Felix Bloch

Felix Bloch was a Swiss-American physicist whose work established the quantum theory of electron motion in crystals and helped develop nuclear magnetic resonance. He shared the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physics with Edward Purcell.

Edward Mills Purcell: An American physicist who shared the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physics for developing nuclear magnetic resonance methods. Purcell independently demonstrated nuclear magnetic resonance and shared the Nobel Prize with Bloch.
Bloch theorem: A quantum-mechanical result stating that electron states in a periodic potential are plane waves modulated by the lattice periodicity. This theorem captures the mathematical structure behind Bloch’s theory of electrons in crystals.
University of Zurich: A Swiss public research university founded in 1833. Bloch studied physics there before completing his doctorate in Leipzig.
Solid-state physics: The study of the physical properties of solid materials, especially their electronic and structural behavior. Bloch’s crystal-electron theory helped establish the quantum foundations of this field.
Nearly free electron model: A model of electrons in a crystal that treats them as nearly free particles weakly perturbed by the lattice potential. It approximates Bloch’s full periodic-potential framework when the crystal potential is weak.
Werner Heisenberg: A German theoretical physicist who formulated matrix mechanics and the uncertainty principle. Bloch studied with Heisenberg and developed his early work in quantum theory under his influence.
Bloch wave: A wavefunction in a periodic potential expressed as a plane wave multiplied by a lattice-periodic function. Bloch waves describe the crystal electrons whose allowed energies underpin his solid-state theory.
Leipzig University: A German university founded in 1409, with a long tradition in science and scholarship. Bloch earned his doctorate in 1928 under Werner Heisenberg in Leipzig.
Semiconductor: A material whose electrical conductivity lies between that of a conductor and an insulator and can be controlled. Band theory derived from Bloch’s work explains why semiconductor materials conduct selectively.
Tight-binding model: A method for calculating electronic bands by combining atomic orbitals localized around lattice sites. Unlike Bloch’s general wave formulation, it begins with electrons strongly associated with individual atoms.

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