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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 73

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Reconsidering Experiments
Experiments may not reveal their full import at the time that they are performed. The scientists who perform them usually are testing a specific hypothesis and quite often have specific expectations…
Lydia PattonOct 16, 2017
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Mysl, smysl, svet
Speech on the occasion of accepting the Dagmar and Vaclav Havel Foundation VIZE 97 Prize for 2017. Delivered at Prague Crossroads, October 5, 2017
N. David MerminOct 14, 2017
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Space-time Constructivism vs. Modal Provincialism: Or, How Special Relativistic Theories Needn't Show Minkowski Chronogeometry
In 1835 Lobachevski entertained the possibility of multiple (rival) geometries. This idea has reappeared on occasion (e.g., Poincaré) but didn't become key in space-time foundations prior to…
J. Brian PittsOct 13, 2017
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The frame of fixed stars in Relational Mechanics
Relational mechanics is a gauge theory of classical mechanics whose laws do not govern the motion of individual particles but the evolution of the distances between particles. Its formulation gives a…
Rafael FerraroOct 11, 2017
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On the velocity of sound in water: theoretical aspects of Colladon's nineteenth century experiments
In 1827, Colladon carried out a series of experiments in Lac Leman (Lake Geneva, Switzerland) to measure the speed of sound in water. The purpose of our contribution is to treat this measurement as…
Armand WirginOct 10, 2017
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The Wave-Function as a Multi-Field
It is generally argued that if the wave-function in the de Broglie--Bohm theory is a physical field, it must be a field in configuration space. Nevertheless, it is possible to interpret the…
Mario Hubert, Davide RomanoOct 9, 2017
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Los agujeros negros y las ondas del Doctor Einstein
We describe the main scientific developments that lead LIGO project to the detection of the gravitational waves: general relativity, black holes and gravitational waves predictions; numerical…
Mario A. Rodriguez-MezaOct 9, 2017
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My chemistry with Francesco
Contributed paper to the Conference "Francesco's Legacy: Star Formation in Space and Time", in memory of Francesco Palla (1954-2016), held in Florence, June 5-9, 2017
D. GalliOct 6, 2017
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Des premiers travaux de Le Verrier à la découverte de Neptune
(in english): Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier was born in Saint-Lô on March 11, 1811. He entered the Ecole Polytechnique in 1831, from which he was to emerge 8th two years later. After first devoting…
Jacques LaskarOct 3, 2017
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Poincaré, the Dynamics of the Electron, and Relativity
On June 5, 1905 Poincaré presented a Note to the Académie des Sciences entitled "Sur la dynamique de l'électron" ("On the Dynamics of the Electron"). After briefly recalling the…
Thibault DamourOct 2, 2017
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A study of ancient Khmer ephemerides
We study ancient Khmer ephemerides described in 1910 by the French engineer Faraut, in order to determine whether they rely on observations carried out in Cambodia. These ephemerides were found to be…
François Vernotte, Satyanad KichenassamySep 27, 2017
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Mikhail Lomonosov. Oratio De Meteoris Vi Electrica Ortis - Discourse on Atmospheric Phenomena Originating from Electrical Force (1753). English translation and commentary by V.Shiltsev
This is the first complete English translation of Oratio De Meteoris Vi Electrica Ortis - seminal work of the great Russian polymath Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765). It was presented at the public…
M. V. Lomonosov, V. ShiltsevSep 26, 2017
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Historical Review of Recurrence Plots
In the last two decades recurrence plots (RPs) were introduced in many different scientific disciplines. It turned out how powerful this method is. After introducing approaches of quantification of…
Norbert MarwanSep 25, 2017
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Time and Consciousness in a Quantum World
We address the relation between two apparently distinct problems: The quest for a deeper understanding of the nature of consciousness and the search for time and space as emergent structures in the…
Augusto Cesar LoboSep 23, 2017
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Would Two Dimensions be World Enough for Spacetime?
We consider various curious features of general relativity, and relativistic field theory, in two spacetime dimensions. In particular, we discuss: the vanishing of the Einstein tensor; the failure of…
Samuel C. Fletcher, John Byron Manchak, Mike D. Schneider et al.Sep 21, 2017
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Review of Jean Bricmont's book "Making Sense of Quantum Mechanics"
This is an invited review of Jean Bricmont's book "Making Sense of Quantum Mechanics."
Michael K. -H. KiesslingSep 16, 2017
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The "go-stop-go" of Italian civil nuclear programs, beset by lack of strategic planning, exploitation for personal gain and unscrupulous political conspiracies: 1946-1987
The Italian civil nuclear projects had a very early origin, with the first ideas originating as far back as 1945. The construction of the first three plants dated back to the period 1956-1964, and at…
Angelo Baracca, Giorgio Ferrari, Roberto RenzettiSep 15, 2017
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Observations of red-giant variable stars by Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians carefully observe the properties and positions of stars, including both overt and subtle changes in their brightness, for subsistence and social application. These observations…
Duane W. HamacherSep 14, 2017
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100 Years of Relativistic Cosmology (1917-2017). Part I: From Origins to the Discovery of Universal Expansion (1929)
We are experiencing a period of extreme intellectual effervescence in the area of cosmology. A huge volume of observational data in unprecedented quantity and quality and a more consistent…
J. A. S. Lima, R. C. SantosSep 12, 2017
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A philosophical argument against time machines
Time machines are predictions of Einstein's theory of general relativity and provide a myriad of unsolved paradoxes. Convincing and general arguments against time machines and their paradoxes are…
Juliano C. S. NevesSep 7, 2017
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Einstein's Patents and Inventions
Times magazine selected Albert Einstein, the German born Jewish Scientist as the person of the 20th century. Undoubtedly, 20th century was the age of science and Einstein's contributions in…
Asis Kumar ChaudhuriSep 3, 2017
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Reminiscences of Julian Schwinger: Late Harvard, Early UCLA Years (1968-1981)
These are reminiscences of my interactions with Julian Schwinger from 1968 through 1981 and beyond.
K. A. MiltonSep 3, 2017
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Memories of a Theoretical Physicist
While I was dealing with a brain injury and finding it difficult to work, two friends (Derek Westen, a friend of the KITP, and Steve Shenker, with whom I was recently collaborating), suggested that a…
Joseph PolchinskiAug 30, 2017
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Information Causality, the Tsirelson Bound, and the 'Being-Thus' of Things
The principle of `information causality' can be used to derive an upper bound---known as the `Tsirelson bound'---on the strength of quantum mechanical correlations, and has been conjectured to be a…
Michael E. CuffaroAug 29, 2017
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Quantum Mechanical Foundations of Epistemology
Scholars of the history and philosophy of science have asked what would decolonized science would look like. This paper develops an answer by interrogating the assumption that observations need to be…
Bruce LevinsonAug 24, 2017
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