The interpretation of the Einstein-Rupp experiments and their influence on the history of quantum mechanics

TL;DR

This paper examines the historical significance of the Einstein-Rupp experiments, revealing their influence on foundational quantum mechanics concepts despite being based on fraudulent results, and discusses reasons for their neglect in literature.

Contribution

It provides a detailed interpretation of the Einstein-Rupp experiments and argues for their importance in the development of quantum mechanics, addressing historical oversight.

Findings

The experiments influenced Born's statistical interpretation.

They contributed to the development of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.

Rupp's results were later proven to be fraudulent.

Abstract

The Einstein-Rupp experiments were proposed in 1926 by Albert Einstein to study the wave versus particle nature of light. Einstein presented a theoretical analysis of these experiments to the Berlin Academy together with results of Emil Rupp, who claimed to have successfully carried them out. However, as the preceding paper has claimed (HSPS 37 Suppl. (2007), 73-121), Rupp's success was the result of scientific fraud. This paper will argue, after exploring their interpretation, that the experiments were a relevant part of the background to such celebrated contributions to quantum mechanics as Born's statistical interpretation of the wave function and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Yet, the Einstein-Rupp experiments have hardly received attention in the history of quantum mechanics literature. In part, this is a consequence of self-censorship in the physics community, enforced in the wake of the Rupp affair. Self-censorship among historians of physics may however also have played a role.