Davisson–Germer experiment
E130701
The Davisson–Germer experiment was a landmark 1927 physics experiment that demonstrated the wave nature of electrons through diffraction from a nickel crystal, providing key evidence for quantum mechanics and wave–particle duality.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Davisson–Germer experiment canonical | 6 |
| Davisson–Germer electron diffraction paper | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1136180 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Davisson–Germer experiment Context triple: [Davisson–Germer Prize in Atomic or Surface Physics, namedForDiscovery, Davisson–Germer experiment]
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A.
Ives–Stilwell experiment
The Ives–Stilwell experiment is a classic test of special relativity that measured the relativistic Doppler effect to confirm time dilation for fast-moving ions.
-
B.
Trouton–Noble experiment
The Trouton–Noble experiment was an early 20th-century test of the luminiferous aether that searched for a torque on a charged capacitor in motion and, by finding no such effect, provided support for the emerging theory of special relativity.
-
C.
Michelson–Morley experiment
The Michelson–Morley experiment was a landmark 1887 physics experiment that attempted to detect the Earth's motion through the hypothesized luminiferous aether and whose null result helped pave the way for Einstein's theory of special relativity.
-
D.
Kennedy–Thorndike experiment
The Kennedy–Thorndike experiment is a classic test of special relativity that examined the constancy of the speed of light using an interferometer with unequal arm lengths and varying laboratory velocity.
-
E.
Cavendish experiment
The Cavendish experiment was an 18th-century physics experiment by Henry Cavendish that measured the tiny gravitational attraction between lead spheres, allowing the first calculation of the gravitational constant and the mass of the Earth.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Davisson–Germer experiment Target entity description: The Davisson–Germer experiment was a landmark 1927 physics experiment that demonstrated the wave nature of electrons through diffraction from a nickel crystal, providing key evidence for quantum mechanics and wave–particle duality.
-
A.
Ives–Stilwell experiment
The Ives–Stilwell experiment is a classic test of special relativity that measured the relativistic Doppler effect to confirm time dilation for fast-moving ions.
-
B.
Trouton–Noble experiment
The Trouton–Noble experiment was an early 20th-century test of the luminiferous aether that searched for a torque on a charged capacitor in motion and, by finding no such effect, provided support for the emerging theory of special relativity.
-
C.
Michelson–Morley experiment
The Michelson–Morley experiment was a landmark 1887 physics experiment that attempted to detect the Earth's motion through the hypothesized luminiferous aether and whose null result helped pave the way for Einstein's theory of special relativity.
-
D.
Kennedy–Thorndike experiment
The Kennedy–Thorndike experiment is a classic test of special relativity that examined the constancy of the speed of light using an interferometer with unequal arm lengths and varying laboratory velocity.
-
E.
Cavendish experiment
The Cavendish experiment was an 18th-century physics experiment by Henry Cavendish that measured the tiny gravitational attraction between lead spheres, allowing the first calculation of the gravitational constant and the mass of the Earth.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
electron diffraction experiment
ⓘ
physics experiment ⓘ quantum mechanics experiment ⓘ |
| awarded | Nobel Prize in Physics 1937 to Clinton Davisson ⓘ |
| confirmedTheoryOf | Louis de Broglie ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| crystalOrientation | nickel (111) planes ⓘ |
| crystalType | polycrystalline nickel ⓘ |
| demonstrated |
electron diffraction
ⓘ
wave nature of electrons ⓘ wave–particle duality ⓘ |
| endTime | 1927 ⓘ |
| energyRange | low-energy electrons ⓘ |
| field |
physics
ⓘ
quantum mechanics ⓘ wave mechanics ⓘ |
| impact |
established electron diffraction as a tool for studying crystal structure
ⓘ
supported development of wave mechanics ⓘ |
| location | Bell Telephone Laboratories ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
de Broglie wavelength formula
ⓘ
surface form:
de Broglie hypothesis
electron diffraction ⓘ wave nature of matter ⓘ wave–particle duality ⓘ |
| measured |
electron scattering intensity
ⓘ
electron wavelength ⓘ scattering angle ⓘ |
| notableAngle | approximately 50 degrees scattering angle ⓘ |
| notableVoltage | approximately 54 electron volts accelerating potential ⓘ |
| performedBy |
Clinton Davisson
ⓘ
Lester Germer ⓘ |
| providedEvidenceFor |
de Broglie wavelength formula
ⓘ
surface form:
de Broglie hypothesis
quantum mechanics ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
X-ray diffraction
ⓘ
double-slit experiment ⓘ electron microscopy ⓘ |
| result |
electron wavelength matched de Broglie prediction
ⓘ
electrons behave as waves when diffracted by a crystal ⓘ |
| startTime | 1923 ⓘ |
| usedApparatus |
electron detector
ⓘ
electron gun ⓘ nickel crystal target ⓘ vacuum chamber ⓘ |
| usedConcept |
Bragg's law
ⓘ
surface form:
Bragg diffraction
Bragg's law ⓘ
surface form:
Bragg law
|
| usedMaterial |
electrons
ⓘ
nickel crystal ⓘ |
| year | 1927 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Davisson–Germer experiment Description of subject: The Davisson–Germer experiment was a landmark 1927 physics experiment that demonstrated the wave nature of electrons through diffraction from a nickel crystal, providing key evidence for quantum mechanics and wave–particle duality.
Referenced by (7)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
Davisson–Germer Prize in Atomic or Surface Physics
→
namedForDiscovery
→
Davisson–Germer experiment
ⓘ
this entity surface form:
Davisson–Germer electron diffraction paper