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9,800 | Ludwig Boltzmann -- A Pioneer of Modern Physics | physics.hist-ph | In two respects Ludwig Boltzmann was a pioneer of quantum mechanics. First
because in his statistical interpretation of the second law of thermodynamics
he introduced the theory of probability into a fundamental law of physics and
thus broke with the classical prejudice, that fundamental laws have to be
strictly determ... | physics |
9,801 | Historical Note on the Relativistic Theories of Electromagnetism | physics.hist-ph | Quantum electrodynamics is the well-accepted theory. However, we feel it is
useful to look at formalisms that provide alternative ways to describe light,
because in the recent years the development of quantum field theories based
primarily on the gauge principle has encountered considerable difficulties.
There is a wid... | physics |
9,802 | History and outlook of statistical physics | physics.hist-ph | This paper gives a short review of the history of statistical physics
starting from D. Bernoulli's kinetic theory of gases in the 18th century until
the recent new developments in nonequilibrium kinetic theory in the last
decades of this century. The most important contributions of the great
physicists Clausius, Maxwel... | physics |
9,803 | When an experiment is crucial? | physics.hist-ph | Although we accept that Physics is, as a last resort, an experimental
science, the relationship between theory and experiment is far away from being
trivial. Any experiment is always explained within a determinate theoretical
context and, at the same time, an experiment can give suggestions for theories
or even can bri... | physics |
9,804 | The "fingers" of the physics | physics.hist-ph | The passage of particles through matter is one of the principal ways to
investigate nature. In this article, we would like to outline the most
important stages in the development of the theory about the stopping power. | physics |
9,805 | Short range gravitational fields: Rise and fall of the fifth force | physics.hist-ph | During the 80's, some experiments and the repetitions of old ones, lead to
the hypothesis of a fifth force. Nevertheless, a more accurate research was not
able to confirm this hypothesis. This article wants to go over again the most
important steps of the event. | physics |
9,806 | Catalog of the scientific manuscripts left by Ettore Majorana (with a Recollection of E.Majorana, sixty years after his disappearance) | physics.hist-ph | Ettore Majorana, perhaps the greatest Italian theoretical physicist of this
century (Enrico Fermi compared him to Galilei and Newton), disappeared
misteriously from Naples in 1938, when he was 31. In the first part of this
work we outline his scientific personality (on the basis of letters, documents,
testimonies colle... | physics |
9,807 | Searching for Shakespeare in the Stars | physics.hist-ph | The question of the authorship of Shakespeare's plays has long been debated.
The two leading contenders are W. Shakspere (1564-1616) and Edward de Vere the
13th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604). Here I note that Shakespeare's references to
important events and discoveries in astronomy and geophysics in 1572 and 1600,
but not... | physics |
9,808 | Certainty and Uncertainty in the Practice of Science: Electrons, Muons, and Taus | physics.hist-ph | During the past one hundred years three related elementary particles - the
electron, the muon, and the tau - were discovered by very different scientific
techniques. The author, who received the Wolf Prize and the Nobel Prize for the
discovery of the tau, uses this history to discuss certainty and uncertainty in
the pr... | physics |
9,809 | The Road to Stueckelberg's Covariant Perturbation Theory as Illustrated by Successive Treatments of Compton Scattering | physics.hist-ph | We review the history of the road to a manifestly covariant perturbative
calculus within quantum electrodynamics from the early semi-classical results
of the mid-twenties to the complete formalism of Stueckelberg in 1934. We chose
as our case study the calculation of the cross-section of the Compton effect.
We analyse ... | physics |
9,810 | Study of the one-dimensional Schroedinger equation generated from the hypergeometric equation | physics.hist-ph | Original English Summary. - A systematic method of constructing potentials,
for which the one-variable Schroedinger equation can be solved in terms of the
hypergeometric (HGM) function, is presented. All the potentials, obtained by
energy-independent transformations of the HGM equation, are determined together
with eig... | physics |
9,811 | On a proposition relative to linear equations | physics.hist-ph | One of Darboux's seminal results is archived here | physics |
9,812 | Associated Sturm-Liouville systems | physics.hist-ph | Crum's seminal result of 1955 is archived here | physics |
9,813 | On some functional transformations relative to linear PDEs of second order | physics.hist-ph | Seminal result of Delsarte is archived here | physics |
9,814 | The factorization of the hypergeometric equation | physics.hist-ph | Schroedinger's famous quadruple of factorizations of the hypergeometric
equation is archived here | physics |
9,815 | The singular points of Einstein's Universe | physics.hist-ph | Short note by Marcel Brillouin on the representation of the mass point in
general relativity. | physics |
9,816 | Rhythmos, Diathige, Trope | physics.hist-ph | It is argued that properties of Democritus' atoms parallel those of volume
forms in differential geometry. This kind of atoms has not "size" of finite
magnitude.
