Helge Kragh 2003 Eur. J. Phys. 24 169 doi:10.1088/0143-0807/24/2/357
Helge Kragh
Show affiliationsThis 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.
Issue 2 (March 2003)
Received 6 October 2002
Published 10 February 2003
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