1894-1952

Dutch theoretical physicist known for his important contributions to quantum mechanics. He demonstrated that quantization of classical orbits in helium atoms produces instabilities, indicating inadequacies in provisional quantum theory (1923). Kramers also developed a quantum theory of dispersion allowing him to quantitatively explain the effect later experimentally found by Raman. He later established the Kramers-Kronig relations connecting the real and imaginary components of polarizability and contributed to the W(entzel)-K(ramers)-B(rillouin) method (1926) for obtaining approximate Schrödinger equation solutions.