Used with
permission of Maiken Naylor, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA,
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/sel/exhibits/stamps
Louis Victor de Broglie (1892-1987) demonstrated mathematically that elemenary particles should exhibit wave-like characteristics, just as under certain circumstances light waves assume the properties of particles. The relationship between mass, velocity, and wavelength of such a particle is shown on the Nicaraguan stamp. A diffraction pattern and electron microscope complete the picture. The wave-like behavior of electrons was subsequently demonstrated by Germer and Davisson in 1927, and de Broglie received the 1929 Nobel prize in physics. The Swedish stamp honoring de Broglie's achievement suggests the wave-particle duality by actual electron diffraction patterns in the shaded areas of the amplitude where the particle associated with the wave is more likely to be.