Matt+King+-+Entry+9+(Due+Oct.+29)

The article, "Albert Einstein and Neils Bohr - Quantum Theory and the Wave Structure of Matter", not only raises some good points not only about how quantum theory and the theory of relativity “snowballed” over the years, but it also offers a personal perspective from Bohr on how he feels about these findings, and, in particular Einstein; it is fairly evident (at least from my perspective, no pun intended) that Bohr shows a level of criticism towards Einstein throughout the article. For example, Bohr states that, “While, in his work, Planck was principally concerned with considerations of essentially statistical character and with great caution refrained from definite conclusions as to the extent to which the existence of the quantum implied a departure from the foundations of mechanics and electrodynamics, Einstein's great original contribution to quantum theory (I905) was just the recognition of how physical phenomena like the photo-effect may depend directly on individual quantum effects” (Bohr 1). To me, his statement seems at least a little bit sarcastic; it seems like he feels that Einstein simply tied up the loose ends in Planck’s theories (although, he does go on to balance this statement later with a bit of praise towards Einstein).

Later in the article, Bohr speaks directly about his relationship with Einstein: “The discussions with Einstein which have formed the theme of this article have extended over many years which have witnessed great progress in the field of atomic physics. Whether our actual meetings have been of short or long duration, they have always left a deep and lasting impression on my mind, and when writing this report I have, so-to-say, been arguing with Einstein all the time even when entering on topics apparently far removed from the special problems under debate at our meetings” (Bohr 2). This gives the reader that Bohr and Einstein were almost constantly bickering and disagreeing on just about any topic, whether or not it pertained to the topic intended for their meeting. A final quote from Bohr, “seeking the proper balance between seriousness and humour, Einstein's own personality stands as a great example and, when expressing my belief that through a singularly fruitful co-operation of a whole generation of physicists we are nearing the goal where logical order to a large extent allows us to avoid deep truth, I hope that it will be taken in his spirit and may serve as an apology for several utterances in the preceding pages” (Bohr 3), completes how we can interpret their relationship. While Bohr and Einstein seemed to disagree constantly, they both respected one another and were aware that even in their arguments, they were improving the world of science as we now it. Furthermore, if Bohr had allowed Einstein to publicly spread a theory, which Bohr felt to be incorrect, then the world does not benefit through the spreading of false ideas.