Matvei Petrovich Bronstein and Soviet Theoretical Physics in the Thirties

The true history of physics can only be read in the life stories of those who made its progress possible. Matvei Bronstein was one of those for whom the vast territory of theoretical physics was as familiar as his own home: he worked in cosmology, nuclear physics, gravitation, semiconductors, atmospheric physics, quantum electrodynamics, astro­ physics and the relativistic quantum theory. Everyone who knew him was struck by his wide knowledge, far beyond the limits of his trade. This partly explains why his life was closely intertwined with the social, historical and scientific context of his time. One might doubt that during his short life Bronstein could have made truly weighty contributions to science and have become, in a sense, a symbol ofhis time. Unlike mathematicians and poets, physicists reach the peak oftheir careers after the age of thirty. His thirty years of life, however, proved enough to secure him a place in theGreaterSovietEncyclopedia. In 1967, in describing the first generation of physicists educated after the 1917 revolution, Igor Tamm referred to Bronstein as "an exceptionally brilliant and promising" theoretician [268].

Contenu

1 Childhood and Youth. Road to Science.- 2 In the Leningrad University (1926-1932).- 2.1. Entering the University.- 2.2. The Jazz-Band.- 2.3. The Abbot and his Astronomer Friends.- 2.4. First Works in Astrophysics, Geophysics and Popular Science.- 2.5. At the Shenroks on the Vasiliev Island.- 3 At the Leningrad Physicotechnical Institute.- 3.1. Theoretical Physics in St. Petersburg and Petrograd.- 3.2. The Physicotechnical Institute and Its Seminars.- 3.3. "Quantising Free Electrons in a Magnetic Field".- 3.4. "A New Crisis in the Theory of Quanta".- 3.5. Science and Society.- 3.6. Quantum Mechanics in the Early Thirties.- 3.7. Cosmology in the Early Thirties.- 3.8. The Ether and the Theory of Relativity.- 3.9. Styles and Generations.- 3.10. The Physics of Semiconductors and Nuclear Physics.- 4 Hard Times for the Laws of Conservation and for Theoreticians.- 4.1. Three Attempts to Topple the Law of Conservation of Energy.- 4.2. The Hypothesis of Non-conservation and the Arguments of its Supporters.- 4.2.1. Waiting for a Relativistic Theory of Quanta.- 4.2.2. The Neutrino Alternative.- 4.2.3. Non-conservation of Energy, General Relativity, Cosmology and Astrophysics.- 4.3. Non-Physical Arguments Applied to Physics.- 4.4. A Duel in Sorena.- 4.5. The Death of a Non-conservation Hypothesis.- 5 cG?-Physics in Bronstein's Life.- 5.1. An Unsuitable Thesis.- 5.2. The Roots of Bronstein's Interest in cG?-physics.- 5.2.1. Quantum Gravity before Bronstein.- 5.2.2. "The Relationship Between the Physical Theories and Their Relation to the Cosmological Problem".- 5.2.3. At the Sources of Quantum Relativistic Astrophysics.- 5.3. The Quantum Theory of the Weak Gravitational Field.- 5.4. "The Fundamental Differences Between Quantum Electrodynamics and the Quantum Theory of Gravitational Field". The Quantum Gravitational Limits.- 5.4.1. The Problem of ch Measurability.- 5.4.2. cG? Measurability and GR Quantum Limits.- 5.4.3. The Planck Scales in cGh-physics.- 5.4.4. Reception of the Quantum-Gravitational Limits.- 5.5. Physics and Cosmology.- 5.5.1. Cosmology in the Thirties.- 5.5.2. Bronstein's Attitude to Cosmology.- 5.5.3. Red shift, the Relativity Principle and Polarisation of the Vacuum.- 6 Creative Personality.- 6.1. Perceiving the World.- 6.2. Vocation of a Teacher.- 6.3. Science and Literature.- 6.4. Personality.- Afterword.- Afterword to the English Edition. Half a Century Later.- 1. From the KGB-NKVD Archives.- 2. The Last Days in the Cell.- 3. Subnuclear Physics, Matvei Bronstein and Ettore Majorana.- Chronology.- Notes.- Appendix 1. Extract from M.P.Bronstein's paper "Quantentheorie schwacher Gravitationsfelder", 1936.- Appendix 2. M.P.Bronstein's note "Über den Spontanen Zerfall der Photonen", 1936.- Appendix 3. M.P.Bronstein "Inventors of Radiotelegraph" (First chapters of the book).- Photographs.