Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
EDWIN C . KEMBLE January 28, 1 889-March 12, 1984 BY ALEXI ASSMUS UNUSUAL AMONG PHYSICISTS but in consonance with his re- ligious views, Edwin Crawforc! Kemble approaches! his career with humility. He spoke of his own research on mo- lecular quantum physics clepreciatingly, was reticent in ac- cepting its importance for the growth of the American quan- tum physics community, ant! macle little of his lifelong clevotion to teaching. Perhaps we can regarc! his career more clispassionately, neither with embarrassment nor with a memoirist's false grandiosity. Edwin C. Kemble began his college career at Ohio-Wesleyan University in 1906, but stayer! there only a year before trans- ferring to the Case School of Applier! Science from which he receiver! his B.S. in physics in 1911. He began graduate school at Harvarc! University in 1913 en c! completer! his Ph.D. in physics in 1917. After a short time cloing war work en c! a half semester teaching physics at Williams College, Kemble returnee! to Harvarc! in 1919 as an assistant profes- sor in the physics department. He remainec! there the rest of his career, en c! was macle chairman of the department in 1940. He spent a Guggenheim fellowship year in Europe in 1927-28. In 1925 Kemble marries! Harriet Mary TincIle. The couple hac! two chilciren, Robert en c! lean. Two years be 179
80 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS fore their fiftieth wocicling anniversary, Harriet cliecI. In 1978 Kemble marries! Martha Chacibourne Kettelle, his Racicliffe fiancee from graduate student clays. As a graduate student Kemble macle an exciting en c! cou- rageous move into quantum theory ant! in 1919 Percy Bricigman, his thesis Divisor, convincer! him to accept the job of building up theoretical research in the Harvard physics department. Not only clic! Kemble introduce a theoretical sophistication at the university, but he also focuses! atten tion on quantum physics, a subject that generally hac! been ignored, both at Harvarc! en c! in the Uniter! States as a whole. In his first clecacle at Harvard, Kemble playoc! a cru- cial role in the creation of a national research program in the application of quantum concepts to molecular struc- ture en c! dynamics. In this endeavor, Kemble worker! closely with young colleagues and graduate students. In later years he would turn his attention to college undergraduate and high school education. The orientation towards community that was evident in Kemble's career reflected! his upbringing in the home of Duston en c! Margaret (Day) Kemble, former Methodist mis- sionaries. Kemble was born in ISS9 in Delaware, Ohio. Like many of his colleagues, he was raiser! in a Midwestern reli- gious househoIc! that maintainer! an admiration for science, rather than an antagonism towards it. In fact, he clescribec! his minister father as to "some degree, an inventor.") He began his college studies at Ohio-Wesleyan in preparation for missionary duties ~ ~ 906-! 907), but between his brother's urgings en c! his own inclinations he cleciclec! to transfer to the Case School of Applier! Science en c! to follow in the footsteps of his engineer brother. After a summer spent working in his brother's business, the Case Machine Com- pany, which hac! proclucec! one of Minister Kemble's inven- tions, Kemble changer! his mine! once again en c! began a
EDWIN C. KEMBLE 181 scientific career. This choice was not in conflict with his family's or with his own religious views. For Kemble, as for many other physicists of his generation, religion en c! sci- ence clic! mix. Religion brought to science a cleclication to inclucle others in a community that believer! in a higher truth. Case, the site of Kemble's first scientific education, was founclec! in ISS0 as an engineering school in inclustrial Cleve- lancI. By the time Kemble attenclec! Case it hac! clevelopec! strengths in science. Dayton C. Miller, a nationally recog- nizec! scientist worker! there in the physics of acoustics, but because many students at Case wan tee! to be physicists, Miller hac! only one or two students a year. Kemble was one of the few. While working on his unclergracluate thesis project with Miller, Kemble burst into a week of productive, frenzies! work, which, he toic! historian Thomas Kuhn fifty years later, "left one with a vivic! sense of the way . . . mental activity propagates itself."2 Kemble gracluatec! from Case in 1911 en c! spent the fol lowing year as a physics instructor at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, a school founclecI, as was Case, in response to the