This paper focuses on the early history of the fine-structure constant, largely the period until 1925. Contrary to what is generally assumed, speculations concerning the interdependence of the elementary electric charge and Planck's constant predated Arnold Sommerfeld's 1916 discussion of the dimensionless constant. This paper pays particular attention to a little known work from 1914 in which G N Lewis and E Q Adams derived what is effectively a numerical expression for the fine-structure constant.
展开▼
机译：本文着眼于精细结构常数的早期历史，主要是直到1925年。与通常所假设的相反，有关基本电荷和普朗克常数的相互依赖性的推测早于阿诺德·索默费尔德（Arnold Sommerfeld）在1916年对无量纲常数的讨论。本文特别关注1914年以来鲜为人知的工作，在该工作中G N Lewis和E Q Adams得出了有效地表示精细结构常数的数值表达式。
展开▼
