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History and Philosophy of Physics papers

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The Bomb, the Hubris, and the Spectre
In this essay I will make a non-exhaustive survey of the role of scientists, politicians, and the military in the development and use of the Bomb in the thirty years following the beginning of the…
Alberto GirlandoAug 27, 2026
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Holography as an Information Principle in Quantum Gravity
We draw on 't Hooft's seminal formulation of the holographic principle to analyse the methodological and conceptual role of information in quantum gravity. We argue that, in 't…
Sebastian De Haro, Enrico Cinti, Aude CorbeelAug 26, 2026
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Dark Matters of Principle: Principles in the Dark Matter Paradigm
This paper re-examines the Dark Matter (DM) problem through the lens of physical principles. We first develop a functionalist account and taxonomy of principles. We propose to define principles in…
Patrick Duerr, James ReadAug 26, 2026
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Does the Actuality of Life Favor Many Actual Histories?
This essay develops a simple conditional argument for many-history ontologies from the fact that life exists. The question is not why our exact evolutionary sequence occurred, but why reality…
Jonathan BaxterAug 24, 2026
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Minkowski's Geometric Explanation of Lorentz Contraction
Hermann Minkowski's original explanation of relativistic length contraction using a space-time diagram and conic section geometry of a standard hyperbola is reconstructed on the basis of…
Tilman SauerAug 20, 2026
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The comets discovered from New Zealand, and the astronomers who found them
Eleven comets were discovered by six New Zealanders from New Zealand shores. New Zealand's important geographical position south of the Equator is highlighted. This location allows observers to…
John Drummond, Wayne Orchiston, Carolyn Brown et al.Aug 20, 2026
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Stefan Bergman (1895-1977). Notes on His Bio- and Bibliography
Stefan Bergman worked in the field of pure and applied mathematics and became known primarily for his work on complex analysis of several variables. He studied the theory of solutions to linear…
Tilman SauerAug 19, 2026
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Hidden Variables in Quantum Mechanics: A Journey Into de Broglie-Bohm Pilot-Wave Theory
This work provides an introduction to the most influential hidden-variable interpretation of the quantum formalism, i.e., the de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave theory. As the reader will see, the chapter…
Andrea OldofrediAug 19, 2026
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Could John Ellard Gore have pre-empted the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram?
John Ellard Gore (1845-1910) was an Irish amateur astronomer, prolific science writer and civil engineer. He was an inaugural member of the British Astronomical Association when it was founded in…
Jeremy ShearsAug 19, 2026
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The Birth of Radar Meteor Astronomy at Jodrell Bank: The Collaboration between Bernard Lovell and Manning Prentice
The discovery of radar echoes from meteor trains at Jodrell Bank in December 1945 heralded the beginning of a new era in meteor astronomy. This paper examines the early collaboration between Bernard…
Jeremy ShearsAug 19, 2026
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Astrobiology and the Transformation of Scientific Epistemology
Astrobiology occupies an unusual position within the philosophy of science. Confronted with the n = 1 problem - having only a single example of life to study - it attempts to investigate life beyond…
Kristina ŠekrstAug 18, 2026
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Mutual Recognition in the Philosophy of Physics: QBism, Phenomenology, Hegel
Recent discussions of QBism have turned increasingly toward the question of its ontology. I argue that key insights into QBism's ontology of agency can be identified by reconstructing its…
George WebsterAug 18, 2026
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Scientific understanding across disciplines: in varietate concordia?
Understanding is a generally acknowledged aim of science, but the way in which understanding is pursued and criteria for when it is achieved differ widely across scientific disciplines. This paper…
Henk W. de Regt, Milo D. Cornelissen, Vincent Coumans et al.Aug 14, 2026
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From the Earth to the Sun
This year marks 360 years since the founding of the French Academy of Sciences. This is the story of the academy's daring 17th century expedition to measure the Earth-sun distance. A truncated…
Dieynaba YoungAug 13, 2026
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Was Schrödinger ever a determinist?
Erwin Schrödinger is often portrayed as a reactionary who resisted the indeterminism introduced by quantum mechanics, but on closer inspection his views on determinism prove to be more complex and…
Flavio Del Santo, Nicolas GisinAug 10, 2026
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Does DESI Provide Evidence for Dynamical Dark Energy?
Recent results from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) have been announced as evidence that dark energy is dynamical. We distinguish three claims the headline announcement conflates:…
Nicola BamontiAug 8, 2026
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Newton's Second Law: A Theoretical Identity Derived from the Principle of Excluded Perpetual Motion and the Weak Equivalence Principle
For more than three centuries, Newton's Second Law (F=ma) has governed mechanics with undisputed success, yet its epistemic authority has rested on empirical adequacy alone. That empirical…
Lars NordmannAug 6, 2026
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The Informational Observer in Relational Quantum Mechanics
Relational Quantum Mechanics (RQM) treats quantum states as observer-dependent facts rather than absolute properties. While this relational stance is conceptually attractive, it raises concerns about…
Bethany TerrisAug 6, 2026
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Key Historical Experiments in Hadron Physics
The experimental observations that led to the development of hadron physics are reviewed with emphasis on the discoveries of mesons and baryons, starting in the 1940s with the pion and kaon which…
Claude AmslerAug 4, 2026
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The orientation of historic churches in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and its surroundings: preliminary results
We present preliminary results of the analysis of the precise spatial orientation of colonial Christian churches located in the city of Las Palmas, capital of the island of Gran Canaria (Spain), and…
Alejandro Gangui, Jose Ricra, Joaquin Pallares et al.Aug 3, 2026
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Gauge and Metaphysics of Spacetime
Some authors have argued that spacetime in general relativity should be given a radically different interpretation from the ones given to spacetime in other theories in virtue of it being a gauge…
Álvaro Mozota FraucaAug 3, 2026
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The burden of Fundamentality: Metaphysical ambiguities and the issue of Superdeterminism
In this paper we approach the problem of superdeterminism from a novel point of view, highlighting its character as a more metaphysical than scientific proposition. First, we introduce a distinction…
Gabriele Cafiero, Luca Molinari, Jonte R. HanceAug 2, 2026
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Erwin Schroedinger: His Poetry and Fragment of a Galilean Dialogue
While Erwin Schroedinger's contributions to quantum mechanics and other areas of theoretical physics are very well known, his works as a poet and literary writer are usually ignored. In this…
Helge KraghJul 31, 2026
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De mora luminis: Roemer's discovery 350 years later
350 years from the 1676 announcement of the Roemer's discovery that light propagates with finite speed, we present our observations using eyes with telescopes having similar resolution compared…
Fabio Falchi, Riccardo Furgoni, Paolo Gattillo et al.Jul 30, 2026
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Can AI Follow In Einstein's Footsteps?
AI is accelerating physics discovery, but perhaps away from Einstein-level theory building. To understand this gap, we must recognize a striking trend: while being very successful, the most visible…
Michael Shalyt, Nathan Regev, Marin Soljačić et al.Jul 30, 2026
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