growing clamant! for higher education for technologists. During that year, Miller obtainer! a graduate fellowship for Kemble at Harvarc! a fellowship personally finances! by Harvarc! Professor Wallace Sabine, a colleague of Miller's in acoustics. In 1913 Kemble came to Harvarc! as a graduate student. At the time the physics department at Harvarc! was hospi- table neither to the new quantum physics making its ap- pearance on the Continent nor to a practice of physics that incluclec! theorists as well as experimentaTists. (Theoretical physics had made its appearance in Europe thirty years prior.) It was not that Americans completely ignorer! quantum phys- ics. Planck's blackbocly racliation law was well known en c! an
82 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS American, Robert A. Millikan, was the one to put Einstein's photoelectric equation to an experimental test. (He expecter! to prove it wrong!) Physicists in the Uniter! States were primarily interested in experimental matters en c! hac! not confrontec! critically the quantum theory as a whole. Kemble was formally introclucec! to the new theory in G. W. Pierce's course on racliation, but the professor hac! much to say against it. Kemble, on the other hancI, was cir awn to the new icleas. "Everything with a quantum in it, with 'h' in it, was exciting."3 His early enthusiasm took the form of two graduate "theses," so-callec! papers requires! for graduate courses at Harvard. They were on an area of physics where quantum icleas were coming into conflict with oicler prin- ciples. The theses were on the problem of specific heats of colitis en c! on the statement of the equipartition theorem. While considering dissertation topics, Kemble jumper! at the icleas introclucec! in a talk by fellow student lames B. Brinsmacle on the recently introclucec! quantum theory of molecular spectra. In the usual accounts of the history of physics little has been sail! about the unraveling of molecular structure, a feat accomplishes! by the stucly of molecular spectra. The focus hac! been on atomic structure, because it was in this area that the most interesting and foundational questions of quantum theory were aciciressec! in the perioc! 1916-25. During this time Niels Bohr became a central figure in the clevelopment of the new theory. Historians of moclern phys- ics have emphasized his work, especially his papers of 1913, which preclictec! accurately the spectra of atomic hydrogen. Yet, in 1913 en c! for several years after, Bohr's work was not part of the mainstream effort to clevelop a quantum theory. In fact, atomic structure en c! atomic spectra were harcIly consiclerec! in the years between 1900 en c! 1916, instead, the focus was on the quantum behavior of collective sys
EDWIN C. KEMBLE 183 ferns (blackbocly racliation en c! specific heats). The particu- lar mechanical systems that were quantizes! the oscillator en c! the rotator were basic to molecular structure. At the Solvay conference in 1911 the question of how to quantize the rotator was cliscussec! thoroughly. In the labo- ratory of the organizer of the conference, Walther Nernst, work was being clone on predicting the spectra of molecu- lar gases, particularly HCI. A young Danish researcher, Niels Bjerrum, took the moclel of a "quantized" rotator en c! user! it to predict accurately what is now caller! the vibrational- rotational spectra of molecules. Bjerrum macle the analysis independently of and slightly prior to Bohr's application of quantizes! motion to atomic spectra. It was to Bjerrum's theory of molecular spectra that Kemble turner! as a graduate student. Kemble, so interested in "ev- erything with a quantum in it" hac! fount! a problem. He wrote in his first paper: "The explanation of the structure of infrarec! bancis of gases given by Bjerrum has lee! to strik- ing direct confirmation of the quantum theory in the form first proposer! by Planck (assuming absorption as well as emission by quanta), en c! gives to the stucly of these bancis a large significance for the further clevelopment of the theory."4 Kemble took Bjerrum's moclel of a molecule as a simple vibrating quantum rotator en c! moclifiec! it to inclucle an- harmonic vibrations en c! interactions between vibrations en c! rotations. Bjerrum's formula for the spectral lines of mo- lecular bancis was vim = vO + vr where vO is the vibrational frequency en c! vr the rotational frequency quantizes! to give vr = nh/2~2{ ~ the moment of inertia). (Bjerrum applier! the traclitional electroclynamic identification of racliation with mechanical frequencies.) With his inclusion of non- linear terms Kemble obtainer! to seconc! order v = (vO - a/ vr2) + vr, the adjustment coming in a decrease in the vibra- tional frequency as the rotator speeclec! up, pullet! apart,
