The great career of the physicist who has failed the Nobel Prize 84 times

Childhood and education of Arnold Sommerfeld

Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld was born on December 5, 1868 in Konigsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia) into a family of a physicist father, this was also the impetus for him to pursue the following studies. this.

From 1875-1886, Sommerfeld completed his education from primary to secondary school in the city of Königsberg, from which he graduated with excellent records. After graduating from high school, he enrolled at the University of Albertina with a major in Mathematics. With his brilliant intelligence, Sommerfeld received his PhD in Mathematics in 1891 at the age of 23.

“The fact that my father is a physicist with a passion for collecting substances in nature as well as pursuing science is of course a great inspiration. But my positive energy and intelligence are inherited from my mother, I owe her an unpaid debt.” Sommerfeld wrote in his autobiography 1917.

Milestones in career

After earning his doctorate, Sommerfeld took the exam for a teaching license in 1892 before completing his mandatory military service in 1893.

In 1894, he had the opportunity to become the assistant of Felix Klein – a famous German mathematician on Euclidean geometry. During his time as Klein’s assistant, he absorbed influence and completed his thesis Mathematical theory of diffraction, which also made him a full-time lecturer. In the following years, he and his teacher compiled four books on gyro theory between 1897-1910.

“Klein was the one who attracted me to the problems of physics in mathematics in a fascinating and logical way. For me, he was the greatest teacher, not only in mathematics, but also in physics and mechanics,” Sommerfeld wrote in his autobiography in 1917.

In 1906, Sommerfeld was honored to become Director of the Physics Institute of the University of Munich. Here he spent 32 years imparting knowledge to many generations of scientists in mechanics, optics, thermodynamics, differential equations in physics and electrodynamics.

Around this time, Sommerfeld made one of his greatest achievements, Sommerfeld’s elliptical orbital theory. His research was based on the previous Bohr model of the atom, but was refined and supplemented. According to Sommerfeld, electrons not only move in a definite orbit, but these orbitals have different shapes and the orbits can be tilted in the presence of a magnetic field. This has added several states that allow different spectral lines to appear. Therefore, this atomic model has brought results close to the experimental values.

Another memorable highlight in Sommerfeld’s life are his connections with arguably the greatest mind in history – Albert Einstein. At that time, Einstein’s theory of relativity was still not widely accepted, but Sommerfeld’s mathematical contributions helped it gradually gain recognition. In 1918, Sommerfeld again became Einstein’s successor as president at the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (German Physics Community) – this is the oldest organization of physicists.

Trainer of many scientists for the new age of physics as well as the originator of the α (fine structure constant) constant for quantum physics, Sommerfeld has received numerous prestigious awards. such as: Lorentz Gold Medal, Planck Medal, Oersted Medal, …

However, Sommerfeld doesn’t seem to have a relationship with the Nobel Prize when he has not won once despite being nominated 84 times in more than 30 years. In 1951, he died at the age of 82 in a traffic accident in Munich, leaving the physics world with infinite regret.

Viet Dung (general)