Physics: Heisenberg develops matrix mechanics

Classical Mechanics Quantum Mechanics

1925: Heisenberg develops matrix mechanics Matrix mechanics is a formulation of quantum mechanics created by Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, and Pascual Jordan in 1925.

Commentary

1925: Heisenberg develops matrix mechanics Matrix mechanics is a formulation of quantum mechanics created by Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, and Pascual Jordan in 1925. Why this milestone matters Breakthroughs in physics usually change how later scientists ask questions. This milestone shaped the tools, models, or experiments that came after it. Historical context: Heisenberg develops matrix mechanics Matrix mechanics is a formulation of quantum mechanics created by Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, and Pascual Jordan in 1925. It was the first conceptually autonomous and logically consistent formulation of quantum mechanics. Its account of quantum jumps supplanted the Bohr model's electron orbits. It did so by interpreting the physical properties of particles as matrices that evolve in time. It is equivalent to the Schrödinger wave formulation of quantum mechanics, as manifest in Dirac's bra–ket notation. In some contrast to the wave formulation, it produces spectra of (mostly energy) operators by purely algebraic, ladder operator methods. Relying on these methods, Wolfgang Pauli derived the hydrogen atom spectrum in 1926, before the development of wave mechanics.

Sources: Wikipedia