84 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS en c! sampler! the non-linear range of the force homing the two atoms together. Percy Bricigman supervisec! Kemble's work as a graduate student. Harvarcl's well-known experimentaTist championec! the cause of a young graduate student who wan tee! to clo theory. Even though Bricigman conic! not help with the quan- tum theory, he did provide Kemble with a philosophy for cloing physics, which Kemble clescribec! later as "heaven sent." Inspirec! by Einstein's definitions of space en c! time, Bricigman came to believe that all concepts in physics must be clefin- able in terms of measurable quantities. To define a concept meant to explain, at least in principle, how to measure it. He argucc! that concepts not clefinable in operational terms were meaningless.5 Kemble embracer! Bricigman's operation- alism, as it came to be callecI, en c! macle it central to his own understanding of quantum theory. Even though Bricigman's operationalism proviclec! Kemble with a philoso- phy of quantum mechanics, Bricigman himself never felt comfortable with (nor clic! he ever accept) quantum me chanics. Kemble was given permission to clo a theoretical thesis (one of the first presented in this country), but only after his Divisor manager! to convince other members of the cle- partment of its value. A compromise was agrees! upon, Kemble must have an experimental section, too. Kemble collabo- ratec! with Brinsmacle, the fellow graduate student who hac! introclucec! him to Bjerrum's theory, to obtain beautiful molecular spectra, which confirmed! Kemble's postulates! anharmonicity of vibrational motion. A short piece on Kemble in McGraw-Hill's Men of Sci- ence series sharply criticizes Kemble for his equating of radiation frequencies with mechanical frequencies and his ignorance of Bohr's new frequency condition that gives ra- cliation frequencies as differences in energy (rather than as
EDWIN C. KEMBLE 185 a function of mechanical motion).6 The absence of Bohr's theory from Kemble's work shecis light on history, however, en c! shouIc! not leac! to the conclusion that the young Ameri- can was ignorant. When Kemble was working on his graclu- ate thesis, Bohr's frequency condition clic! not apply to mo- lecular dynamics, it was clear from Bohr's papers of 1913 that the conclition applier! only to electronic motion en c! not to the rotation en c! vibration of molecules. Kemble macle no mistake in ignoring it. The straightforwardness en c! suc- cess of Bjerrum's more semi-classical approach, which equates! racliation frequencies with mechanical ones, clelayoc! the application of Bohr's frequency condition to the infrarec! spectra of molecules. In fact, Bohr's frequency conclition lee! to clifficulties. Why were so many frequencies forbicI- clen? Partly clue to this clifficulty it was not until 1919 that a unifies! explanation of frequencies wouic! apply to molecu- lar en c! atomic spectra. When Kemble gracluatec! from Harvarc! in June of 1917 the country was at war. Kemble felt it his duty to clevelop airplane engines at Curtiss Aircraft Company, which he clic! until he was lair! off precipitously as the war nearec! its end. Although Harvarc! wantec! him back as a faculty member (in fact, the department hac! never wan tee! him to leave), a position conic! not be fount! immecliately, en c! Kemble taught at Williams College for half a semester. When Harvarc! clic! make Kemble an offer, he was shocker! at the low salary en c! the low status of the position he thought that impliecI. Kemble toic! the department that he wouic! have to support his parents in the future en c! reminclec! them somewhat cryptically of the "shipwreck of an engagement" he hac! sufferer! in the past. (After his first wife cliec! Kemble mar- riot! his fiancee from his graduate student years.) In a long letter clesignec! to lure Kemble to Harvard, his oic! Divisor Bricigman explainec! his plans to built! up theory
