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In a detailed reconstruction of the genesis of Feynman diagrams the author reveals that their development was constantly driven by the attempt to resolve fundamental problems concerning the uninterpretable infinities that arose in quantum as well as classical theories of electrodynamic phenomena. Accordingly, as a comparison with the graphical representations that were in use before Feynman diagrams shows, the resulting theory of quantum electrodynamics, featuring Feynman diagrams, differed significantly from earlier versions of the theory in the way in which the relevant phenomena were conceptualized and modelled. The author traces the development of Feynman diagrams from Feynman's "struggle with the Dirac equation" in unpublished manuscripts to the two of Freeman Dyson's publications which put Feynman diagrams into a field theoretic context. The author brings to the fore that Feynman and Dyson not only created a powerful computational device but, above all, a new conceptual framework in which the uninterpretable infinities that had arisen in the old form of the theory could be precisely identified and subsequently removed in a justifiable manner.
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THE GENESIS OF FEYNMAN DIAGRAMS Archimedes NEW STUDIES IN THE HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY VOLUME 26 EDITOR J ED Z. B UCHWALD, Dreyfuss Professor of History, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA. ASSOCIATE EDITORS J EREMY G RAY, The Faculty of Mathematics and Computing, The Open University, Buckinghamshire, UK. S HARON K INGSLAND, Department of History of Science and Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. ADVISORY BOARD H ENK B OS, University of Utrecht M ORDECHAI F EINGOLD, California Institute of Technology A LLAN D. F RANKLIN, University of Colorado at Boulder KOSTAS G AVROGLU, National Technical University of Athens A NTHONY G RAFTON, Princeton University PAUL H OYNINGEN -H UENE, Leibniz Universität Hannover T REVOR L EVERE, University of Toronto J ESPER L ÜTZEN, Copenhagen University W ILLIAM N EWMAN, Indian University, Bloomington L AWRENCE P RINCIPE, The Johns Hopkins University J ÜRGEN R ENN, Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte A LEX ROLAND, Duke University A LAN S HAPIRO, University of Minnesota NANCY S IRAISI, Hunter College of the City University of New York M ICHAEL R. D IETRICH, Dartmouth College M ICHEL M ORANGE, IHPST, Paris H ANS -J ÖRG R HEINBERGER, Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte N OEL S WERDLOW, University of Chicago Archimedes has three fundamental goals; to further the integration of the histories of science and technology with one another: to investigate the technical, social and practical histories of specific developments in science and technology; and finally, where possible and desirable, to bring the histories of science and technology into closer contact with the philosophy of science. To these ends, each volume will have its own theme and title and will be planned by one or more members of the Advisory Board in consultation with the editor. Although the volumes have specific themes, the series itself will not be limited to one or even to a few particular areas. Its subjects include any of the sciences, ranging from biology through physics, all aspects of technology, broadly construed, as well as historically-engaged philosophy of science or technology. Taken as a whole, Archimedes will be of interest to historians, philosophers, and scientists, as well as to those in business and industry who seek to understand how science and industry have come to be so strongly linked For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/5644 Adrian Wüthrich The Genesis of Feynman Diagrams 13 Adrian Wüthrich University of Bern History and Philosophy of Science Exact Sciences Sidlerstrasse 5 3012 Bern