Abstract
The late Professor Yoshio Nishina (1890–1951) is considered as the founder of modern physics, and even that of the modern science in Japan. He was a universal scientist, doing research in both theoretical and experimental physics, and had seminal contributions in many areas. However, internationally, he is mostly known for the Klein-Nishina formula, which was the first application of the then new Dirac theory of the electron for scattering of light. He elaborated this formula together with the Swedish physicist Oskar Klein in 1928 when they both visited Niels Bohr’s institute in Copenhagen. This paper gives a background of their work, starting with the state of science in Japan and the new quantum physics in Europe, as well as how the collaboration between Klein and Nishina arose, how the work was performed, and its meaning and significance in physics. Some other related historical facts and curiosities related to the work and achievements of Yoshio Nishina are also included. The material for this contribution arose mostly from the collaboration of the author with Prof. Kojiro Nishina, the second son of Yoshio Nishina, as well as from visits to Y. Nishina’s birthplace and material from the Nishina Memorial Foundation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
This happened also be the centenary year of the birth of Yoshio Nishina, which was marked by an international conference in his honour in December 1990.
References
I. Pázsit, K. Nishina, Yoshio Nishina and the birth of modern physics in Japan (Swedish Physical Society, 2004), KOSMOS, vol. 81:2004, pp. 67–94. URL http://www.nephy.chalmers.se
O. Klein, Y. Nishina, Zeitschrift für Physik 52, 853 (1929)
P.A.M. Dirac, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series A 117(778), 610 (1928). DOI https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1928.0023
M. Suzuki, R. Kubo (eds.). Evolutionary Trends in the Physical Sciences, vol. 57. Proceedings of the Yoshio Nishina Centennial Symposium, Tokyo, Japan, 5-7 December 1990 (Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 1991)
Acknowledgement
The author wants to acknowledge the collaboration with Prof. Kojiro Nishina, Yoshio Nishina’s son, on the exploration of the historical facts about his father. For getting copies of historic documents shown in this paper, thanks are due to the Nishina Museum in Satoh-show, the Nishina Memorial Museum in the New RIKEN, Tokyo, and to Karl Grandin, the Director of the Center for History of Science of KVA. The author is also grateful to the late Prof. Lars Brink of Chalmers for informing him about the existence of the Ivar Waller archive at KVA. Throughout the years, several visits to Japan, making possible the collaboration with Prof. Kojior Nishina and the visits to the places mentioned was made possible by financial support from JSPS. Finally the author is obliged to Prof. Mohammad Asadzadeh, Chalmers, for inviting his talk to the JSPS Stockholm Office Alumni Club activity seminar on Gas Kinetic/Dynamics and Life Science and to contribute to the proceedings of the seminar.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Pázsit, I. (2023). The History and Significance of the Klein-Nishina Formula. In: Asadzadeh, M., Beilina, L., Takata, S. (eds) Gas Dynamics with Applications in Industry and Life Sciences. GKDLS GKDLS 2021 2022. Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics, vol 429. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35871-5_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35871-5_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-35870-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-35871-5
eBook Packages: Mathematics and StatisticsMathematics and Statistics (R0)