Talk:History of quantum field theory

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Issues.[edit]

While this article is pretty good, it has some issues.

Many primary (historical) references are cited, but very few secondary historical overview articles are referenced. Consequently the article reads like WP:OR. For example "A subtle and careful analysis..." implies some expert evaluating the paper and judging it "subtle" but no such expert is cited. Many or most parts of the article have this character.

The occasional secondary ref comes in oddly. In the middle of the section on the early 1950s we read "Two classic text-books from the 1960s..." with no references showing that these books where vital to the history of quantum field theory.

Quantum field theory is roughly speaking a model involving an infinite number harmonic oscillators. So it does not start with de Broglie's matter wave field model.

Willis Lamb, his Lamb shift, and his quantum radiation theory are not mentioned.

The article overlaps Quantum field theory#history which is itself too long. Johnjbarton (talk) 19:01, 28 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Topical vs chronological organization??[edit]

Seems odd that this history, unlike almost every other history, is organized topically with dates going back and forth. It ends up reading like 12 histories rather than one.

I get that this is complex topic, but I also don't get any sense of the development of the subject. It feels more like a "here's this and here's that".

Was this design choice deliberate? Johnjbarton (talk) 03:09, 30 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]