Edwin Power and the birth of dressed atoms

Abstract

This paper reviews the main results of a twenty year-long international collaborative effort led by the late E.A. Power on the physics of atoms dressed by the vacuum electromagnetic field. The presentation uses the historical, rather than the logical, order of development. This permits one to shed light on the influence of Power's personality and human qualities on the birth and evolution of the notion of the dressed atom, which is central to modern non-relativistic QED.