-----
Se arguye que las propiedades de los atomos de Democrito son paralelas a las
de sus formas de volumen en geometria diferencial. Este tipo de atomos ... | physics |
9,817 | The interpretations by experimenters of experiments on 'time dilation': 1940-1970 circa | physics.hist-ph | Experimental tests on `time dilation' began in 1938 with Ives and Stilwell's
work of the transverse Doppler effect due to atoms in inertial flight. Rossi
and Hall (1941) inaugurated the era of fast moving elementary particles that
dominated the scene until the discovery of the Mossbauer effect (1957). This
discovery su... | physics |
9,818 | The birth of special relativity. "One more essay on the subject" | physics.hist-ph | Special relativity was discovered at the eve of the century, but finds its
roots in the 19th century efforts to understand the optics and electromagnetism
of moving bodies. These roots are reviewed in Parts 1 and 2, the latter being
specially devoted to the works of Lorentz and of Poincare up to 1904. Part 3
contains a... | physics |
9,819 | A Natural Concept of Image in the Physics of fr. Alonso de la Veracruz | physics.hist-ph | Alonso de la Veracruz conducted a physical study of image, regarding the
activities of Soul in which image is produced, as organic operations. This
research was particularly important since, at that time, image was
systematically used to propagate the European culture in New Spain. Besides,
Alonso uses the visual radiu... | physics |
9,820 | Reductionism, Emergence, and Effective Field Theories | physics.hist-ph | In recent years, a change in attitude in particle physics has led to our
understanding current quantum field theories as effective field theories
(EFTs). The present paper is concerned with the significance of this EFT
approach, especially from the viewpoint of the debate on reductionism in
science. In particular, it i... | physics |
9,821 | From the epicycles of the Greeks to Kepler's ellipse - The breakdown of the circle paradigm | physics.hist-ph | The principle that celestial bodies must move on circular orbits or on paths
resulting from the composition of circular orbits has been assumed as a
constant guide in the astronomical thougth of the peoples facing the
Mediterranean sea as from the second century B.C. until the beginning of the
XVII century. The mathema... | physics |
9,822 | Marietta Blau's Work After World War II | physics.hist-ph | This paper has been translated into German and will be included, in a
somewhat altered form, in a book Sterne der Zertrummerung, Marietta Blau,
Wegbereiterin der Moderne Teilchenphysik, Brigitte Strohmaier and Robert
Rosner, eds., Boehlau Verlag, Wien. | physics |
9,823 | Galileo's Discovery of Scaling Laws | physics.hist-ph | Galileo's realization that nature is not scale invariant, motivating his
subsequent discovery of scaling laws, is traced to two lectures he gave on the
geography of Dante's Inferno. | physics |
9,824 | Chance and Necessity in Fermi's Discovery of the Properties of the Slow Neutrons | physics.hist-ph | In October 1934 Fermi discovered that neutrons became particularly effective
in rendering the elements radioactive after being slowed down by hydrogenous
substances. His was described as an absolutely unpredictable scientific
discovery. In this paper I report and discuss the knowledge about neutrons
properties already ... | physics |
9,825 | Eddington & Uncertainty | physics.hist-ph | Sir Arthur Eddington is considered one of the greatest astrophysicist of the
twentieth century and yet he gained a stigma when, in the 1930s, he embarked on
a quest to develop a unified theory of gravity and quantum mechanics. His
attempts ultimately proved fruitless and he was unfortunately partially shunned
by some p... | physics |
9,826 | An Early History of Heavy Water | physics.hist-ph | Since 1945 Canada has had a nuclear power industry based on reactor design
which uses natural uranium and heavy water. The tortuous and improbable
sequence of events which led to this situation is examined. | physics |
9,827 | The Cyclic Universe: Some Historical Notes | physics.hist-ph | The cyclic model of the universe has an old history in India. It has held the
preeminent position regarding the origins of the universe, and it is described
in astronomical texts, Puranic encyclopaedias, and philosophical literature.
