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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 112

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Seeing Earth's Orbit in the Stars: Parallax and Aberration
During the 17th century the idea of an orbiting and rotating Earth became increasingly popular, but opponents of this view continued to point out that the theory had observable consequences that had…
Todd K. TimberlakeAug 9, 2012
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The first dozen years of the history of ITEP Theoretical Physics Laboratory
The theoretical investigations at ITEP in the years 1945-1958 are reviewed. There are exposed the most important theoretical results, obtained in the following branches of physics: 1) the theory of…
B. L. IoffeAug 7, 2012
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The orientation of Trajan's town of Timgad
An equation, generally used for solar energy applications, can be applied to archaeoastronomical calculations to determine the day of foundation of ancient towns. The equation is that giving the…
Amelia Carolina SparavignaAug 2, 2012
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The Making of a Genius: Richard P. Feynman
In 1965 the Nobel Foundation honored Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Julian Schwinger, and Richard Feynman for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics and the consequences for the physics of elementary…
Christian ForstnerAug 1, 2012
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A Note on the Prehistory of Superheavy Elements
Artificially produced chemical elements heavier than uranium have been known for more than seventy years and the number of superheavy elements continues to grow. Presently 26 transuranic elements are…
Helge KraghJul 25, 2012
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Very-high energy gamma-ray astronomy: A 23-year success story in high-energy astroparticle physics
Very-high energy (VHE) gamma quanta contribute only a minuscule fraction - below one per million - to the flux of cosmic rays. Nevertheless, being neutral particles they are currently the best…
Eckart Lorenz, Robert WagnerJul 25, 2012
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Raffaello Caverni (1837 - 1900) and the Society for the progress of the sciences: an independent priest criticized by the lay scientists
Raffaello Caverni, a Catholic priest, was a truly lay and anti-establishment intellectual in his opinions both on Darwin and on Galileo. He opposed the mythicization of Galileo, as a rule in Italy…
Dino BoccalettiJul 24, 2012
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Quantum Randi Challenge
Observed violations of Bell type inequalities exclude all relativistic micro causal ("local"), counterfactual definite ("real") hidden variable models of nature. This further…
Sascha VongehrJul 23, 2012
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Extensive Air Showers and Ultra High-Energy Cosmic Rays: A Historical Review
The discovery of extensive air showers by Rossi, Schmeiser, Bothe, Kolhörster and Auger at the end of the 1930s, facilitated by the coincidence technique of Bothe and Rossi, led to fundamental…
Karl-Heinz Kampert, Alan A. WatsonJul 19, 2012
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A Relational Concept of Machian Relativity
Mach's principle fits into the wider "relational principle", advocating that not only inertia, but also space and time emerge from the interaction of matter. Concepts of a…
Herman TelkampJul 18, 2012
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The Supernova of 1054AD, the Armenian chronicle of Hetum, and Cronaca Rampona
The rareness of nearby supernovae ensures particular value to the historic records for determination of their light curves. We provide the translation of 13th century Armenian chronicle of Hetum,…
V. G. GurzadyanJul 17, 2012
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A Sense of Crisis: Physics in the fin-de-siecle Era
Whereas physics in the period from about 1880 to 1910 experienced a steady growth, it was also a revolutionary period in which the foundations of the physical world picture were criticized and…
Helge KraghJul 9, 2012
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Majorana solutions to the two-electron problem
A review of the known different methods and results devised to study the two-electron atom problem, appeared in the early years of quantum mechanics, is given, with particular reference to the…
S. Esposito, A. NaddeoJul 6, 2012
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The structure of causal sets
More often than not, recently popular structuralist interpretations of physical theories leave the central concept of a structure insufficiently precisified. The incipient causal sets approach to…
Christian WuthrichJul 6, 2012
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Stapledon's Interplanetary Man: A Commonwealth of Worlds and the Ultimate Purpose of Space Colonisation
In his 1948 lecture to the British Interplanetary Society, Olaf Stapledon considered the ultimate purpose of colonising other worlds. Having examined the possible motivations arising from improved…
Ian A. CrawfordJul 6, 2012
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Is it the first use of the word Astrobiology ?
The research of life in Universe is a ancient quest that has taken different forms over the centuries. It has given rise to a new science, which is normally referred as Astrobiology. It is…
Danielle BriotJul 5, 2012
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The fate of presentism in modern physics
There has been a recent spate of essays defending presentism, the view in the metaphysics of time according to which all and only present events or entities exist. What is particularly striking about…
Christian WuthrichJul 5, 2012
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In search of lost spacetime: philosophical issues arising in quantum gravity
This essay presents an accessible introduction to the basic motivations to seek a quantum theory of gravity. It focuses on one approach- loop quantum gravity - as an example of the rich philosophical…
Christian WuthrichJul 4, 2012
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Time in quantum gravity
Quantum gravity--the marriage of quantum physics with general relativity--is bound to contain deep and important lessons for the nature of physical time. Some of these lessons shall be canvassed…
Nick Huggett, Tiziana Vistarini, Christian WuthrichJul 3, 2012
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A Biography of Henri Poincaré - 2012 Centenary of the Death of Poincaré
On January 4, 2012, the centenary of Henri Poincaré's death, a colloquium was held in Nancy, France the subject of which was "Vers une biographie d'Henri Poincaré". Scholars discussed…
Galina WeinsteinJul 3, 2012
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Emergent spacetime and empirical (in)coherence
Numerous approaches to a quantum theory of gravity posit fundamental ontologies that exclude spacetime, either partially or wholly. This situation raises deep questions about how such theories could…
Nick Huggett, Christian WuthrichJun 26, 2012
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Modern Cosmology: Assumptions and Limits
Physical cosmology tries to understand the Universe at large with its origin and evolution. Observational and experimental situations in cosmology do not allow us to proceed purely based on the…
Jai-chan HwangJun 25, 2012
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God exists with probability 1/(H+1)
This note will address the issue of the existence of God from a game theoretic perspective. We will show that, under certain assumptions, man cannot simultaneously be (i) rational and (ii) believe…
Jesse HoeyJun 21, 2012
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Learning from Galileo's errors
Four hundred years after its publication, Galileo's masterpiece Sidereus Nuncius is still a mine of useful information for historians of science and astronomy. In his short book Galileo reports a…
Enrico BernieriJun 19, 2012
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Lomonosov's Discovery of Venus Atmosphere in 1761: English Translation of Original Publication with Commentaries
Key figure of Russian Enlightenment, polymath Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov (1711-1765) had discovered atmosphere of Venus during its transit over the Sun's disc in 1761. This paper contains the…
Vladimir ShiltsevJun 15, 2012
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