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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 107

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Translation of an article by Paul Drude in 1904
English translation of P. Drude, Annalen der Physik 13, 512 (1904), an article by Paul Drude about Tesla transformers and wireless telegraphy. Includes a discussion of the derivation of an equivalent…
A. J. Sederberg, J. Burkhart, F. Apfelbeck et al.Mar 7, 2013
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Slipher's redshifts as support for de Sitter's model and the discovery of the dynamic universe
Of the first two relativistiv world models, only the one by de Sitter predicted redshifted spectra from far away astronomical objects. Slipher's redshifts therefore seemed to arbitrate against…
Harry NussbaumerMar 7, 2013
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Arhaeoastronomical analysis of Levinsadovka sacrificial complex (South Russia)
The article presents research data using arhaeoastronomical methods of Levinsadovka settlement sacrificial complex in Northern Black Sea coast. In this work, new method of accounting terrain…
Larisa Vodolazhskaya, Vera LarenokMar 4, 2013
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Slippery Wave Functions V2.01
Superfluids and superconductors are ordinary matter that show a very surprising behavior at low temperatures. As their temperature is reduced, materials of both kinds can abruptly fall into a state…
Leo P. KadanoffMar 4, 2013
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Bricks and urbanism in the Indus Valley rise and decline
The Indus Civilization, often denoted by its major city Harappa, spanned almost two millennia from 3200 to 1300 BC. Its tradition reaches back to 7000 BC: a 5000 year long expansion of villages and…
Aurangzeb Khan, Carsten LemmenFeb 27, 2013
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From aether theory to Special Relativity
At the end of the 19th century light was regarded as an electromagnetic wave propagating in a material medium called ether. The speed c appearing in Maxwell's wave equations was the speed of…
Rafael FerraroFeb 27, 2013
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Pawel Max Maksym (1983-2013) Polish Astronomer and Film-maker
The sudden and untimely death of Pawel Max Maksym will not diminish his contributions to the field of occultation astronomy, and to Polish society in general. Founder of the Pope Silvester II…
Costantino SigismondiFeb 25, 2013
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The orientations of the Giza pyramids and associated structures
Ever since Flinders Petrie undertook a theodolite survey on the Giza plateau in 1881 and drew attention to the extraordinary degree of precision with which the three colossal pyramids are oriented…
Erin Nell, Clive RugglesFeb 22, 2013
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Professor "Nonlinear": Obituary and memoir for Roman Juszkiewicz (1952-2012)
On 28th and 29th of January 2013 we held an international meeting in Zielona Góra (Poland) honouring the first anniversary of premature passing away(1) of Professor Roman Juszkiewicz. We have…
Wojciech A. HellwingFeb 15, 2013
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Disappearance and emergence of space and time in quantum gravity
We discuss the hints for the disappearance of continuum space and time at microscopic scale. These include arguments for a discrete nature of them or for a fundamental non-locality, in a quantum…
Daniele OritiFeb 12, 2013
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The relativity of simultaneity and presentism
According to conventional wisdom, presentism is at odds with the theory of relativity. This is supposed to be shown quite simply just by considering the relativity of simultaneity. In this paper I…
Mario Bacelar ValenteFeb 11, 2013
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Time in the theory of relativity: on natural clocks, proper time, the clock hypothesis, and all that
When addressing the notion of proper time in the theory of relativity, it is usually taken for granted that the time read by an accelerated clock is given by the Minkowski proper time. However, there…
Mario Bacelar ValenteFeb 8, 2013
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The Geometry of Conventionality
There is a venerable position in the philosophy of space and time that holds that the geometry of spacetime is conventional, provided one is willing to postulate a "universal force field". Here we…
James Owen Weatherall, John Byron ManchakFeb 7, 2013
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Reflection and refraction in Robert Grosseteste's De Lineis, Angulis et Figuris
In his scientific treatise entitled De Lineis, Angulis et Figuris, seu Fractionibus et Reflexionibus Radiorum, Robert Grosseteste is discussing some qualitative geometric rules about reflection and…
Amelia Carolina SparavignaFeb 6, 2013
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"The Waters I am Entering No One yet Has Crossed": Alexander Friedman and the Origins of Modern Cosmology
Ninety years ago, in 1922, Alexander Friedman (1888-1925) demonstrated for the first time that the General Relativity equations admit non-static solutions and thus the Universe may expand, contract,…
Ari BelenkiyFeb 6, 2013
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The Critical Importance of Russell's Diagram
The idea of dwarf and giants stars, but not the nomenclature, was first established by Eijnar Hertzsprung in 1905; his first diagrams in support appeared in 1911. In 1913 Henry Norris Russell could…
Owen GingerichFeb 4, 2013
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The SETI Episode in the 1967 Discovery of Pulsars
In the winter of 1967 Cambridge radio astronomers discovered a new type of radio source of such an artificial seeming nature that for a few weeks some members of the group had to seriously consider…
Alan PennyFeb 4, 2013
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Henry Norris Russell and the Expanding Universe
Henry Norris Russell, one of the most influential American astronomers of the first half of the 20th Century, had a special place in his heart for the Lowell Observatory. Although privately critical…
David H. DeVorkinFeb 1, 2013
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PBR theorem and Einstein's quantum hole argument
Upon reading Einstein's views on quantum incompleteness in publications or in his correspondence after 1935 (the EPR paradox), one gets a very intense feeling of deja-vu. Einstein presents a…
Galina WeinsteinJan 31, 2013
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What Else Did V. M. Slipher Do?
When V. M. Slipher gave the 1933 George Darwin lecture to the Royal Astronomical Society, it was natural that he spoke on spectrographic studies of planets. Less than one-sixth of his published work…
Joseph S. TennJan 31, 2013
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Slipher and the Nature of the Nebulae
Why do some discoveries, which appear in hindsight to be obviously major discoveries, have so little impact when they were made. These are discoveries that were ahead of their time, but for some…
K. C. FreemanJan 31, 2013
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V.M. Slipher and the Development of the Nebular Spectrograph
Vesto Melvin Slipher was the first astronomer to clearly define the factors that determine the "speed" of a nebular spectrograph. This brief historical summary recounts the way these ideas…
Laird A. ThompsonJan 30, 2013
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Worlds and Systems in Early Modern Europe
The structure, formation and evolution of the Universe were some of the main topics in the scientific debates during the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe. They involved novel ideas on the cosmos,…
Lucia AyalaJan 30, 2013
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Dismantling Hubble's Legacy?
Edwin Hubble is famous for a number of discoveries that are well known to amateur and professional astronomers, students and the general public. The origins of these discoveries are examined and it…
Michael J. WayJan 30, 2013
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Slipher, galaxies, and cosmological velocity fields
By 1917, V.M. Slipher had singlehandedly established a tendency for 'spiral nebulae' to be redshifted (21 out of 25 cases). From a modern perspective, it could seem surprising that the…
John A. PeacockJan 30, 2013
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