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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 60

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The Starry Universe of Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler described the Copernican universe as consisting of a central, small, brilliant sun with its planetary system, all surrounded by giant stars. These stars were far larger than, and much…
Christopher M. GraneyJun 10, 2019
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G. Pa\'al and the cosmological revolution
Gy\"orgy Pa\'al, the Hungarian cosmologist died in 1992. This article was published twenty-five years later in the Hungarian Astronomical Association (HAA, MCSE in Hungarian) 2017 yearbook for his…
L. G. BalázsJun 10, 2019
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Erwin L. Hahn: A Biographical Memoir
Erwin Louis Hahn was one of the most innovative and influential physical scientists in recent history, impacting generations of scientists through his work in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR),…
Alexander Pines, Dmitry BudkerJun 8, 2019
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Kantian and Neo-Kantian First Principles for Physical and Metaphysical Cognition
I argue that Immanuel Kant's critical philosophy -- in particular the doctrine of transcendental idealism which grounds it -- is best understood as an `epistemic' or `metaphilosophical' doctrine. As…
Michael E. CuffaroJun 7, 2019
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G\"odel's incompleteness theorem and universal physics theories
An ultimate universal theory -- a complete theory that accounts, via few and simple first principles, for all the phenomena already observed and that will ever be observed -- has been, and still is,…
Uri Ben-Ya'acovJun 6, 2019
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Killing Science Fiction: Why Conscious States Cannot Be Copied or Repeated
Several philosophical problems arising from the physics of consciousness, including identity, duplication, teleportation, simulation, self-location, and the Boltzmann Brain problem, hinge on one of…
Andrew KnightJun 1, 2019
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From the measurement problem to the primitive ontology programme
The paper retraces the development from the measurement problem to the primitive ontology programme. It assesses the contribution of the GRW theory to this programme and discusses the pros and cons…
Michael EsfeldMay 28, 2019
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Bose's derivation, the crucial link to quantum mechanics
In this brief note I address the question not frequently asked, namely, why did it take two decades between Einstein's first proposal of photons and derivation of the full Planck formula from first…
Urjit A. YajnikMay 28, 2019
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The comprehensive theory of light
Modern attempts to understand light go back to Newton who considered light to be particles, the so called corpuscular theory, and the other school of Huygens, Young and others. Huygens and Young…
Urjit A. YajnikMay 28, 2019
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Investigations into the origin of Einstein's Sink
Einstein's sink is a well-known object among physics and astronomy students at Leiden University. Stories about its origin have been passed down since it was moved to the large lecture room of the…
A. G. M. PietrowMay 22, 2019
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On a recently proposed dating of the foundation of Julia Augusta Taurinorum (Torino)
Recently, a preprint [arXiv:1901.08545] and a series of news announced that Torino, as the roman Augusta Taurinorum, was founded on 30 January 9 BC. The assumption is based on the coincidence of the…
Amelia Carolina SparavignaMay 22, 2019
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First bronze statue of Prof. Hideki Yukawa in Kochi
The first bronze statue of Prof. Hideki Yukawa, the first Nobel Prize laureate in Japan, is found to have been built in March 1954 in the Yasu elementary school in the countryside of Kochi pref cture…
Shigeo OhkuboMay 19, 2019
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On the Philosophical Foundations of Physics: An Experimentalist's Perspective
Since I first became enthralled with physics as a teenager, I've been intrigued by the philosophical aspects of the discipline. As I approached the end of my career as an experimental physicist and…
Stephen BoughnMay 17, 2019
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Exploring Gravitational Lensing
In this article, we discuss the idea of gravitational lensing, from a systematic, historical and didactic point of view. We show how the basic lensing equation together with the concepts of…
Tilman Sauer, Tobias SchützMay 17, 2019
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Tokyo Wheeler or the Epistemic Preconditions of the Renaissance of Relativity
During the period identified as the Rebirth of General Relativity, John Wheeler was instrumental in retrieving the physics of gravity that had become hidden behind the mathematical formalism. For…
Alexander Blum, Dieter BrillMay 15, 2019
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On Symmetry and Duality
We advocate an account of dualities between physical theories: the basic idea is that dual theories are isomorphic representations of a common core. We defend and illustrate this account, which we…
Sebastian De Haro, Jeremy ButterfieldMay 15, 2019
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Some considerations on Determinism and Free Will
This article has been written, in a slightly different version, as an introductory chapter for the book collecting the essays of theoretical physicist Gerard 't Hooft, philosopher Emanuele Severino,…
Fabio ScardigliMay 12, 2019
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Archaeoastronomy in northern Chile: Andean churches of the Arica and Parinacota region
We present the results obtained from the analysis of the precise spatial orientations of almost forty old colonial Christian churches located in the Arica and Parinacota region. This is an extended…
Alejandro Gangui, Angel Guillen, Magdalena PereiraMay 8, 2019
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The influence of gravity on the Boltzmann entropy of a closed universe
This contribution inquires into Clausius' proposal that "the entropy of the world tends to a maximum.'" The question is raised whether the entropy of "the world" actually does have a maximum; and if…
Michael K. -H. KiesslingApr 26, 2019
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No-Go Theorems and the Foundations of Quantum Physics
In the history of quantum physics several no-go theorems have been proved, and many of them have played a central role in the development of the theory, such as Bell's or the Kochen-Specker theorem.…
Andrea OldofrediApr 24, 2019
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Einstein sticks out his tongue
arXiv admin note: This submission has been withdrawn by arXiv administrators due to inflammatory content and unprofessional language
Tomasz BodzionyApr 22, 2019
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Naturalness as a reasonable scientific principle in fundamental physics
I aim to clarify the physical content and significance of naturalness. Physicists' earliest understanding of naturalness, as an autonomy of scales (AoS) requirement provides the most cogent…
Casper Daniel DijkstraApr 19, 2019
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Symbols and astrological terms in ancient arabic inscriptions
In the past, the Arabs in Al-Hara Zone used many stars to deduce the seasons of the year and also to deduce the roads, at that time this was the most convenient way to figure their ways and to know…
Mohammed H. Talafha, Ziad A. TalafhaApr 19, 2019
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Sacred Landscape of the Incas in Central Chile: Radial Ceque System Encoded in the Archeological Site Ruinas de Chada
Mounts and hills played a predominant role in all pre-Hispanic Andean cultures, especially for the Inca culture. Through the use of georeferenced orthophotography, we found that the Inca site, Ruinas…
Nicolas Palacios-Prado, Fabiola CorominasApr 16, 2019
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Einstein's biggest mistake?
What, if any, was Einstein's biggest mistake, the one most affecting our physics today? There is a perhaps apocryphal story, recounted by George Gamow, that he counted his cosmological constant as…
Gary J. FerlandApr 15, 2019
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