( Completed: 2012)
From Planck to Bose
Signature image of Bose-Einstein condensation
The emergence of quantum statistics is considered a minor episode in the history of quantum physics, because it took place on the fringe of the main course of problems. But it has to be remembered that it was pursued by first-rank physicists like Einstein and Ehrenfest and had a remarkable importance in the debate of the role of probability in physics. This project tries to follow the development of the statistical thinking in quantum physics starting from Planck's epoch-making breakthrough in 1900 and paying particular attention to the interactions between statistical and physical issues like the wave-particles dualism, the mechanical distinguishability, the probability of transitions and so on.
