Skip to content

History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 44

physics.hist-phBrowse archive

Fermi at Trinity
Enrico Fermi estimated the yield of the Trinity test to be about 10 kilotons by dropping small pieces of paper and observing their motion in the blast wave. This is about 40% of the radiochemically…
J. I. KatzMar 9, 2021
Learn
Critical Assemblies: Dragon Burst Assembly and Solution Assemblies
This work reviewed the historical literature associated with the Dragon experiment and Water Boiler reactors operated at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. Frisch's invited talk given at the…
R. Kimpland, T. Grove, P. Jaegers et al.Mar 9, 2021
Learn
Equation of State: Manhattan Project Developments and Beyond
The hydrodynamic response of materials under extreme conditions of pressure, temperature and strain is dependent on the equation of state of the matter in all its states of existence. The Trinity…
S. Crockett, F. J. FreibertMar 9, 2021
Learn
Nuclear Science for the Manhattan Project and Comparison to Today's ENDF Data
Nuclear physics advances in the US and Britain, from 1939-1945, are described. The Manhattan Project's work led to an explosion in our knowledge of nuclear science. A conference in April 1943 at Los…
M. B. ChadwickMar 9, 2021
Learn
Thirty Minutes Before the Dawn -- Trinity
The Trinity test of July 16, 1945 marked the scientific apex of the Manhattan Project. Often recognized as the symbolic birth of the nuclear age, Trinity's multifaceted legacy remains just as…
A. B. CarrMar 9, 2021
Learn
The Trinity High Explosive Implosion System: The Foundation for Precision Explosive Applications
This article is set during the 1944 and 1945 final push to complete Project Y -- the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos -- and focuses primarily on overcoming the challenge of creating and demonstrating…
E. N. Brown, D. L. BorovinaMar 9, 2021
Learn
On the Symmetry of Blast Waves
This article presents a brief historical review of G. I. Taylor's solution of the point blast wave problem which was applied to the Trinity test of the first atomic bomb. Lie group symmetry…
R. S. Baty, S. D. RamseyMar 9, 2021
Learn
The Los Alamos Computing Facility during the Manhattan Project
This article describes the history of the computing facility at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project, 1944 to 1946. The hand computations are briefly discussed, but the focus is on the IBM Punch…
B. J. ArcherMar 9, 2021
Learn
Foreword: Manhattan Project Nuclear Science & Technology Developments at Los Alamos
A collection of articles reviewing Trinity on its 75th anniversary.
M. B. ChadwickMar 9, 2021
Learn
Elementary Particles: What are they? Substances, elements and primary matter
The most successful "Standard Model" allows one to define the so-called "Elementary Particles". Now from another point of view, philosophical, how can we think of them? Which kind of a status can be…
D-M. Cabaret, T. Grandou, G-M. Grange et al.Mar 9, 2021
Learn
Status of the wave function of Quantum Mechanics, or, What is Quantum Mechanics trying to tell us?
The most debated status of the wave function of Quantum Mechanics is discussed in the light of the epistemological vs ontological opposition.
D-M. Cabaret, T. Grandou, E. PerrierMar 9, 2021
Learn
On von Weizs\"acker's philosophy of Quantum Mechanics
We are interested here in the program of reconstruction of quantum mechanics of the German physicist and philosopher Carl Friedrich von Weizs\"acker, which still has some supporters today. In the…
Daniel ParrochiaMar 9, 2021
Learn
A Brief Historical Perspective on the Consistent Histories Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
It will be presented in this chapter a historical account of the consistent histories interpretation of quantum mechanics based on primary and secondary literature. Firstly, the formalism of the…
Gustavo Rodrigues Rocha, Dean Rickles, Florian J. BogeMar 9, 2021
Learn
The Early Years of Quantum Monte Carlo (2): Finite Temperature Simulations
In this article we present the second part of our historical survey on quantum Monte Carlo methods. IWe focus on the simulations performed at a finite temperature and based on the path-integral…
Michel MareschalMar 8, 2021
Learn
The Early Years of Quantum Monte Carlo: the Ground State
The history of the development of Monte Carlo methods to solve the many-body problem in quantum mechanics is presented. The survey starts with the early attempts with the first available computers…
Michel MareschalMar 8, 2021
Learn
The falsification of the non-statistical interpretation of the uncertainty principle and the breakthrough of the statistical interpretation -- From the Uncertainty Principle to the Deterministic Rule
It is well known that the problem of divergence in the physical interpretation of quantum mechanics originating from the uncertainty principle has not yet been resolved. Attempting to clear the…
De-Long DuanMar 5, 2021
Learn
No-Go Theorems: What Are They Good For?
No-go theorems have played an important role in the development and assessment of scientific theories. They have stopped whole research programs and have given rise to strong ontological commitments.…
Radin DardashtiMar 5, 2021
Learn
A causal and continuous interpretation of the quantum theory: About an original manuscript by David Bohm sent to Louis de Broglie in 1951
The aim of this article is reproduce and analyze an original article of David Bohm sent to Louis de Broglie in 1951. This article is the older document of David Bohm about his well known hidden…
Aurélien Drezet, Benjamin StockFeb 28, 2021
Learn
A road map for Feynman's adventures in the land of gravitation
Richard P. Feynman's work on gravitation, as can be inferred from several published and unpublished sources, is reviewed. Feynman was involved with this subject at least from late 1954 to the late…
Marco Di Mauro, Salvatore Esposito, Adele NaddeoFeb 22, 2021
Learn
Demons in Black Hole Thermodynamics: Bekenstein and Hawking
This paper comprehensively explores Stephen Hawking's interaction with Jacob Bekenstein. Both Hawking and Bekenstein benefited from the interaction with each other. It is shown that Hawking's…
Galina WeinsteinFeb 22, 2021
Learn
Joshua's Total Solar Eclipse at Gibeon
We reanalyse the solar eclipse linked to the Biblical passage about the military leader Joshua who ordered the sun to halt in the midst of the day (Joshua 10:12). Although there is agreement that the…
Emil KhalisiFeb 18, 2021
Learn
On the Ontology of Particle Mass and Energy in Special Relativity
Einstein claimed that the fundamental dynamical insight of special relativity was the equivalence of mass and energy. I disagree. Not only are mass and energy not equivalent (whatever exactly that…
Kevin CoffeyFeb 11, 2021
Learn
From Ramanujan to renormalization: the art of doing away with divergences and arriving at physical results
A century ago, Srinivasa Ramanujan -- the great self-taught Indian genius of mathematics -- died, shortly after returning from Cambridge, UK, where he had collaborated with Godfrey Hardy. Ramanujan…
Wolfgang BietenholzFeb 9, 2021
Learn
The Arc of the Data Scientific Universe
In this paper I explore the scaffolding of normative assumptions that supports Sabina Leonelli's implicit appeal to the values of epistemic integrity and the global public good that conjointly…
David LeslieFeb 6, 2021
Learn
Why Do You Think It is a Black Hole?
This paper analyzes the experiment presented in 2019 by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration that unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy M87. The…
Galina WeinsteinFeb 4, 2021
Learn
← PreviousPage 44Next →