On the verge of \textit{Umdeutung} in Minnesota: Van Vleck and the correspondence principle. I. (Q2460936)

In October 1924, The Physical Review, a relatively minor journal at the time, published a remarkable two-part paper by John H. Van Vleck, working in virtual isolation at the University of Minnesota. Using Bohr's correspondence principle and Einstein's quantum theory of radiation along with advanced techniques from classical mechanics, Van Vleck showed that quantum formulae for emission, absorption, and dispersion of radiation merge with their classical counterparts in the limit of high quantum numbers. For modern readers Van Vieck's paper is much easier to follow than the famous paper by Kramers and Heisenberg on dispersion theory, which covers similar terrain and is highly credited to have led directly to Heisenberg's \textit{Umdeutung} paper. This makes Van Vleck's paper extremely valuable for the reconstruction of the genesis of matrix mechanics. It also makes it tempting to ask why Van Vleck did not take the next step and develop matrix mechanics himself. After this abstract the authors proceed to the announced reconstruction and they do it ``from a more American vantage point''. The extensive bibliography consists of 206 items. For Part II, see the review Zbl 1129.01009 below.