Arnold SommerfeldBorn 5 Dec 1868; died 26 Apr 1951 at age 82. Arnold (Johannes Wilhelm) Sommerfeld was a German physicist whose atomic model permitted the explanation of fine-structure spectral lines. His first work was on the theory of the gyroscope (with Klein), and then on wave spreading in wireless telegraphy. More significant was his major contribution to the development of quantum theory, generally, and in its application to spectral lines and the Bohr atomic model. He evolved also a theory of the electron in the metallic state valuable to the study of thermo-electricity. |
