Born, Max

Max Born (11.12.1882 - 5.1.1970) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the pioneers of the new physics. He was born in Breslau (now Wrocław). He graduated from the University of Göttingen (1907). In 1915—20 he was professor at the universities of Berlin and Frankfurt, and in 1921 — 33 at the University of Göttingen. In 1933 he emigrated to England, where until 1936 he worked in Cambridge. Throughout 1936 — 53 he held the chair of theoretical physics at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland). From 1954 he lived in Göttingen (FRG). His main work concerned the dynamics of the crystal lattice, the thermodynamics of crystals, quantum theory, the kinetic theory of condensed gases and liquids, relativity and atomic physics. One of the creators of quantum (matrix) mechanics, he developed the formalism of matrix mechanics together with W. Heisenberg and P. Jordan (1926). He gave (1926) the statistical interpretation of the wave function, showing that the intensity of Schrödinger's waves is to be understood as a measure of the probability of finding the particle at the corresponding place (Nobel Prize, 1954). Born and his school applied the new quantum mechanics at once to various problems of the structure of the atom, of molecular physics and of solid-state physics. He proposed a method of calculating the electron shells of the atom and developed in 1926 a method of solving quantum-mechanical problems of the collision of particles based on perturbation theory (the Born approximation). Together with N. Wiener he introduced (1926) the concept of the operator into quantum mechanics. Together with R. Oppenheimer he developed in 1927 a theory of the structure of diatomic molecules, and with L. Infeld in 1934 a phenomenological model of classical electrodynamics that removes the infinite energy of a point charge (the Born — Infeld theory). He was one of the creators of the modern theory of liquids. Born always saw the connection between physics and fundamental philosophical problems; he did much work on analysing the contribution of physics to the theory of knowledge, and sought to make philosophical sense of the new stage in the development of physical science. All this made Born a pioneer of the new physics and one of its creators. He founded the Göttingen school of physics (W. Heisenberg, W. Pauli, W. Heitler, F. Hund, P. Jordan, M. Goeppert-Mayer, G. Herzberg, W. Elsasser, E. Hückel, M. Delbrück, L. Nordheim, E. Wigner and others). An honorary member of many academies of sciences and scientific societies, and in particular a foreign member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1934). An active campaigner for peace.