Questioning the Foundations of Physics
Title | Questioning the Foundations of Physics PDF eBook |
Author | Anthony Aguirre |
Publisher | Springer |
Total Pages | 274 |
Release | 2015-01-24 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 3319130455 |
The essays in this book look at way in which the fundaments of physics might need to be changed in order to make progress towards a unified theory. They are based on the prize-winning essays submitted to the FQXi essay competition “Which of Our Basic Physical Assumptions Are Wrong?”, which drew over 270 entries. As Nobel Laureate physicist Philip W. Anderson realized, the key to understanding nature’s reality is not anything “magical”, but the right attitude, “the focus on asking the right questions, the willingness to try (and to discard) unconventional answers, the sensitive ear for phoniness, self-deception, bombast, and conventional but unproven assumptions.” The authors of the eighteen prize-winning essays have, where necessary, adapted their essays for the present volume so as to (a) incorporate the community feedback generated in the online discussion of the essays, (b) add new material that has come to light since their completion and (c) to ensure accessibility to a broad audience of readers with a basic grounding in physics. The Foundational Questions Institute, FQXi, catalyzes, supports, and disseminates research on questions at the foundations of physics and cosmology, particularly new frontiers and innovative ideas integral to a deep understanding of reality, but unlikely to be supported by conventional funding sources.
Open Questions in Quantum Physics
Title | Open Questions in Quantum Physics PDF eBook |
Author | G. Tarozzi |
Publisher | Springer Science & Business Media |
Total Pages | 422 |
Release | 2012-12-06 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 9400952457 |
Due to its extraordinary predictive power and the great generality of its mathematical structure, quantum theory is able, at least in principle, to describe all the microscopic and macroscopic properties of the physical world, from the subatomic to the cosmological level. Nevertheless, ever since the Copen hagen and Gottingen schools in 1927 gave it the definitive formu lation, now commonly known as the orthodox interpretation, the theory has suffered from very serious logical and epistemologi cal problems. These shortcomings were immediately pointed out by some of the principal founders themselves of quantum theory, to wit, Planck, Einstein, Ehrenfest, Schrodinger, and de Broglie, and by the philosopher Karl Popper, who assumed a position of radical criticism with regard to the standard formulation of the theory. The aim of the participants in the workshop on Open Questions in Quantum Physics, which was held in Bari (Italy), in the Department of Physics of the University, during May 1983 and whose Proceedings are collected in the present volume, accord ingly was to discuss the formal, the physical and the epistemo logical difficulties of quantum theory in the light of recent crucial developments and to propose some possible resolutions of three basic conceptual dilemmas, which are posed respectively ~: (a) the physical developments of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen argument and Bell's theorem, i. e.
Philosophy of Physics
Title | Philosophy of Physics PDF eBook |
Author | David Wallace |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Total Pages | 169 |
Release | 2021 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 0198814321 |
Philosophy of physics is concerned with the deepest theories of modern physics - quantum theory, our theories of space, time and symmetry, and thermal physics - and their strange, even bizarre conceptual implications. This book explores the core topics in philosophy of physics, and discusses their relevance for both scientists and philosophers.
Questions to the Universe
Title | Questions to the Universe PDF eBook |
Author | Heller Michael |
Publisher | |
Total Pages | 160 |
Release | 1987 |
Genre | |
ISBN | 9780912918013 |
David Hilbert's Lectures on the Foundations of Physics 1915-1927
Title | David Hilbert's Lectures on the Foundations of Physics 1915-1927 PDF eBook |
Author | Tilman Sauer |
Publisher | Springer Science & Business Media |
Total Pages | 690 |
Release | 2009-08-06 |
Genre | Mathematics |
ISBN | 3540682422 |
These documents do nothing less than bear witness to one of the most dramatic changes in the foundations of science. The book has three sections that cover general relativity, epistemological issues, and quantum mechanics. This fascinating work will be a vital text for historians and philosophers of physics, as well as researchers in related physical theories.
New Foundations for Physical Geometry
Title | New Foundations for Physical Geometry PDF eBook |
Author | Tim Maudlin |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Total Pages | 374 |
Release | 2014-02 |
Genre | Mathematics |
ISBN | 0198701306 |
Tim Maudlin sets out a completely new method for describing the geometrical structure of spaces, and thus a better mathematical tool for describing and understanding space-time. He presents a historical review of the development of geometry and topology, and then his original Theory of Linear Structures.
Physics: Questions Book
Title | Physics: Questions Book PDF eBook |
Author | Nuffield Foundation. Science Teaching Project |
Publisher | |
Total Pages | |
Release | 1966 |
Genre | Physics |
ISBN |