86 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS at Harvarc! en c! to support its growth across the country. Kemble's coming to the university was crucial to the plan. Bricigman outline c! a restructurec! curriculum that hac! Kemble teaching four upper-level courses (two of them graclu- ate): racliation theory, quantum theory of the infrared, photo- electricity, en c! specific heats, X-ray crystal structure, en c! a special topics course in theory. Previously the Harvarc! cle- partment, like others in the country, hac! focuses! on elec- tromagnetism (e.g., racliotelegraphy, optics, en c! wave propa- gation). More than three-quarters of the physics classes given in 1919 fell uncler this rubric. Now Bricigman envisionec! a move away from this concentration, en c! he wan tee! his former graduate stuclent's help. I am really enthusiastic about this scheme of courses. It comes pretty close to what I have been wanting for a long time. If we can get the courses well given, it ought to put Harvard pretty near the top in this country. What is more, it is a good beginning to putting the country on the map in theoreti- cal physics. Course 22 [the special topics course] is designed especially for this, and would nominally be taken only by those students specializing in theoretical physics, of whom we shall hope for an increasing number. But you see that you are an essential part of this program. Don't you want to be a member of a Department that is trying to do this, and don't you feel the challenge in this?7 Kemble acceptec! the challenge. Establishing theoretical physics at Harvarc! en c! taking the department to the top was a heavy responsibility for a young man. Kemble starter! immecliately. His first year at Harvarc! he taught one of the earliest courses in quantum theory given in the country. His approach to the subject was taken from Bricigman en c! exemplified the American approach to theory. It seems to me essential that we approach the subject in a proper frame of mind. The quantum theory is an attempt to correlate and ultimately to give a partial explanation of a series of startling facts which are in apparent conflict with the laws of classical mechanics and classical electrodynamics. I
EDWIN C. KEMBLE 187 say that it is an attempt to give a {partial explanation of these facts because in the last analysis the physicists seek merely to formulate a few fundamen- tal equations from which the behavior of matter may be predicted and into whose origin we will hardly inquire.... In such a subject as this we must not look for rigorous logical deductions and we must not make too much of the paradoxes which come up from time to time. The theory is simply justified by (a) the nature of the phenomena it is designed to explain, (b) the results already obtained in the shape of formulae which stand the test of quantitative comparison with the results of experiment, and (c) the gradual clarification of the fundamental ideas on which it rests.8 Kemble's first graduate student was John Van VIeck, en c! many follower! in the next fifteen years (e.g., Clarence Ze- ner, lames H. Bartlett, Eugene Feenberg, en c! I. L. Dun- ham). Although Van VIeck ant! Kemble worker! on the crossecI-orbit moclel of the helium atom, most of Kemble's students user! the quantum theory to shot! light on molecu- lar structure. In fact, this was generally true of the emerg- ing quantum physics community in the Uniter! States clur- ing the twenties, the focus was on molecular structure, not, as in Europe, on atomic structure. At this time there was a fine spectroscopic tradition in the country. Harrison Ranciall heaclec! a major infrarec! spec- troscopy laboratory at the University of Michigan. At the enc! of the nineteenth century, Ernst Fox Nichols at Cornell hac! clevelopec! the resiclual ray technique to isolate harcI-to- cletect infrarec! racliation, en c! his student William W. Coblentz hac! inventec! en c! improver! instruments to detect infrarec! frequencies. Coblentz's three-volume work Investigations of Infrared Spectra became the reference work for molecular spectra, as hac! Heinrich Kayser en c! Car! Runge's for atomic spectra. The molecular dynamics of rotation en c! vibration generate spectra in the infrared. Electron motions in mol- ecules en c! atoms generally produce spectra in the optical en c! higher frequencies. The national origins of these two compendia (one Ameri
88 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS can, the other German) point to the research focus each country took cluring the ~ 920s. While the Germans en c! other Europeans focuses! on atomic structure in their quest for the foundation of quantum theory, the Americans achiever! maturity as physicists by studying the quantum nature of molecular structure. They shunner! the waters of atomic physics en c! thus avoiclec! competing with those whom Raymonc! T. Birge, molecular spectroscopist at Berkeley en c! Kemble's close correspondent, caller! the "atomic structure sharks." Kemble was at the center of the research program in molecular structure. Having introclucec! the quantum prob- lem to the