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Historical timeline

Follow source-backed events in QFT history with date precision, participants, significance, and cautions about disputed or overlapping priority.

This index is a concise projection, not an independent explanation. Each record keeps the scope needed for use and links to its source page.

Coverage notes
  • Each event requires an explicit date precision, event type, participants, significance, interpretation note, supporting sources, and historical treatment.
  • The initial timeline records only events directly supported by consulted source records and avoids broad priority claims.

Latest lookup-entry revision: 2026-09-12

Reference records

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Search titles and declared aliases, then narrow by record type or available facets.

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  • Historical Event

    Wick's collision-matrix paper

    Gian-Carlo Wick published the contraction method now called Wick's theorem in a 1950 Physical Review paper.

    Date
    1950
    Participants
    Gian-Carlo Wick
    Significance
    The paper supplies the primary historical source for the contraction identity used in perturbative expansions.
    Interpretation note
    Publication chronology alone does not settle all questions of priority or precursor influence.
    Aliases
    Wick theorem publication, The Evaluation of the Collision Matrix
    Scope
    Publication of the consulted primary paper and its bounded role in the foundations evidence registry.
    Assumptions
    The publication date records this paper, not an exhaustive priority determination for every precursor or equivalent formulation.
  • Historical Event

    Källén's spectral-representation paper

    Gunnar Källén published a 1952 paper on field and charge renormalization that is a primary source for the spectral representation.

    Date
    1952
    Participants
    Gunnar Källén
    Significance
    The source is one of the two primary historical anchors for the spectral representation used by the owning treatment.
    Interpretation note
    The eponym joins distinct Källén and Lehmann papers; this record avoids a sole-priority inference.
    Aliases
    Källén spectral representation, Källén–Lehmann history
    Scope
    Publication of the consulted Källén primary source used by the foundations claim-evidence registry.
    Assumptions
    The record does not infer sole priority from publication date and is paired with the later Lehmann source.
  • Historical Event

    Lehmann's propagation-functions paper

    Harry Lehmann published a 1954 paper on propagation functions and renormalization constants that completes the paired primary-source history of the spectral representation.

    Date
    1954
    Participants
    Harry Lehmann
    Significance
    The source is one of the two primary historical anchors for the spectral representation used by the owning treatment.
    Interpretation note
    The record is paired with Källén's 1952 paper and does not flatten their different contributions.
    Aliases
    Lehmann spectral representation, Källén–Lehmann history
    Scope
    Publication of the consulted Lehmann primary source used by the foundations claim-evidence registry.
    Assumptions
    The record describes the consulted paper and makes no exhaustive priority claim.

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