ArgumentThe discovery of electron diffraction by George Paget Thomson in Aberdeen and Clinton J. Davisson and Lester H. Germer at the Bell Labs has often been portrayed as an example of independent discovery. Neither team was particularly interested in the developments of the nascent quantum theory but they both ended up demonstrating one of the most striking experimental consequences of the new physics. This paper traces the aftermath of this discovery and the way electron diffraction immediately turned from empirical evidence of a highly novel theory into a technique for applied and technological research. Thomson was the first to design an “electron diffraction camera,” an instrument that soon found its place in laboratories around the world. I discuss the role played by Davisson and Germer, and by Thomson in the development of electron diffraction as a “research technology,” taking into account their specific institutional settings and research cultures. While Davisson and Germer remained in the industry-oriented Bell Labs, Thomson moved to Imperial College in 1930 where collaboration first, and competition later with George I. Finch was also relevant for the consolidation of an instrument that eventually became widely known as the “Finch Camera.”

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如何在物理学中使用基本发现：电子衍射的早期

论据 George Paget Thomson 在阿伯丁和 Clinton J. Davisson 和 Lester H. Germer 在贝尔实验室的电子衍射的发现经常被描述为独立发现的一个例子。两个团队都对新生量子理论的发展并不特别感兴趣，但他们最终都展示了新物理学最引人注目的实验结果之一。本文追溯了这一发现的后果以及电子衍射如何立即从高度新颖的理论的经验证据转变为应用和技术研究的技术。Thomson 是第一个设计“电子衍射相机”的人，这种仪器很快就在世界各地的实验室中找到了自己的位置。我讨论戴维森和格默所扮演的角色，Thomson 将电子衍射发展为一种“研究技术”，同时考虑到其特定的机构设置和研究文化。当戴维森和格默留在以工业为导向的贝尔实验室时，汤姆森于 1930 年搬到帝国理工学院，在那里首先合作，后来与乔治一世竞争。芬奇也与最终被广泛称为“芬奇”的仪器的整合有关相机。”