Uniter! States, he went on to chair the National Research Council's Committee on Racliation in Gases, which during its three-year-Ion" preparation (1923-26) of a book- length report Motecular Spectra in Gases, server! as the coor- dinating group for a national research program. Kemble represented! Harvarc! en c! the east, Ranciall's group at Michi- gan was represented on the committee by Walter F. Colby, en c! Raymonc! T. Birge spoke for the west from his position as a skillet! molecular spectroscopist at Berkeley. A post- cloctoral fellow at Harvard, Robert S. Mulliken, playact a large role in the research en c! writing of the report, al- though he was not an official member of the committee. . . A crucial ingredient for the growth en c! success of the research program in molecular structure were the post-cloc- toral fellows, like Mulliken. Funclec! postcloctoral research en c! education was set up after Woric! War I by the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Research Council. These two institutions chose to support physics en c! chemistry by cre- ating a number of non-teaching, one- to two-year research Positions for young Ph.D.s. The existence of these research positions, intermediate between professor en c! graduate stu
EDWIN C. KEMBLE 189 clents, market! the beginning of the moclern scientific re- search group. One of the first such research groups was the one that surrounclec! Kemble at Harvarc! from 1923 to 1927. Mulliken arriver! at Harvarc! in 1923 en c! in the following years was joiner! by three other postcloctoral fellows. The group worker! to unclerstanc! fluorescent bane! spectra, the Zeeman effect, en c! the vibrational-rotational bancis that appear in the elec- tronic spectra of molecules. Mulliken became known for his untangling of molecular isotopic effects. The years 1923-26 were a fertile perioc! for the uncler- stancling of molecular structure. Because the oIcler quan- tum theory gave essentially the same energies for the rota- tor ant! oscillator as clic! the soon-to-come quantum mechanics, the conclusions reacher! about clynamical struc- ture were to remain vaTic! across the great clivicle of 1926 (the invention of quantum mechanics). The success of the molecular program pre-1926 mover! Kemble to introduce the National Research CounciT's report with: "Although the theory of quanta has marvelously illuminates! all branches of physics connecter! in any intimate way with atomic en c! molecular processes, few subjects have become more strik- ingly cIarifiec! than that of bane! (molecular) spectra."9 The stability of molecules remainec! an insoluble prob- lem in the context of the oicler quantum theory, however. The solution of the binding problem for the hydrogen mol- ecule by Heitler en c! London in 1927, usually marks the beginning of quantum chemistry, but the discipline's roots go farther back. The education of American quantum physi- cists in the early twenties through the stucly of molecular structure set the stage for an American-clominatec! clisci- pline of quantum chemistry in the late twenties en c! thir- ties, in this Kemble playact a key role. Right at the heyday of excitement over the discovery of
90 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS quantum mechanics, in 1927-28, Kemble spent a Guggenheim fellowship year in Europe, mainly at Gottingen en c! Munich. Here Kemble macle what he later caller! the worst policy decision of his life: to finish up an older quantum theoreti- cal calculation for bane! spectra rather than throw himself wholeheartecIly into learning the new theory. To friends in the Uniter! States he wrote that he conic! not make heacis or tails of von Neumann's first lectures on quantum me- chanics (anc! he mentionec! that neither conic! Max Born). In the next clecacle, Kemble was to more than make up for his initial neglect of the theory. On his return to the Uniter! States, Kemble wrote with E. . V. Hill two Tong review articles on quantum theory for the first issues of Reviews of Modern Physics. The articles were the first publisher! exposition of the new theory in the Uniter! States. Kemble continues! to work on unclerstancling the basis of the theory, considering the meaning of probability in the quantum case en c! the relation between the wave functions and the physical states of the system. Kemble's efforts to secure a mathematical foundation for quantum mechanics culminates! in his textbook Fundamental Principles of Quantum Mechanics (1937), a book so cletailec! en c! math- ematical in its attempt to ground quantum mechanics op- erationally that it was little user! as a textbook. Kemble openly attributer! his approach to Bricigman's. Founciational con- cepts shouIc! be baser! on explicitly measurable properties, not on intuitive ideas or metaphysical comforts. The care and consideration Kemble brought to his un- clerstancling of quantum mechanics in many ways a mea cuIpa for his earlier decision to clisregarc! the theory in 1927 was antithetical to a pursuit of his own research in molecular structure. In 1969 in a short autobiographical sketch, he wrote, "I am prouc! of them The papers en c! the book on the foundations of quantum mechanics] and too
