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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 22

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Joseph Wolstenholme and the Trigonometry of Tetrahedra
We describe the results in the trigonometry of tetrahedra obtained by Joseph Wolstenholme in the last few years of his life. 'The late Professor Wolstenholme, M.A., Sc.D., shortly before his death,…
Daniil RudenkoJan 24, 2024
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Conservation Principles in AQUAL
We consider conservation of momentum in AQUAL, a field-theoretic extension to Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). We show that while there is a sense in which momentum is conserved, it is only if…
Clara Bradley, James Owen WeatherallJan 23, 2024
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Introduction to the second edition of "The Supersymmetric World"
The first Edition of this book was released in 2000, just before the symposium ``Thirty Years of Supersymmetry'' was held at the William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute (FTPI) of the University…
M. ShifmanJan 19, 2024
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Stolzenberg's "The Holy Office in The Republic of Letters" Revisited: On an Astronomical Diagram and Whether the Papacy Tacitly Permitted the Circulation of an Explicitly Copernican Book in 1660
Did the papacy tacitly permit the circulation of an explicitly Copernican book in 1660? One scholar has recently argued that it did. A close analysis of a unique illustration from that book, Andreas…
Christopher M. GraneyJan 18, 2024
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How quarks made their entrance into our worldview via cosmic rays and proton accelerators
Sixty years ago Gell-Mann introduced, with a striking sense of caution, a new fundamental layer in the structure of matter. He christened the associated particles 'quarks', a name borrowed from the…
Jos EngelenJan 13, 2024
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Autobiographical Notes of a Physicist
I describe aspects of my life in physics: the name I publish under, great physicists I have known, how I got into quantum foundations, what role I've played in it. My form is autobiographical, but my…
N. David MerminJan 9, 2024
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Analysis of classical and quantum mechanical concepts of probability: A synopsis
This paper addresses the central question of what a coherent concept of probability might look like that would do justice to both classical probability theory, axiomatized by Kolmogorov, and quantum…
Christian Hugo HoffmannJan 9, 2024
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Revisiting Taylor and the Trinity Test
The atomic bomb uses fission of heavy elements to produce a large amount of energy. It was designed and deployed during World War II by the United States military. The first test of an atomic bomb…
Elizabeth Mone, Pranay SeshadriJan 7, 2024
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From the first observations of cosmic rays to the physics of relativistic nuclei
Research of cosmic rays at the Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences resulted in the construction of the JINR Synchrophasotron. For this purpose the Electrophysical Laboratory of the…
P. I. Zarubin, A. A. ZaitsevJan 6, 2024
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Reysa Bernson, the unconventional head of the first French planetarium
The first modern planetarium was presented in 1923 in Jena, Germany. Very soon in the subsequent years, planetariums were installed in other parts of Europe as well as in America. France, however,…
Yael NazeJan 4, 2024
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The Hamiltonian for Entangled States Cannot Be Additive
The assumption that the system Hamiltonian for entangled states is additive is widely used in orthodox quantum no-signalling arguments. It is shown that additivity implies a contradiction with the…
Kent A. PeacockDec 30, 2023
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Relativity and Quantum Theory: Under the Spell of Today's Paradigms
Thomas S. Kuhn interprets the development of the (natural) sciences as a specific dynamical process. Periods of piecemeal growth of knowledge based on widely accepted paradigms are interrupted by…
Stefan WeigertDec 29, 2023
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On the Hole Argument and the physical interpretation of General Relativity
Einstein presented the Hole Argument against General Covariance, understood as invariance with respect to a change of coordinates, as a consequence of his initial failure to obtain covariant…
Jaume de HaroDec 27, 2023
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Limits and epistemological barriers to the human knowledge of the natural world
The goal of this article is to give an overview of the current limitations and epistemological barriers in Science and Scientific Philosophy from a very general point of view. We first list and…
J. E. Horvath, R. R. Fernandes, T. P. IdiartDec 24, 2023
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Une interpretation du spin en mecanique relativiste
This paper aims at studying the spin once again. The departure point is thus the Stern and Gerlach experimental results that can be described in a coherent way in the frame of quantum mechanics only.…
Stefan CathelineDec 22, 2023
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The Evenki accounts of the 1908 Tunguska event collected in 1920s-1930s
This paper is a continuation of a series of works, devoted to various aspects of the 1908 Tunguska event. It is devoted to the Evenki accounts of the 1908 Tunguska event collected in 1920s - 1930s.…
Andrei Ol'khovatovDec 18, 2023
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The Instituto Argentino de Radioastronom\'ia (IAR): Past, present, and future
I present a brief review of the history of the Instituto Argentino de Radioastronom\'ia, a description of its current facilities and projects, and a view of his prospects for the future.
Gustavo E. RomeroDec 15, 2023
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Whence Tycho's Case against Copernicus? On Genesis, Augustine, and the Stars
This paper argues that Tycho Brahe's "principal argument against Copernicus" (as the astronomer Christiaan Huygens called it) likely derived from a much older argument regarding the sizes of the "two…
Christopher M. GraneyDec 15, 2023
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Remembering Nino Boccara (1931--2018)
In commemoration of the fifth anniversary since Nino Boccara's departure, this article offers some personal recollections and provides insight into his life and accomplishments. Detailed bibliography…
Henryk FukśDec 13, 2023
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The Change-Driver Account of Scientific Discovery: Philosophical and Historical Dimensions of the Discovery of the Expanding Universe
This paper critically examines the models of scientific discovery propounded by Kuhn, McArthur, Hudson, and Schindler. As an alternative, we proffer the x201cchangex2013driver…
Patrick M. Duerr, Abigail Holmes MillsDec 11, 2023
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A comprehensive survey of Schwarzschild's original papers: Schwarzschild's trick and Einstein's s(h)tick
This paper examines Schwarzschild's key contributions to general relativity through his two papers. It focuses on his method for developing exterior and interior solutions. The study emphasizes…
Galina WeinsteinDec 4, 2023
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Richard Feynman's talent for finding things out
This article is a summary of a talk about Richard Feynman, given at a conference Polymaths across the Eras organized in November 2023 by the St Cross Centre for the History and Philosophy of Physics…
David BroadhurstNov 30, 2023
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Dating of a Latin astrolabe
We have determined the most probable date for the catalog of 34 stars that was used in the construction of a Latin astrolabe originally owned by the Dominican preacher friars and presently at Mus\'ee…
Emmanuel DavoustNov 29, 2023
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Anticipations and Discoveries of the Heavy Hydrogen Isotopes, 1913-1939
Just as the chemical elements from hydrogen (Z = 1) to oganesson (Z = 118) once were discovered, so were the numerous isotopes. The histories of how the isotopes were discovered are less well known,…
Helge KraghNov 29, 2023
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Marietta Blau and the photographic method of particle detection
Marietta Blau was a Vienna born nuclear physicist who eventually became the leading expert in the photographic detection of ionizing particles. She studied physics at the University of Vienna,…
Brigitte StrohmaierNov 21, 2023
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