Much of the current understanding of solid state physics was developed in the short period 1926-1933, right after the advent of quantum mechanics. An excellent historical review is given in the paper Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 59, No. 1, January 1987 by Lillian Hoddeson and coauthors. There was also important early work done even before quantum mechanics was developed that remains relevant today, such as Drude's theory of electrical conduction, Born's theory of lattice vibrations and Debye's theory of specific heat of solids.
You should pick one of the scientists that pioneered these early developments in solid state physics and study his/her original papers on one particular topic, then some follow-up work by the same scientist or others on that topic, and understand the relation of this early work with the treatment of the same topic given in Ashcroft-Mermin or another contemporary solid state book. In other words, go to the sources from which the current understanding sprung and track the development and progress (or not) up to the present.
Here is a list of the most important early contributors to solid state physics:
Sommerfeld, Bethe, Bloch. Peierls, Pauli, Heisenberg, Wilson, Brillouin,
Slater, Nordheim, Houston, Frenkel, Hume-Rothery, Landau, Mott, Jones,
Zener, Stoner, Debye, Born, Drude, Kronig, Wigner, Seitz, Van Vleck.
I may have forgotten a few, so it's ok to choose somebody not on this list,
provided his/her first paper on the topic was no later than 1935.
So pick one scientist and one particular topic studied by that scientist, don't try to cover many different topics. Find the earliest paper where this scientist addressed the topic, as well as follow-up papers where this scientist or others developed this topic further. Understand what was the motivation for the original work, i.e. what question(s) was it addressing, the formalism, and the conclusions. Explain it using the same mathematical notation as in the original papers, and translate to the current notation if it is different.
One way to judge that a paper was important to the development of a subject is to look at how many times the paper was cited by others, in Web of Science. This also allows you to find important follow-up work.
Once you decide on one scientist and one topic studied by that scientist please send me an email with title "211a special topic" telling me so. If that scientist and topic has already been chosen by one of your classmates I may email you asking you to pick another scientist or topic. Check the list of topics chosen so far to avoid overlaps, I'll try to keep it updated.
Make sure you understand and explain what are the assumptions and approximations that were used in the original work. Explain what was known on the subject before this work, and why it was not satisfactory. Then, find out whether later work on this subject by this or other scientists improved or corrected the original work by using different assumptions and/or approximations. Discuss to what extent the questions asked originally remain open today or are completely resolved.
Find experimental work that was done in relation to your topic, and discuss to what extent theory predicted versus only postdicted (i.e. "explained") experiments. Discuss whether there could be alternative explanations for the experiments.
The goal of this project is that you understand in depth some subject of solid state physics starting from its early development, write a paper on it and make a short presentation to the class so we all get to understand more of it.
Your paper should list all relevant references consulted, with links that a reader can click on to get access to the references. It should be in pdf format. To write it, I suggest you use either msw with equation editor, or latex, or any other software you know that can do what's needed.
The length of the paper is up to you, I suggest between 6 and 10 pages. It should include a brief description of this scientist's life and his/her contributions to solid state physics and other physics.
In addition to writing the paper, prepare a powerpoint or keynote presentation about 10 minutes long to explain what you learned, which you will deliver to the class the last week of classes or finals week. The first slide should be about the scientist, the rest about the work.
Use the Web of Science to find papers. Google Scholar may also be helpful.
Start early. The sooner you decide on a scientist and topic, the better the chance that it is not already taken.
I would like to see a very rough outline of your paper no later than the end of October. It should give the scientist and the topic, the first paper on it and list some of the followup papers that you plan to study. Before that time you are welcome to come by my office preferably during office hours to ask me for guidance and feedback.
• A rough draft of your paper is due on November 15.
• The paper is due on November 29 (Thursday of 9th week). Your presentation should also be ready at that time.