EDWIN C. KEMBLE 191 cleeply interested in questions of clarity in the organization of knowlecige to wish that I hac! taken a different course in 1929. But I did pay a high price for my interest in philoso- phy.~° With WorIc! War II came another shift in Kemble's ca- reer. Many of his colleagues worker! for the duration of the war at MIT's Racliation Laboratory. Kemble, who chairec! the physics department from 1940-1045, supervised the teach- ing of basic physics to military officers. He consultec! for the Navy's underwater sounc! laboratory cluring the war en c! in 1945 was part of the overseas ALSOS mission, whose top- secret job was to uncover German atomic bomb research. Kemble enjoyoc! en c! was intrigues! by his wartime task of explaining physics to non-physicists. At war's end, he hac! a chance to continue this work. Reacting to the great role science playact in the war, James B. Conant, president of Harvard, high-level administrator in the bomb project, en c! chemist, proposer! to teach science to all Harvarc! uncler- gracluates by teaching them the history of science. Conant hoper! to highlight the importance of science for social change. Kemble enthusiastically joiner! the general ecluca- tion project, en c! a lunchtime group was set up in the phys- ics department to try to enact the ambitious plan. (It in- cluclec! Kemble, I. Bernarc! Cohen, Geralc! Holton, Thomas S. Kuhn, Philippe Le Corbeiller, en c! Leonarc! K. Nash.) As part of the general education program, Kemble taught a course in the physical sciences to non-science majors. The cartons of student papers he kept attest to his love of the job en c! his belief that writing the history of science conic! stimulate the imagination of those who wouIc! have to manage what he caller! the "issues of the clay, . . . war en c! peace, racial injustice, overpopulation, automation, the pol- lution en c! contamination of the atmosphere en c! water sup- ply fancI] the breakdown of traclitional values." During
92 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS the fifties, Kemble worker! on restructuring the curriculum for physics majors as well. His major contribution was to chair a committee that forwardly! recommendations for a revision of stanciarc! electromagnetism courses given at the college level. Kemble's concern about the conditions of moclern soci- ety was integral to his political en c! personal life as well as to his teaching. He protester! security restrictions in the National Science Foundation bill of 1950, encourages! sci- entists to join the Fecleration of American Scientists cluring the Cold War, and played a role in the peace movement as part of a Methodist congregation. Kemble retiree! from Harvarc! in 1957, having spent all but three years there since the time he enterer! graduate school. For three years after retirement, he was director of Harvarcl's Academic Year Institute, where high-school teachers could study with university professors. The beneficiaries of Kemble's teaching were many: young postcloctoral research- ers, graduate students, unclergracluates (both scientists en c! non-scientists), and finally high school teachers (and indi- rectly their students). He served his scientific community in official capacities as chairman of the Physics Section of the National Academy of Sciences ~945-48) en c! as a mem- ber of the Executive Committee of the National Research CounciT's Division of Physical Sciences. Kemble was embarrassed and always apologetic about his scientific output. "As you see, my career has not been one of great distinction," he wrote. The feeling was intensified by the high-caliber students he saw blossoming uncler him, physicists like John Van VIeck, Robert S. Mulliken, John C. STater, en c! l. Robert Oppenheimer. After his wartime teaching experience, Kemble made a decision: "I saw myself spend- ing the rest of my life panting to try to keep within hailing
