Physics 10 - Wave Mechanics Poem by Unnikrishnan Sivasankara Menon

The methods used by Einstein in discovering Bose-Einstein condensation, in effect treated particles as if they had wave-like traits, as de Broglie had suggested.

Now Einstein predicted that ‘a beam of gas molecules which passes through an aperture must undergo a diffraction analogous to that of a light ray. Experiments proved him right. Despite his discomfort with the progress of quantum mechanics, involuntarily or otherwise, he was involved in it.

Erwin Schrödinger, an Austrian theoretical physicist was inspired by de Broglie's papers and the praise and support extended by Einstein to him. His work on the subject resulted in a theory called Wave Mechanics. Going ahead, he devised a set of equations that governed de Broglie's wavelike behaviour of electrons, which Schrödinger called "Einstein-de Broglie waves".

Though enthusiastic at first, Einstein soon was troubled by the idea that the waves could spread over an enormous area, but an could not be waving thus. What, in the real world, did the Schrödinger's wave equations really represent. It was Max Born answered his question: the equations described the probability of the location of the electron at any moment. This revealed that quantum mechanics was fundamentally based on chance rather than causal certainties. Einstein was even more uneasy. In spite of this, his involvement was pronounced.

Max Born said once, "Einstein is clearly involved in the foundation of wave mechanics and no alibi can disprove it."