Quantum Field Theory 7a   Oppenheimer and Bethe I
Channel: ViaScience
Date: 25/09/2021

Two papers, one by J. Robert Oppenheimer and the other by Hans Bethe, "bookend" a period in the development of quantum field theory in which physicists struggled with infinities that kept popping up in calculations and threatened to derail the entire field. Bethe's solution of "mass renormalization" provided a path forward and led to an explanation of the "Lamb shift," a tiny energy shift in the Hydrogen spectrum that was discovered shortly after World War 2.