Within the current cycle, which is supposed to have begun several billion years
ago, a... | physics |
9,828 | The Role of Astronomy in the History of Science | physics.hist-ph | We discuss the extent to which the visibility of the heavens was a necessary
condition for the development of science, with particular reference to the
measurement of time. Our conclusion is that while astronomy had significant
importance, the growth of most areas of science was more heavily influenced by
the accuracy ... | physics |
9,829 | The dangerous misconceptions of Sir Karl Raimund Popper | physics.hist-ph | Insofar as Sir Karl Raimund Popper's writings deal with political statements,
they are evident; yet insofar as they deal with scientific issues, they are
misleading. If applied to the concrete implementation of science, such as
distribution of research funds and (peer) review, they would seriously impede
progress. | physics |
9,830 | Aristotle: The first encyclopedist | physics.hist-ph | Aristotle was the first to declare himself in the class of natural
philosophers ({\em physiologoi}) and he was the first physicist because he
spelled out the first definitions of some basic physical concepts. Moreover, he
was the first encyclopedist of the world and perhaps the greatest | physics |
9,831 | Rejection of the Light Quantum: The Dark Side of Niels Bohr | physics.hist-ph | Evidence is recalled of the strong opposition of Niels Bohr, at the time of
the Old Quantum Theory 1.913-25, to the Lichtquanten hypothesis of Einstein.
Some episodes with H.A. Kramers, J.C. Slater and W. Heisenberg are recollected;
Bohr's changing point of view is traced back to some philosophical antecedents
and to h... | physics |
9,832 | First Description of Discrete Stars Composing the Milk Way in Thomas Watson's Hekatompathia (1582) | physics.hist-ph | We note that the first unambiguous description of the Milk Way as being
composed of a large number of discrete stars is in Sonnet 31 of Thomas Watson's
(d 1592) Hekatompathia (1582), nearly 30 years before Galileo's description. We
discuss implications of this early description. | physics |
9,833 | Fission and Fusion Come to San Diego | physics.hist-ph | I will describe some of the events that led to the creation of General
Atomic, a research and development organization founded in San Diego in 1956. | physics |
9,834 | Physical Framework of Quantization Problem | physics.hist-ph | The paper presents shortly the geometric approach to the problem of a general
quantization formalism, both physically meaningful and mathematically
consistent. | physics |
9,835 | On the astronomical orientation of the IV dynasty Egyptian pyramids and the dating of the second Giza pyramid | physics.hist-ph | The data on the astronomical orientation of the IV dynasty Egyptian pyramids
are re-analyzed and it is shown that such data suggest an inverse chronology
between the `first` and the `second` Giza pyramid. | physics |
9,836 | The Life and Legacy of Pomeranchuk | physics.hist-ph | The life of Isaak Yakovlevich Pomeranchuk was short (20.05.1913 --
14.12.1966). But the impact of his personality and his works on physics and
physicists is remarkable. The talk describes the biography of I.Ya.
