born.†

US Presidential Assassinations and Assassination Attempts

US Presidential Assassinations and Assassination Attempts In the history of the U.S. presidency, four presidents have actually been assassinated. Another six were the subject of assassination attempts. Following is a description of each assassination and attempt that has occurred since the founding of the nation. Assassinated in Office Abraham Lincoln - Lincoln was shot in the head while watching a play on April 14, 1865. His assassin, John Wilkes Booth escaped and was later shot and killed.  Conspirators who helped plan Lincolns assassination were found guilty and hung. Lincoln died on April 15, 1865. James Garfield - Charles J. Guiteau, a mentally disturbed government office seeker, shot Garfield on July 2, 1881. The president did not die until September 19th of blood poisoning. This was related more to the manner in which the physicians attended to the president than to the wounds themselves. Guiteau was convicted of murder and hanged on June 30, 1882. William McKinley - McKinley was shot two times by anarchist Leon Czolgosz while the president was visiting the Pan-American Exhibit in Buffalo, New York on September 6, 1901. He died on September 14, 1901. Czolgosz stated that he shot McKinley because he was an enemy of working people. He was convicted of the murder and electrocuted on October 29, 1901. John F. Kennedy - On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was mortally wounded while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. His apparent assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was killed by Jack Ruby before standing trial. The Warren Commission was called to investigate Kennedys death and found that Oswald had acted alone to kill Kennedy. Many argued, however, that there was more than one gunman, a theory upheld by a 1979 House Committee investigation. The FBI and a 1982 study disagreed. Speculation continues to this day. Assassination Attempts Andrew Jackson - On January 30, 1835, Andrew Jackson was attending a funeral for Congressman Warren Davis. Richard Lawrence attempted to shoot him with two different derringers, each of which misfired. Jackson was incensed and attacked Lawrence with his walking stick. Lawrence was tried for the attempted assassination but was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum. Theodore Roosevelt - An assassination attempt was actually not made on Roosevelts life while he was in the office of president. Instead, it occurred after he had left office and decided to run for another term against William Howard Taft. While campaigning on October 14, 1912, he was shot in the chest by John Schrank, a mentally disturbed New York saloon keeper. Luckily, Roosevelt had a speech and his spectacle case in his pocket that slowed down the .38 caliber bullet. The bullet was never removed but allowed to heal over. Roosevelt continued with his speech before seeing a doctor. Franklin Roosevelt - After giving a speech in Miami on February 15, 1933, Giuseppe Zangara shot six shots into the crowd. None hit Roosevelt though the Mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak, was shot in the stomach. Zangara blamed wealthy capitalists for his plights and those of other working people. He was convicted of attempted murder and then after Cermaks death due to the shooting he was retried for murder. He was executed by electric chair in March, 1933. Harry Truman - On November 1, 1950, two Puerto Rican nationals attempted to kill President Truman to bring attention to the case for Puerto Rican independence. The President and his family were staying at the Blair House across from the White House and the two attempted assassins, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, tried to shoot their way into the house. Torresola killed one and wounded another policeman while Collazo wounded one policeman. Torresola died in the gunfight. Collazo was arrested and sentenced to death which Truman commuted to life in prison. President Jimmy  Carter freed Collazo from prison in 1979. Gerald Ford - Ford escaped two assassination attempts, both by women. First on September 5, 1975, Lynette Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, pointed a gun at him but did not fire. She was convicted of attempting to assassinate the president and sentenced to life in prison. The second attempt on Fords life occurred on September 22, 1975 when Sara Jane Moore fired one shot that was deflected by a bystander. Moore was trying to prove herself to some radical friends with the assassination of the president. She was convicted of attempted assassination and sentenced to life in prison. Ronald Reagan - On March 30, 1981, Reagan was shot in the lung by John Hinckley, Jr. Hinckley hoped that by assassinating the president, he would earn enough notoriety to impress Jodie Foster. He also shot Press Secretary James Brady along with an officer and a security agent. He was arrested but found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was sentenced to life in a mental institution.

Critically Debate The Arguments For And Against Global Mega-Mergers Essay

Critically Debate The Arguments For And Against Global Mega-Mergers - Essay Example With the growth in the competition and with the rising trend of globalisation, it has been found that most of the companies are merging together in order to avail several advantages. These mergers are the result of the strategy to become world market leader in certain sector or at least to reach a critical mass. There is significant growth in the international mergers and acquisitions that are taking place across the boundaries of any particular country (Einy & et. al., 1995). Arguments For and Against Global Mega-Mergers The international mergers and acquisitions are conducted for the purpose of gaining strategic benefits in the market of a particular country. Salent & et. al. (1983) stated the fact that when an industry is oligopolistic with identical goods and cournot competition along with constant marginal cost and linear demand then in such circumstances a merger tends not to be gainful unless and until it encompasses more than 80 percent of the firm (Salant & et. al., 1983). M ergers in case of Cournot oligopoly is recognised to be quite lucrative if both the merging companies possess asymmetric information regarding market demand (Das & Sengupta, 2001). It has been argued that the cross border M&A is the key to flow of foreign direct investment. Greater share of the total merger tasks tend to be performed largely across international borders (Clarke, 1983). International mergers & acquisitions are a trend nowadays. Most of the top managements of the companies argue the fact that international mergers lead to benefits of scale, high shareholders’ value, access to new markets as well as low overheads. However, it can also be argued that mergers lead to cultural differences, in terms of organisation culture along with national culture as well which is considered to be the biggest challenge in such integration. It has been noted that successful integration of an international merger is quite a long method which is assisted by a sense of equality and c ommon management goals, programs and tasks (Olie, 2002). The new form created because of the merger activity is anticipated to possess increased market share that may facilitate to minimise competition. Although the minimisation in the completion is harmful for the public interest, it can assist the firm in earning more profits (Otchere & Mustopo, 2006). Mergers can assist the firms in dealing with the threats of multinationals and struggle on an international scale. It has also been argued that mergers might permit high investment in Research & Development (R&D) since the new firm is expected to garner significant profits. This will result in better quality of goods for the consumers. Mergers have been found to be quite advantageous in a deteriorating industry where the firms are facing problems to stay buoyant. It has been argued that in case of conglomerate mergers, two firms belonging to distinct industry merge together. Therefore, one of the benefits received in such mergers is sharing of knowledge that is generally applicable to distinct industry (Gal-Or, 1988). The arguments against global mega-mergers is that when