Operator calculus: the lost formulation of quantum mechanics. A mathematical reconstruction (Q2029469)

The paper gives a detailed mathematical discussion of the operator calculus of Max Born and Norbert Wiener. The paper argues cogently that Born and Wiener did not actually achieve their purported goal of extending matrix mechanics to linear motion and continuous energy spectra. The authors go on to demonstrate that a proper treatment of continuous spectra using Born and Wiener's methods would have required the precocious invention of Dirac's delta functions.