Pomeranchuk, his major contibutions to condenced matter physics, nuclear and
elementary particle physics. The... | physics |
9,837 | Future Proof for Physics: Preserving the Record of SLAC | physics.hist-ph | Paper provides a brief introduction to SLAC, discusses the origins of the
SLAC Archives and History Office, its present-day operations, and the present
and future challenges it faces in attempting to preserve an accurate historical
record of SLAC's activities. | physics |
9,838 | Democritus as Taoist | physics.hist-ph | While similarities do naturally exist between tao and other philosophical
systems, for the specific case of Democritus we can argue also the
chronological parallels, the parallels in the posterior development (alchemy
and mathematics) and the textual parallelism. | physics |
9,839 | On the Astronomical Records and Babylonian Chronology | physics.hist-ph | We outline the priority of high quality data of astronomical content as our
strategy for the analysis of the ancient astronomical records in the search of
the absolute chronology of the Near East in II millennium BC. The
correspondingly defined set of data for two lunar eclipses of EAE 20 and 21
tablets linked to Ur II... | physics |
9,840 | The Venus Tablet and Refraction | physics.hist-ph | It is shown that the refraction near the horizon is introducing an additional
bias into the Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa, which is able to influence the
interpretation of the data. We then discuss the attempts to link certain solar
eclipses to the birth of Shamshi-Adad and conclude that a record of a single
solar eclipse... | physics |
9,841 | Astronomy and the Fall of Babylon | physics.hist-ph | This illustrated article represents a popular account of the study of the
Babylonian astronomical records of Enuma Anu Enlil tablet series i.e. of the
Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa and of two lunar eclipses linked with the IIIrd
dynasty of Ur, having resulted in the proposal of Ultra-Low chronology of the
Near East in II ... | physics |
9,842 | The Thermal Radiation Formula of Planck (1900) | physics.hist-ph | We review the derivation of Planck's Radiation Formula on the light of recent
studies in its centenary. We discuss specially the issue of discreteness,
Planck's opinion on his discovery, and the critical analysis on the
contributions by Ehrenfest, Einstein, Lorentz, etc. We also address the views
of T.S. Kuhn, which co... | physics |
9,843 | Minkowski space-time: a glorious non-entity | physics.hist-ph | Einstein distinguished between ``principle'' and ``constructive'' theories in
physics, and although he thought the latter were more explanatory than the
former, he regarded his 1905 formulation of special relativity theory as a
principle theory. Some have claimed that Minkowski space-time can serve as the
deep structur... | physics |
9,844 | Halley's comet of 87 BC on the coins of Armenian king Tigranes? | physics.hist-ph | Coins of Armenian king Tigranes II the Great (95-55 BC), silver and
copper-bronze tetradrachms and drachms, clearly reveal a star with a tail on
the royal tiara which may be associated with the Halley's comet passage of 87
BC. If so, one has another case when astronomical events can be useful for
historical chronologic... | physics |
9,845 | On the possible discovery of precessional effects in ancient astronomy | physics.hist-ph | The possible discovery of astronomical effects due to precession - such as
the shift in the declination of heliacal raising of bright stars or the
precession of the equinoxes - is reviewed for various ancient cultures in the
world. Although definitive evidence of the discovery is still lacking, the
quantity of hints (f... | physics |
9,846 | On the astronomical content of the sacred landscape of Cusco in Inka times | physics.hist-ph | The sacred landscape of the Inka capital Cusco was conceived in accordance
with a complex cosmographic view in which religion and astronomy were
intimately connected. Some previously unnoticed possibilities in interpreting
these connections are proposed. | physics |
9,847 | More on the early interpretation of the Schwarzschild solution | physics.hist-ph | Lemaitre was apparently the first to make an explicit coordinate
transformation resulting in the removal of the singularity at r = a = 2m in the
Schwarzschild metric, while Lanczos was the first to express doubts on the
physical reality of that singularity since it could be introduced or removed by
a transformation of ... | physics |
9,848 | Local spinor structures in V. Fock's and H. Weyl's work on the Dirac equation (1929) | physics.hist-ph | In early 1929, V. Fock (initially in collaboration with D. Iwanenko) and H.
Weyl developed independently from each other a general relativistic
generalization of the Dirac equation. In the core, they arrived at the same
theory by the introduction of a local (topologically trivial) spinor structures
and a lifting of the... | physics |
9,849 | Anthropic Reasoning in Cosmology: A Historical Perspective | physics.hist-ph | This paper explores the evolution of the so called "anthropic reasoning" in a
historical perspective. It takes under scrutiny the appearance of "anthropic"
considerations in various stages of modern cosmology, focusing also on some
very little known papers. | physics |
9,850 | Mendeleev and the Periodic Table of Elements | physics.hist-ph | This note presents reasons why Mendeleev chose Sanskrit names (now
superseded) for eight elements in the periodic table. | physics |
9,851 | Lorentz's electromagnetic mass: a clue for unification? | physics.hist-ph | We review in the present article the conjecture of electromagnetic mass by
Lorentz. The philosophical perspectives and historical accounts of this idea
are described, especially, in the light of Einstein's special relativistic
formula {E = mc^2}. It is shown that the Lorentz's electromagnetic mass model
has taken vario... | physics |
9,852 | Polygonal walls and the astronomical alignments of the Acropolis of Alatri, Italy: a preliminary investigation | physics.hist-ph | The astronomical orientation of the acropolis of Alatri, Italy, is analyzed.
