C.J. Davisson and L.H. Germer

Confirming Quantum Mechanics

In May 2011, the American Physical Society presented a plaque to Bell Laboratories in New York City for its contributions to physics, specifically commemorating the historic experiment by Davisson and Germer.

APS President Curt Callan (left) and Jeong Kim,
President of Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, about to unveil the plaque.

In 1927, C.J. Davisson and L.H. Germer, in room 7B at Bell Labs, West Village, New York City, discovered that elementary particles behave like waves, confirming the principle of quantum mechanics. In 1970, the West Village site of Bell Labs was converted to the Westbeth Artists Residence. Bell Labs moved to its larger, current location in New Jersey.

No one is exactly sure where in the Westbeth Artists Residence the old room 7B is. President Callan promised, "When we find out where in Westbeth that was, we'll put a plaque there, too."

Plaque Inscription:

At this site, the original location of Bell Telephone Laboratories, D. J. Davisson
and L. H. Germer in 1927 performed the first direct demonstration of the wave-like
behavior of elementary particles, predicted by L. de Broglie in 1923. The Davisson-
Germer experiment provided crucial empirical evidence for the validity of the then
 rapidly evolving theory of quantum mechanics. In those years and subsequently many
 important scientific and technological discoveries were made at the same laboratory.

Historic Physics Site, Register of Historic Sites
American Physical Society