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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 98

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Dark Energy, Paradigm Shifts, and the Role of Evidence
We comment on cases in the history of Astronomy, which may shed some light on the current established but enigmatic concordance model of Cosmology. Should the model be understood by adding new…
Ofer Lahav, Michela MassimiMay 3, 2014
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A Primer on Energy Conditions
An energy condition, in the context of a wide class of spacetime theories (including general relativity), is, crudely speaking, a relation one demands the stress-energy tensor of matter satisfy in…
Erik CurielApr 30, 2014
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Philosophical aspects of modern cosmology
This paper is a short introduction to a special issue on philosophy of cosmology, published in the May 2014 issue of Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics. I briefly introduce the…
Henrik ZinkernagelApr 22, 2014
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The Stark effect in the Bohr-Sommerfeld theory and in Schrödinger's wave mechanics
The explanation of the first-order Stark effect in hydrogen by Epstein and Schwarzschild in 1916 was seen as a great success for the old quantum theory. Yet, it also revealed some serious limitations…
Anthony Duncan, Michel JanssenApr 21, 2014
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The trouble with orbits: the Stark effect in the old and the new quantum theory
The old quantum theory and Schrödinger's wave mechanics (and other forms of quantum mechanics) give the same results for the line splittings in the first-order Stark effect in hydrogen, the…
Anthony Duncan, Michel JanssenApr 21, 2014
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Sobre a viagem de Enrico Fermi ao Brasil em 1934
Enrico Fermi was one of the greater physicists of the XX century. In 1934, he gave several lectures in Brazil. Invited by Theodoro Ramos to work in S\~ao Paulo, he preferred to stay in Rome and went…
Francisco Caruso, Adílio Jorge MarquesApr 20, 2014
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Noncommutativity and Humanity -- Julius Wess and his Legacy
A personal view on Julius Wess's human and scientific legacy in Serbia and the Balkan region is given. Motivation for using noncommutative and nonarchimedean geometry on very short distances is…
Goran S. DjordjevicApr 16, 2014
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The concepts of time and space-time in physics
A literature review of related articles, either by affinity or by contrast, to a fundamental theory of time and space - time previously developed. It shows how from a primitive concept of preparticle…
Maximo Garcia SucreApr 15, 2014
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Robert Grosseteste's thought on Light and Form of the World
Robert Grosseteste was one of the most prominent thinkers of the Thirteenth Century. Philosopher and scientist, he proposed a metaphysics based on the propagation of light. In this framework, he gave…
Amelia Carolina SparavignaApr 13, 2014
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Are Supernovae Recorded in Indigenous Astronomical Traditions?
Novae and supernovae are rare astronomical events that would have had an influence on the sky-watching peoples who witnessed them. Although several bright novae/supernovae have been visible during…
Duane W. HamacherApr 12, 2014
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The theory of the rise of sap in trees: some historical and conceptual remarks
The ability of trees to suck water from roots to leaves, sometimes to heights of over a hundred meters, is remarkable given the absence of any mechanical pump. This study deals with a number of…
Harvey R. BrownApr 11, 2014
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Categorical Generalization and Physical Structuralism
Category theory has become central to certain aspects of theoretical physics. Bain [Synthese, 190:1621--1635 (2013)] has recently argued that this has significance for ontic structural realism. We…
Raymond Lal, Nicholas J. TehApr 11, 2014
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Cosmic Conundrums
What do we do when cosmology raises questions it cannot answer? These include the existence of a multiverse and the universality of the laws of physics. We cannot settle any of these issues by…
Joseph SilkApr 10, 2014
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Songlines and Navigation in Wardaman and other Australian Aboriginal Cultures
We discuss the songlines and navigation of the Wardaman people, and place them in context by comparing them with corresponding practices in other Australian Aboriginal language groups, using…
Ray P. Norris, Bill Yidumduma HarneyApr 9, 2014
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A historical perspective on Modified Newtonian Dynamics
I review the history and development of Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) beginning with the phenomenological basis as it existed in the early 1980s. I consider Milgrom's papers of 1983…
R. H. SandersApr 1, 2014
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Aboriginal Astronomical Traditions from Ooldea, South Australia, Part 1: Nyeeruna and the Orion Story
Whilst camped at Ooldea, South Australia, between 1919 and 1935, the amateur anthropologist Daisy Bates CBE (1859-1951) recorded the daily lives, lore, and oral traditions of the Aboriginal people of…
Trevor M. Leaman, Duane W. HamacherMar 31, 2014
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The first measurement of the deflection of the vertical in longitude -- The figure of the earth in the early 19th century
During the summer of 1837 Christian Ludwig Gerling, a former student of Carl Friedrich Gauß's, organized the world wide first determination of the deflection of the vertical in longitude. From a…
Andreas SchrimpfMar 26, 2014
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Innovations in Statistical Physics
In 1963-71, a group of people, myself included, formulated and perfected a new approach to physics problems, which eventually came to be known under the names of scaling, universality, and…
Leo P. KadanoffMar 25, 2014
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Discovery of Hubble's Law: an Example of Type III Error
Recently much attention has been paid to the discovery of Hubble's law: the linear relation between the rate of recession of the distant galaxies and distance to them. Though we now mention…
Ari BelenkiyMar 24, 2014
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Quantum Humeanism,or: physicalism without properties
In recent literature, it has become clear that quantum physics does not refute Humeanism. This point has so far been made with respect to Bohms quantum theory. Against this background, this paper…
Michael EsfeldMar 22, 2014
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The education of Walter Kohn and the creation of density functional theory
The theoretical solid-state physicist Walter Kohn was awarded one-half of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his mid-1960's creation of an approach to the many-particle problem in quantum…
Andrew ZangwillMar 20, 2014
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Present time
The idea of a moving present or `now' seems to form part of our most basic beliefs about reality. Such a present, however, is not reflected in any of our theories of the physical world. I show in…
Gustavo E. RomeroMar 19, 2014
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Quantum Theory and Human Perception of the Macro-World
We investigate the question of 'why customary macroscopic entities appear to us humans as they do, i.e. as bounded entities occupying space and persisting through time', starting from our…
Diederik AertsMar 17, 2014
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Reflections on Gibbs: From Statistical Physics to the Amistad
This note is based upon a talk given at a celebration in Austin Texas of the achievements of J. Willard Gibbs. J. Willard Gibbs, the younger, was the first American physical sciences theorist. He was…
Leo P. KadanoffMar 11, 2014
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The Early Years of Condensed Matter Physics at Illinois -- in Celebration of the 80th Birth Year of Charles P. Slichter -- Charlie Slichter & the gang at Urbana
The 1950s-- and perhaps also the 1960s-- were very special times for the development of solid-state/condensed-matter physics. The University of Illinois at Urbana was at the center of these…
Leo P. KadanoffMar 11, 2014
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