The results support the idea that this town, with its magnificent polygonal
walls, was constructed well before the Roman expansion. | physics |
9,853 | Copernican Cosmography in the First Mexican Physics Treatise | physics.hist-ph | Copernican Cosmography was used to discover the path linking Cebu islands and
Acapulco via Kuro-Shivo Stream, as registered in Physica Speculatio, first
physics book written in New Spain. Teaching and practice of Copernican theory
were an outcome of both Spanish expansion into the Pacific Ocean and native
elite instruc... | physics |
9,854 | The disaster of the Nazi-power in science as reflected by some leading journals and scientists in physics - A bibliometric study | physics.hist-ph | The consequences of the Nazi-power for the scientific process are described
qualitatively in various articles and books. However, recent progress in
information systems allows a quantitative reflection. Literature databases
ranging back to the beginning of the 20th century, the ISI citation indexes
ranging back to 1945... | physics |
9,855 | Arago (1810): the first experimental result against the ether | physics.hist-ph | 95 years before Special Relativity was born, Arago attempted to detect the
absolute motion of the Earth by measuring the deflection of starlight passing
through a prism fixed to the Earth. The null result of this experiment gave
rise to the Fresnel's hypothesis of an ether partly dragged by a moving
substance. In the c... | physics |
9,856 | The Challenge of Editing Einstein's Scientific Manuscripts | physics.hist-ph | Einstein's research manuscripts provide important insights into his
exceptional creativity. At the same time, they can present difficulties for a
publication in the documentary edition of the Collected Papers of Albert
Einstein (CPAE). The problems are illustrated by discussing how some important
examples of Einstein's... | physics |
9,857 | Solar Oblateness from Archimedes to Dicke | physics.hist-ph | The non-spherical shape of the Sun has been invoked to explain the anomalous
precession of Mercury. A brief history of some methods for measuring solar
diameter is presented. Archimedes was the first to give upper and lower values
for solar diameter in third century before Christ; we also show the method of
total eclip... | physics |
9,858 | Translation of Einstein's Attempt of a Unified Field Theory with Teleparallelism | physics.hist-ph | We present the first English translation of Einstein's original papers
related to the teleparallel ('absolute parallelism', 'distant parallelism' and
the German 'Fernparallelismus' are synonyms) attempt of an unified field theory
of gravitation and electromagnetism. Our collection contains the summarizing
paper in Math... | physics |
9,859 | Invariant Variation Problems | physics.hist-ph | The problems in variation here concerned are such as to admit a continuous
group (in Lie's sense); the conclusions that emerge from the corresponding
differential equations find their most general expression in the theorems
formulated in Section 1 and proved in following sections. Concerning these
differential equation... | physics |
9,860 | Comment on "Heisenberg in Poland" by Jeremy Bernstein | physics.hist-ph | Some erroneous and misleading statements in an article by J. Bernstein on
Heisenberg's visit to Cracow during the war are corrected. | physics |
9,861 | The Neutrino - Its Past, Present and Future | physics.hist-ph | The review consists of two parts. In the first part the critical points in
the past, present and future of neutrino physics (nuclear, particle and
astroparticle) are reviewed. In the second part the contributions of Yugoslav
physics to the physics of the neutrino are commented upon. The review is meant
as a first readi... | physics |
9,862 | Hooke's memorandum on the development of orbital dynamics | physics.hist-ph | I discuss a memorandum entitled " A True state of the Case and Controversy
between Sir Isaak Newton and Dr. Robert Hooke as the Priority of that Noble
Hypothesis of motion of ye Planets about ye Sun as their Centers", where Hooke
summarizes his life long contributions to the development of the physics of
orbital motion... | physics |
9,863 | On Einstein's Doctoral Thesis | physics.hist-ph | Einstein's thesis ``A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions'' was the
second of his five celebrated papers in 1905. Although it is -- thanks to its
widespread practical applications -- the most quoted of his papers, it is less
known than the other four. The main aim of the talk is to show what exactly
Einstein did ... | physics |
9,864 | Light Quanta and Molecules: A Contribution to the Annus Mirabilis | physics.hist-ph | Einstein's contributions to statistical mechanics and quantum theory are
reviewed. We also provide a detailed discussion of his thesis on suspensions
that led to a good value of the Avogadro number. | physics |
