One hundred years of Alfred Landé's g‐factor

Abstract

Abstract Prompted by the centenary of Alfred Landé's g‐factor, we reconstruct Landé's path to his discovery of half‐integer angular momentum quantum numbers and of vector coupling of atomic angular momenta—both encapsulated in the g‐factor—as well as point to reverberations of Landé's breakthroughs in the work of other pioneers of quantum physics.

Keywords

• anomalous zeeman effect
• atomic physics
• g‐factor
• history of science
• old quantum theory
• optical spectra