= Willis Lamb
{c}
{tag=Physicist}
{wiki}
= Willis Eugene Lamb Jr.
{c}
{synonym}
= Willis E. Lamb Jr.
{c}
{synonym}
<Willis Lamb> and <Robert Curtis Retherford> measured a small separation between <hydrogen> <energy levels> that the simplest <relativistic quantum mechanics> placed at equal <energy>. Their 1947 experiment used <microwave> transitions involving metastable <atoms>, rather than trying to resolve the separation in an ordinary optical line. The <Lamb shift> required improved <quantum electrodynamics>, including the interaction of an <electron> with the quantized <electromagnetic field>. A small spectral discrepancy thereby became a quantitative test of the theory.<Fine Structure of the Hydrogen Atom by a Microwave Method by Willis Eugene Lamb Jr. and Robert Curtis Retherford>[1947 microwave experiment and measured separation of hydrogen levels]{ref}
A <physicist>.https://lib.arizona.edu/special-collections/collections/willis-e-lamb-jr-papers[Independent professional profile]{ref}https://optics.arizona.edu/person/willis-lamb-jr[Independent professional profile]{ref}
\Image[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Redirect/file/Willis_Lamb_1955.jpg?width=260]
{title=Portrait of <Willis Lamb>}
{description=Nobel foundation; 1955. Public domain in Sweden (PD-Sweden photograph). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Willis_Lamb_1955.jpg[Source usage terms], via Wikimedia Commons.}
{source=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Willis_Lamb_1955.jpg}
{width=260}
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