9,865 | Antimatter weapons (1946-1986): From Fermi and Teller's speculations to the first open scientific publications | physics.hist-ph | We recall the early theoretical speculations on the possible explosive uses
of antimatter, from 1946 to the first production of antiprotons, at Berkeley in
1955, and until the first capture of cold antiprotons, at CERN on July 17-18,
1986, as well as the circumstances of the first presentation at a scientific
conferenc... | physics |
9,866 | The tensor analytical relationships of Dirac's equation | physics.hist-ph | Dirac's equation of the electron will be discussed by using quaternions as
the basis of a new formalism which seems to be very well adapted to the
problem. The transformation properties of the equations as well as the
invariant and covariant [bilinear] constructions of Dirac's theory are
developed uniformly and systema... | physics |
9,867 | Dirac's wave mechanical theory of the electron and its field theoretical interpretation | physics.hist-ph | Editorial note: In this lecture, held at the meeting of the Berlin Physical
Society, October 25, 1929, Lanczos discusses a nonlinear generalization of
Proca's equation (derived from his ``fundamental equation'') such that the mass
is multiplied by a scalar field function. | physics |
9,868 | On the covariant formulation of Dirac's equation | physics.hist-ph | As a continuation of previous investigations, the formalism used there is
extended to the case when an external electric field is present and the
covariant formulation is performed again. The equation system obtained allows
no restriction in the manifold of the quantities if an undesired
overdetermination is to be avoi... | physics |
9,869 | The conservation laws in the field theoretical representation of Dirac's theory | physics.hist-ph | We show that in the new description, Dirac's ``current vector'' is not
related to a vector but to a tensor: the ``stress-energy tensor.''
Corresponding to Dirac's conservation law, we have the conservation laws of
momentum and energy. The stress-energy tensor consists of two parts: an
``electromagnetic'' part, which ha... | physics |
9,870 | Lanczos - Einstein - Petiau: From Dirac's equation to nonlinear wave mechanics | physics.hist-ph | In 1929 Lanczos showed how to derive Dirac's equation from a more fundamental
system that predicted that spin 1/2 particles should come in pairs. Today,
these pairs can unambiguously be interpreted as isospin doublets. From the same
fundamental equation, Lanczos derived also the correct form of the wave
equation of mas... | physics |
9,871 | Contributions of George J. Papadopoulos | physics.hist-ph | I review some of the scientific work of George Papadopoulos in the context of
the Greek cultural tradition and modern theoretical physics. The main emphasis
is on his works on path integrals and their applications. The review is closed
by an excursus on the polaron physics, where the path-integral approach has
been pro... | physics |
9,872 | Philosophy Enters the Optics Laboratory: Bell's Theorem and its First Experimental Tests (1965-1982) | physics.hist-ph | This paper deals with the ways that the issue of completing quantum mechanics
was brought into laboratories and became a topic in mainstream quantum optics.
It focuses on the period between 1965, when Bell published what now we call
Bell's theorem, and 1982, when Aspect published the results of his experiments.
I argue... | physics |
9,873 | Science and exile: David Bohm, the hot times of the Cold War, and his struggle for a new interpretation of quantum mechanics | physics.hist-ph | This article focuses on the reception among physicists of Bohm's 1952 papers
on the causal interpretation of quantum mechanics, which were poorly received
at the time. I describe his Brazilian exile and analyze the culture of physics
surrounding the foundations of quantum mechanics. I take into account the
strength of ... | physics |
9,874 | Alexandru Proca (1897--1955) the Great Physicist | physics.hist-ph | We commemorate 50 years from A. Proca's death. Proca equation is a
relativistic wave equation for a massive spin-1 particle. The weak interaction
is transmitted by such kind of vector bosons. Also vector fields are used to
describe spin-1 mesons (e.g. $\rho$ and $\omega$ mesons). After a brief
biography, the paper pres... | physics |
9,875 | A selected history of expectation bias in physics | physics.hist-ph | The beliefs of physicists can bias their results towards their expectations
in a number of ways. We survey a variety of historical cases of expectation
bias in observations, experiments, and calculations. | physics |
9,876 | A Cosmic Archipelago: Multiverse Scenarios in the History of Modern Cosmology | physics.hist-ph | Multiverse scenarios are common place in contemporary high energy physics and
cosmology, although many consider them simply as bold speculations. In any case
there is nothing like a single theory or a unified model of the multiverse.