EDWIN C. KEMBLE 193 distance of what was going on. I cleliberately quit being a scientist at that time although I continues! to teach."~3 Looking back at Kemble's entire career allows us to take a broacler perspective than Kemble himself en c! recognize his value as a community builcler, a task so in concert with his religious beliefs. Kemble's most important contributions to research were introducing the stucly of a quantum mo- lecular structure to the Uniter! States en c! presiding over the bucicling research community that worker! on the prob- lem. Americans learner! quantum physics by studying mol- ecules. There is goof! reason to believe that this is why quantum chemistry was preclominantly an American clisci- pline when it emerges! in the late twenties. It is foolish to attribute such large-scale clevelopments to any one person, but it is reasonable to claim someone a place as one of perhaps several motivating forces. I believe that such a place belongs to Kemble. Edwin Crawforc! Kemble flier! on March 12, 1984. NOTES 1. E. Kemble interview with T. Kuhn, October 1, 1963. Archives for the History of Quantum Physics. 2. Ibid. 3. E. Kemble interview with T. Kuhn, May 11, 1962. Archives for the History of Quantum Physics. 4. E. Kemble. The distribution of angular velocities among di- atomic gas. Phys. Rev. 8~1916~:689. 5. P. Bridgman. The Logic of Modern Physics. New York: Macmillan, 1927. 6. Modern Men of Science, vol. 2, pp. 285-86. New York: McGraw- Hill, 1968. 7. P. Bridgman to E. Kemble. Lyman correspondence, March 16, 1919, box 8, folder K-1919, Harvard University Archives. 8. E. Kemble lecture notes for physics 16a, 1919-1920, box 18. Harvard University Archives. 9. E. Kemble et al. Molecular spectra in gases. In "Report on the
194 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS Committee on Radiation in Gases." Bull. no. 57, p. 9. Washington, D.C.: National Research Council, 1926. 10. E. Kemble to S. S. Ballard, December 20, 1969. Harvard Un versity Archives. 11. E. C. Kemble. Physical Science, Its Structure and Development, p. 14. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1966. 12. E. Kemble to S. Ballard, op. cit. 13. E. Kemble interview with T. Kuhn, October 1, 1963. Archives for the History of Quantum Physics.
EDWIN C. KEMBLE SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 1916 195 Note on the end effect in the electrostriction of cylindrical con- densers. Phys. Rev. 7:614-24. The distribution angular velocities among diatomic gas molecules. Phys. Rev. 8:689-700. On the occurrence of harmonics in the infra-red absorption spectra of gases. Phys. Rev. 8:701-14. 1921 The probable normal state of the helium atom. Phil. Mag. 42:123- 33. 1923 With J. H. Van Vleck. On the theory of the temperature variation of the specific heat of hydrogen. Phys. Rev. 21:655-61. 1925 The application of the correspondence principle to degenerate sys- tems and the relative intensities of band lines. Phys. Rev. 25:1-22. 1926 Molecular spectra in gases. Bull. no. 57. Washington, D.C.: National Research Council. 1927 With R. S. Mulliken. Zeeman effect in the Angstrom CO bands. Phys. Rev. 30:439-57. The rotational distortion of multiplet electronic states in band spectra. Phys. Rev. 30:387-99. 1929 With E. L. Hill. On the Raman effect in gases. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 15:387-92. With E. L. Hill. General Principles of quantum mechanics. Part I. Phys. Rev. 1 (suppl.) :157-215.
196 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS 1930 With E. L. Hill. General principles of quantum mechanics. Part II. Rev. Mod. Phys. 2:1-59. With F. F. Rieke. The interaction between excited and unexcited hydrogen atoms at large distances. Phys. Rev. 36:153-54. 1935 The intensities of the vibration-rotation bands of HC1. J. Chem. Phys. 3:316-17. The correlation of wave functions with the states of physical sys- tems. Phys. Rev. 47:973-74. 1937 The Fundamental Principles of Quantum Mechanics. New York: McGraw- Hill. 1938 Operational reasoning, reality, and quantum mechanics. 7. Franklin Inst. 225:263-75. 1939 Fluctuations, thermodynamic equilibrium and entropy. Phys. Rev. 48:549-61. The quantum-mechanical basis of statistical mechanics. Phys. Rev. 56:1146-64. 1941 The probability concept. Phil. Sci. 8:204-32. 1950 With others. The teaching of electricity and magnetism at the col- lege level. I. Logical standards and critical issues. II. Two out- lines for college teachers. Am. f. Phys. 18: 1-25, 69-88. 1951 Reality, measurement, and the state of the system in quantum me- chanics. Phil. Sci. 18:273-99.
EDWIN C. KEMBLE 1954 Scientists and political action. Sci. Mon. 78:138-41. 197 1966 Physical Science, Its Structure and Development. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
