What are the exact origins of the letter designations of the quantum numbers used for electron energy states? I’m referring to the n-l-m-s system, and the K-L-M-N system that is sometimes used to substitute for the n=1,2,3,4,5,6 system.
Thanks.
Shameless bump.
No need to be apologetic about this, it’s a bloody good question. Pais in Inward Bound (Oxford, 1986, p273) indicates that the historical order of introduction was n,l,m, which does just beg the question why? My second guess might be to look in the short history/memoir Friedrich Hund wrote about quantum physics in the 1920s, but it’s years since I’ve looked at that.