As every physics-loving dog knows, the idea that electrons behave like waves was first suggested by Loius Victor Pierre Raymond de Broglie (the 7th duc de Broglie) in 1923. The proper pronunciation of his surname is a mystery even to human physicists, though. So, how would you say it?
Even though Louis was a quantum pioneer, please choose only one of the available options.
My guess would be de BRO yee (or perhaps de BRO lyee, but the latter is difficult for Americans to reproduce). My instinct is based on the fact that in Italian GL represents a /y/ or /ly/ sound, similar to LL in Spanish or LH in Portuguese. There’s just one flaw in that theory: in French that sound is usually spelled LL, as it is in Spanish.
How about… de-BROY-lee-ay?
I hope that every physics-loving dog knows that “the idea that electrons behave like waves was first suggested by Loius Victor Pierre Raymond de Broglie”, but I hope that every dog is uncertain whether “the idea that electrons behave like waves” is true.
If I see a single event in a CCD, and because of the way the experiment is set up I say that the event was caused by an electron, there is no way that from that single event I can conclude that there is any wave behavior.
If I have a bunch of CCDs, and I watch where lots of events happen, and I say that each event was caused by an electron, then quite convincing wave-like behavior emerges from statistics of the events.
So, “an electron behaves like a wave” is not supported by this particular empirical evidence, while “electrons behave like a wave” is.
I like the cunning way that Emmy threw in the misspelling of “Loius” to put us off our game when we tried to pronounce Broglie. It makes me believe that she deliberately worded the statement “the idea that electrons behave like waves” in the plural.
For de Broglie, however, I think the evidence would be as much for single electrons behaving like a wave, insofar as the Bohr atomic model was a large part of his explanandum.
I had a prof who insisted it is pronounced de BROY, but for sake of being able to spell it, I also prefer to pronounce it de Bro glee.
de BRO-glee-uh
I say De Brole-yee. I always took it for an Italian name.
it’s a little known fact that his name is actually pronounced “smith”
Well … um … that certainly settles it.
I had a French speaker tell me once that it’s a very archaic French name, so it’s by definition difficult. Your funny option is the best, I think- when Alain Aspect says it, it sounds right, but is utterly unimitatable.
Throat-Warbler Mangrove
According to wiki de Broy is closest to the actual pronunciation.
Next up… “Huygens”
According to wiki de Broy is closest to the actual pronunciation.
That’s what I’ve been told, as well. It’s not exact, though– there’s a sort of gargly quality to the vowel that you have to be French to do properly.
Um, 2 things:
It’s De Broglie- he was descended from royalty, so merits a capital “D”. Or so I was told by my QM professor, back in 1980. Also, the “r” is pronounced like a combination of “r” and “w”- if you go to the French pronunciation places, you will see this weird character that looks like the two letters stuck together. Speaking French and haviing a French surname helps- that “oglie” pronunciation is as elusive as any in French. That “g” is like the one in “guff”, but the tongue is not so firmly in contact with the palate.
So, I’m the wise guy who votes NOTA.
I listened to the one on wikipedia, theres sort of a half-silent l, like debroyl. the best way to say it is say de Broy and mouth de Broylee. Turning your nose up makes it much easier to speak broken french as well.