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Slides of Professor Max Born

 Fonds
Identifier: Coll-1716

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of the glass slides of Max Born, Chair of Natural Philosophy with special reference to Mathematical Physics at the University of Edinburgh, and joint Nobel Prize winner. The slides were possibly used as a teaching aid.

Labels on drawers: "Portaits" (photographic portraits of physicists), "Nuclei, Radiation, Fundamental Particles", "Crystals", "Quantum Theory", "Miscellaenous" (x2), "Thermodynamics", "Negatives". Four drawers are unlabelled. Except for the portraits, most slides are showing figures, tables, formulaes, exercises, and graphs, most of the time with captions but not always.

Dates

  • Creation: c mid-20th century

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access

Open. Please contact the repository in advance.

Biographical / Historical

Max Born was born in Wroclaw, Poland (which was then Breslau, Germany), on 11 December 1882. He was educated at the Gymnasium and at the University in his home city, and he also studied at the Universities of Heidelberg, Zuerich, Goettingen (where he obtained the degree of D.Phil.), and Cambridge. Prior to his arrival in Britain in 1933 when he fled the growing danger of racial and political persecution in Nazi Germany, Born had been Professor at the Universities of Berlin, Frankfurt-am-Main, and Goettingen. At Cambridge he held the post of Stokes Lecturer of Applied Mathematics. In 1936, he was appointed to the Chair of Natural Philosophy with special reference to Mathematical Physics at Edinburgh University. In 1939 he became a British subject. His work on Relativity and on various aspects of Atomic Structure had already earned him international renown and while at Edinburgh he continued to extend the literature of his science. Born retired in 1953, and in 1954 he was the joint winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics. With Walther Bothe (1891-1957) of the University of Heidelberg, Born had been awarded the Prize for the statistical formulation of the behaviour of subatomic particles. His studies of the wave function led to the replacement of the original quantum theory (which regarded electrons as particles) with an essentially mathematical description representing their observed behaviour more accurately. His publications include The constitution of matter, modern atomic and electron theories (Eng. tr. 1923), Einstein's theory of relativity (Eng. tr. 1924), The restless universe (1935), The natural philosophy of cause and chance (1949), Physics in my generation: a selection of papers (1956), and Recollections of Max Born (1965). Professor Max Born died in Goettingen on 5 January 1970.

Full Extent

12 drawers (12-drawer slide cabinet)

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Transferred from the School of Physics, University of Edinburgh in 2015. Accession no. E.2015.40.

Related Materials

See also at Heritage Collections: Papers of Professor Max Born (Coll-309).

Physical Description

Wooden cabinet with 12 drawers, 37 cm D x 36 cm W x 44.5 cm H.

Processing Information

Catalogued in October 2024 by Aline Brodin.

Author
Aline Brodin
Date
October 2024
Description rules
Isad(g)2
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections Repository

Contact:
Centre for Research Collections
University of Edinburgh Main Library
George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LJ Scotland
+44(0)131 650 8379