Clinton davisson and lester germer biography sample

Experiment contributing to the confirmation of wave-particle duality of matter

The Davisson–Germer experiment was a 1923–1927 experiment by Clinton Davisson and Lester Germer at Western Electric (later Bell Labs),^[1][2][3] in which electrons, scattered by the surface of a crystal of nickel metal, displayed a diffraction pattern.

Clinton davisson and lester germer biography sample

This confirmed the hypothesis, advanced by Louis de Broglie in 1924, of wave-particle duality, and also the wave mechanics approach of the Schrödinger equation. It was an experimental milestone in the creation of quantum mechanics.

History and overview

According to Maxwell's equations in the late 19th century, light was thought to consist of waves of electromagnetic fields and matter was thought to consist of localized particles.

However, this was challenged in Albert Einstein's 1905 paper on the photoelectric effect, which described light as discrete and localized quanta of energy (now ca