The demonstration of space quantization, carried out in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1922 by Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach, ranks among the dozen or so canonical experiments that ushered in the heroic age of quantum physics. Perhaps no other exp…It was during a period in the history of physics known as the time of the “old quantum theory”—an era of scientific uncertainty during the first quarter of the twentieth century when physicists tried on all manner of hybrid notions dressing…Stern’s idea for the experiment crystallized during his meditations on a chilly morning “too cold to get out of bed.” The essence of the idea that sparked his imagination was to use magnetism as a probe of space quantization. His experiment…
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