Instead, there are innumerable theoretical proposals often reciprocally
incompatible. ... | physics |
9,877 | On the scientific method learned from Albert Einstein in 2005 -- the World Year of Physics | physics.hist-ph | We review the physics at the end of the nineteenth century and summarize the
process of the establishment of Special Relativity by Albert Einstein in brief.
Following in the giant's footsteps, we outline the scientific method which
helps to do research. We give some examples in illustration of this method. We
discuss t... | physics |
9,878 | Between light and eye: Goethe's science of color and the polar phenomenology of nature | physics.hist-ph | In his interviews with Eckermann in the 1820s, Goethe referred to his Theory
of Colors as his greatest and ultimate achievement. Its reception following
publication in 1810 and subsequent reviews throughout the history of physical
science did not reflect this self-assessment. Even Hermann von Helmholtz, who
in part mod... | physics |
9,879 | On the origin of Special Relativity | physics.hist-ph | Retrospectively, in 1905, Special Relativity seemed palpably close; it was
"in the air". But apparently it needed the fresh approach of an unprejudiced
newcomer, Einstein, to take the final step. I report, in a pedagogical fashion,
on the scientific background that triggered the formulation of Special
Relativity and al... | physics |
9,880 | The Discovery of European Porcelain Technology | physics.hist-ph | The European quest for the hard paste porcelain lasted until about 1710, when
the first production unit was built at Meissen in Saxony. Although, it is
generally believed that Bottger discovered the European porcelain technology,
this work shows that the German porcelain quest was a State affair; a
collective project d... | physics |
9,881 | Georg(e) Placzek: a bibliometric study of his scientific production and its impact | physics.hist-ph | The availability of a number of databases, in particular the Science Citation
Index (SCI), have encouraged the development and use of bibliometric techniques
to analyze and evaluate the production and impact of scientists. To avoid
pitfalls and their sometimes serious consequences, however, considerable
experience with... | physics |
9,882 | Heisenberg and the Levels of Reality | physics.hist-ph | We first analyze the transdisciplinary model of Reality and its key-concept
of "Levels of Reality". We then compare this model with the one elaborated by
Werner Heisenberg in 1942. | physics |
9,883 | The high energy frontier and the collaboration in collider experiments | physics.hist-ph | In this note I shall review the Japan-Italy cooperative work in high energy
collider experiments, in particular OPAL at LEP, CDF at Fermilab, ZEUS at HERA
and ATLAS at the future LHC. | physics |
9,884 | Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy in the Research on the Foundations of Quantum Physics: E. P. Wigner's Case | physics.hist-ph | Dealing with Eugene Wigner's ideas on the measurement procedure in quantum
physics and unearthing the controversy that pitted him against supporters of
the interpretation of complementarity, I will show how Wigner and his followers
contributed to the defeat of a seemingly unshakeable consensus. In fact,
although he int... | physics |
9,885 | The light came in 1905 | physics.hist-ph | Our present Worldview can not be imagined without the seminal ideas of Albert
Einstein. | physics |
9,886 | MELENCOLIA I: The physics of Albrecht Duerer | physics.hist-ph | Duerer's engraving ``MELENCOLIA I'' was circulated in two versions not
previously distinguished. Besides their conspicuous early Renaissance
scientific instruments and tools, they contain numerous apparently unreported
concealments whose detection reveals heresies expressed in the work. The main
one is encoded in the m... | physics |
9,887 | Neutrino: Past, Present and Future | physics.hist-ph | History of Neutrino Physics is revied with special emphasis on anecdotal
events often neglected. | physics |
9,888 | Introduction to the Workshop "30 years of bubble chamber physics" | physics.hist-ph | After some recollections of the early bubble chamber times, a brief overview
of the golden age of the field is made, including its legacy and the use of
bubble chamber events for the popularization of science. | physics |
9,889 | Majorana and the investigation of infrared spectra of ammonia | physics.hist-ph | An account is given on the first studies on the physics of ammonia, focusing
