Pocono Conference facts for kids

The Pocono Conference was an important meeting for scientists who studied tiny particles. It happened from March 30 to April 2, 1948. This conference was the second of three big meetings held after World War II to talk about quantum physics. This is the science that looks at how the smallest parts of matter and energy behave.

The famous scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer helped set up the conference. He did this for the National Academy of Sciences, a group that advises the United States on science and technology. The Pocono Conference followed the Shelter Island Conference from 1947 and came before the Oldstone Conference in 1949.

Where Scientists Met

The conference took place at the Pocono Manor Inn. This inn is located in the beautiful Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. It's about halfway between the cities of Scranton, Pennsylvania and the Delaware Water Gap.

Who Attended the Meeting

Twenty-eight physicists came to the Pocono Conference. Some new faces included very famous scientists like Niels Bohr, his son Aage Bohr, Paul Dirac, Walter Heitler, Eugene Wigner, and Gregor Wentzel.

Some scientists who had been at the earlier Shelter Island Conference were not at Pocono. These included Kramers, MacInnes, Nordsieck, Pauling, and Van Vleck.

Big Ideas in Quantum Physics

The conference was a place for scientists to share their newest ideas. One of the main topics was quantum electrodynamics (QED). This is a complex theory that explains how light and matter interact at the quantum level.

Julian Schwinger's New Work

Julian Schwinger gave a long presentation. He talked for a whole day about his new ideas in QED. People described his work as the "last great fling of the old way of doing quantum mechanics." This means it was a very detailed and powerful way of using older methods to solve new problems.

Richard Feynman's New Diagrams

Another brilliant physicist, Richard Feynman, also shared his version of QED. He introduced something new called Feynman diagrams. These are special drawings that help scientists understand and calculate how particles interact.

At first, no one at the conference understood Feynman's diagrams. They were very different from what other scientists were used to. Because of this, Feynman decided to go back to Cornell University. He wanted to write down his work clearly so others could read and understand it better.

Comparing Ideas

Schwinger and Feynman talked about their different approaches. Even though they didn't fully understand each other's methods, they both reached the same answers. This was very important because it helped confirm that their theories were correct.

After the conference, when Oppenheimer returned to Princeton University, he received a third version of QED. This one came from a Japanese scientist named Sin-Itiro Tomonaga. His version of QED was a bit simpler than Schwinger's. Having three different scientists arrive at similar results for QED was a huge step forward for physics.