Fine-structure constant
Constante de estructura fina
- Date
- 1916 · confidence high
- Place
- Munich, Bavaria, Germany
- Credited to
- Arnold Sommerfeld
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Sommerfeld introduced this dimensionless constant while extending the Bohr model with elliptical orbits and relativistic corrections, to explain the fine structure observed in hydrogen spectra. With the development of quantum electrodynamics it went from a spectroscopic curiosity to a fundamental electromagnetic coupling constant.
What it led to
- Quantum electrodynamics (QED)
- Fundamental coupling constant of the Standard Model
Built on
- Bohr model of the atom1913
- Measurements of the hydrogen fine spectrum