Bohr's way to defining complementarity

TL;DR

This paper analyzes Bohr's 1927 and 1928 discussions on quantum complementarity, highlighting the development of his ideas through unpublished manuscripts, letters, and conference reports to better understand his conceptual evolution.

Contribution

It provides a detailed historical analysis of Bohr's evolving ideas on complementarity using previously unpublished documents and conference reports.

Findings

Bohr's ideas on complementarity were concise in 1927 and developed further by 1928.

Discussions with colleagues influenced Bohr's final presentation of complementarity.

Unpublished manuscripts and letters shed light on the conceptual development of quantum ideas.

Abstract

We go through Bohr's talk about complementary features of quantum theory at the Volta Conference in September 1927, by collating a manuscript that Bohr wrote in Como with the unpublished stenographic report of his talk. We conclude - also with the help of some unpublished letters - that Bohr gave a very concise speech in September. The formulation of his ideas became fully developed only between the fifth Solvay Conference, in Brussels in October, and early 1928. The unpublished stenographic reports of the Solvay Conference suggest that we reconsider the role that discussions with his colleagues possibly had on Bohr's final presentation of the complementary sides of atomic physics in his 1928 papers.