on the infrared spectra of that molecule. Relevant contributions from several
authors, in the years until 1932, are pointed out, discussing also an unknown
study by E.Majorana on this topic. | physics |
9,890 | A Lighthouse Falls | physics.hist-ph | Professor A. K. Raychaudhuri suddenly passed away on 18th June 2005. I have
attempted to give a glimpse of his life and work, and more specifically his
role as a great teacher and inspiring force to three generations of students of
the Presidency College, Kolkata. | physics |
9,891 | Interpreting Mathematics in Physics: Charting the Applications of SU(2) in 20th Century Physics | physics.hist-ph | The role mathematics plays within physics has been of sustained interest for
physicists as well as for philosophers and historians of science. We explore
this topic by tracing the role the mathematical structure associated with SU(2)
has played in three key episodes in 20th century physics - intrinsic spin,
isospin, an... | physics |
9,892 | The Issue of the Beginning in Quantum Gravity | physics.hist-ph | The goal of this report is to provide an up to date account of results on the
quantum nature of the big bang, obtained in loop quantum cosmology. They
suggest a radical modification of the paradigm provided by general relativity
for the issue of the Beginning. The article is addressed primarily to
historians and philos... | physics |
9,893 | Historical and interpretative aspects of quantum mechanics: a physicists' naive approach | physics.hist-ph | Many theoretical predictions derived from quantum mechanics have been
confirmed experimentally during the last 80 years. However, interpretative
aspects have long been subject to debate. Among them, the question of the
existence of hidden variables is still open. We review these questions, paying
special attention to h... | physics |
9,894 | On the Available Lunar and Solar Eclipses and Babylonian Chronology | physics.hist-ph | The recently shown two premises (Gurzadyan 2000), i.e. the absence of 56/64
year Venus cycle constraints, at the importance of the 8-year cycle in the
Venus Tablet, stimulated new studies on the Chronology of the Ancient Near East
(2nd millennium BC). The analysis by B.Banjevic using both premises, however,
did not pro... | physics |
9,895 | The road not considered ... the question of photon mass | physics.hist-ph | We consider possibilities of modification of Maxwell's equations of
electrodynamics that could have automatically led to a massive photon. Why
weren't such questions considered at the time when quantum theory was
introduced at the beginning of the 20th century? We try to answer this
question. | physics |
9,896 | The self-energy of the electron: a quintessential problem in the development of QED | physics.hist-ph | The development of Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) is sketched from its
earliest beginnings until the formulations of 1949, using the example of the
divergent self-energy of the electron as a quintessential problem of the
1930's-40's. The lack of progress towards solving this problem led researchers
to believe that after... | physics |
9,897 | The Tausk Controversy in the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics: Politics, Mentorship and a Dissenter's Disappearance | physics.hist-ph | In 1966, the Brazilian physicist Klaus Tausk circulated a preprint from the
International Centre for Theoretical Physics, in Trieste, criticizing the
theory put forward by Daneri, Loinger & Prosperi on the measurement problem in
quantum mechanics. This led to a heated controversy, which reflected two
opposing camps wit... | physics |
9,898 | The Tenth Article of Ettore Majorana | physics.hist-ph | This year is the centenary of the birth of Ettore Majorana, one of the major
Italian physicists of all times. In this note we briefly sketch a few
biographical details about Ettore Majorana and introduce and discuss the main
points of Majorana's 10th article. In his article Majorana explicitly considers
quantum mechani... | physics |
9,899 | Ludwig Edward Boltzmann | physics.hist-ph | In this manuscript we present a brief life history of Ludwig Edward Boltzmann
and his achivements. Particularly, we discuss his H-theorem, his work on
entropy and statistical interpretation of second-law of thermodynamics. We
point out his some other contributions in physics, characteristics of his work,
his strong sup... | physics |
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