Skip to content

History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 124

physics.hist-phBrowse archive

The Interpretation of Wave Mechanics with the help of Waves with Singular Regions
This paper appeared in a collection of papers titled "Scientific Papers Presented to Max Born on his retirement from the Tait Chair of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh",…
Louis de BroglieMay 25, 2010
Learn
Reflexion on a method for Archaeology of technical machine
This study is based on Roman wooden force pumps. It appears that they were used in small numbers to raise water from wells, and more commonly as portable pumps to fight fires. The force pump is…
Nicolas Perry, Richard J. B. Stein, Robert Vergnieux et al.May 21, 2010
Learn
The Spirit of Unification: The Wei of Physics
We review, in a historical perspective, developments in physics which led to the emergence of unifying ideas and theories. Some attention is paid to the theoretical programme that started in the…
Orfeu BertolamiMay 17, 2010
Learn
Vector potential, electromagnetic induction and "physical meaning"
A forgotten experiment by André Blondel (1914) proves, as held on the basis of theoretical arguments in a previous paper, that the time variation of the magnetic flux is not the cause of the induced…
Giuseppe GiulianiMay 13, 2010
Learn
Thermal conductivity through the nineteenth century
As a material property and as a metaphor, thermal conductivity occupies an important position in physical, biological and geological sciences. Yet, its precise measurement is dependent on using…
T. N. NarasimhanMay 12, 2010
Learn
Bogoliubov's Vision and Modern Theoretical Physics
A brief survey of the author's works on the fundamental conceptual ideas of quantum statistical physics developed by N. N. Bogoliubov and his school was given. The development and applications of…
A. L. KuzemskyMay 6, 2010
Learn
Free fall and self-force: an historical perspective
Free fall has signed the greatest markings in the history of physics through the leaning Pisa tower, the Cambridge apple tree and the Einstein lift. The perspectives offered by the capture of stars…
Alessandro SpallicciMay 4, 2010
Learn
Einstein's quantum theory of the monatomic ideal gas: non-statistical arguments for a new statistics
In this article, we analyze the third of three papers, in which Einstein presented his quantum theory of the ideal gas of 1924-1925. Although it failed to attract the attention of Einstein's…
Enric Pérez, Tilman SauerApr 30, 2010
Learn
Mirror Symmetry and Other Miracles in Superstring Theory
The dominance of string theory in the research landscape of quantum gravity physics (despite any direct experimental evidence) can, I think, be justified in a variety of ways. Here I focus on an…
Dean RicklesApr 26, 2010
Learn
Riccioli Measures the Stars: Observations of the telescopic disks of stars as evidence against Copernicus and Galileo in the middle of the 17th century
G. B. Riccioli's 1651 Almagestum Novum contains a table of diameters of stars measured by Riccioli and his associates with a telescope. These telescopically measured star diameters are spurious,…
Christopher M. GraneyApr 23, 2010
Learn
Another Dirac
This article discusses aspects of Dirac's work that are less familiar.
Jeremy BernsteinApr 20, 2010
Learn
On the telescopic disks of stars - a review and analysis of stellar observations from the early 17th through the middle 19th centuries
Since the dawn of telescopic astronomy astronomers have observed and measured the "spurious" telescopic disks of stars, generally reporting that brighter stars have larger disks than fainter…
Christopher M. Graney, Timothy P. GraysonMar 25, 2010
Learn
Wolfgang Pauli 1900 to 1930: His Early Physics in Jungian Perspective
Wolfgang Pauli's philosophy and physics were intertwined. His philosophy was a variety of Platonism, in which Pauli's affiliation with Carl Jung formed an integral part, but Pauli's…
John R. GustafsonMar 16, 2010
Learn
Uncertainty and the Communication of Time
Prigogine and Stengers (1988) have pointed to the centrality of the concepts of "time and eternity" for the cosmology contained in Newtonian physics, but they have not addressed this issue…
Loet LeydesdorffMar 15, 2010
Learn
Proof of the Ergodic Theorem and the H-Theorem in Quantum Mechanics
It is shown how to resolve the apparent contradiction between the macroscopic approach of phase space and the validity of the uncertainty relations. The main notions of statistical mechanics are…
John von NeumannMar 10, 2010
Learn
The Extraterrestrial Life debate in different cultures
Surprisingly, the question "Is there Life in the Universe outside Earth?" has been raised, in rational terms, almost only in the western literature throughout the ages. In a first part I justify this…
Jean SchneiderMar 1, 2010
Learn
Theories of Matter: Infinities and Renormalization
This paper looks at the theory underlying the science of materials from the perspectives of physics, the history of science, and the philosophy of science. We are particularly concerned with the…
Leo P. KadanoffFeb 16, 2010
Learn
Domenico Pacini, the forgotten pioneer of the discovery of cosmic rays
About a century ago, cosmic rays were identified as being a source of radiation on Earth. The proof came from two independent experiments. The Italian physicist Domenico Pacini observed the radiation…
Alessandro De Angelis, Nicola Giglietto, Sebastiano StramagliaFeb 15, 2010
Learn
Penetrating Radiation at the Surface of and in Water
At the beginning of the twentieth century, two scientists, the Austrian Victor Hess and the Italian Domenico Pacini, developed two brilliant lines of research independently, leading to the…
Domenico PaciniFeb 9, 2010
Learn
In memoriam two distinguished participants of the Bregenz Symmetries in Science Symposia: Marcos Moshinsky and Yurii Fedorovich Smirnov
Some particular facets of the numerous works by Marcos Moshinsky and Yurii Fedorovich Smirnov are presented in these notes. The accent is put on some of the common interests of Yurii and Marcos in…
Maurice Robert KiblerFeb 3, 2010
Learn
Heuristic rule for constructing physics axiomatization
Constructing the Theory of Everything (TOE) is an elusive goal of today's physics. Goedel's incompleteness theorem seems to forbid physics axiomatization, a necessary part of the TOE. The…
Florin MoldoveanuJan 26, 2010
Learn
Henry Eyring: Statistical Mechanics, Significant Structure Theory, and the Inductive-Deductive Method
Henry Eyring was, and still is, a towering figure in science. Some aspects of his life and science, beginning in Mexico and continuing in Arizona, California, Wisconsin, Germany, Princeton, and…
Douglas HendersonJan 25, 2010
Learn
Unification and Emergence in Physics: the Problem of Articulation
What is physics? What are the limits of what physics can say about the world? In seeking ever-broader theoretical `umbrellas' for physical phenomena, we are seeking unifying principles. Emergent…
Ian T. DurhamJan 25, 2010
Learn
Lessons from failures to achieve what was possible in the twentieth century physics
For several decades there has been no breakthrough in fundamental physics as revolutionary as relativity and quantum physics despite the amazing advancement of applied physics and technology. By…
Vesselin PetkovJan 24, 2010
Learn
Poincare and relativity: the logic of the 1905 Palermo Memoir
We highlight four points which have been ignored or underestimated before and which allow a better understanding of "Sur la dynamique de l'electron": (i) the use by Poincare of active…
Christian Bracco, Jean-Pierre ProvostJan 23, 2010
Learn
← PreviousPage 124Next →