History and Philosophy of Physics
Cosmology differs in some respects significantly from other sciences, primarily because of its intimate association with issues of a conceptual and philosophical nature. Because cosmology in the broader sense relates to the world views held…
Although various limits on the predicability of physical phenomena as well as on physical knowables are commonly established and accepted, we challenge their ultimate validity. More precisely, we claim that fundamental limits arise only…
Lundmark established observational evidence that the Universe is expanding. Lema\^itre established theoretical evidence. Hubble established observational proof.
In this paper, we discuss the work on comets of Caroline Herschel, the first female comet-hunter. After leaving Bath for the environs of Windsor Castle and eventually Slough, she discovered at least eight comets, five of which were reported…
Contrary to popular mythology, Einstein did not invent the cosmological constant just in order construct his model universe. He discussed it earlier in "The Foundations of General Relativity" in connection with the proper structure of the…
The XXXI European Symposium on Occultation Projects will be celebrated in ICRANet center of Pescara from 24 to 27 August 2012 (www.icranet.org/clavius2012). The occasion is the fourth centennial of the Jesuit astronomer Christopher Clavius…
If the assumption that the center of mass(CM) and the center of charge(CC) of the electron are two different points was stated 100 years ago, our conceptual ideas about elementary particles would be different. This assumption is only…
These lecture notes recall the conceptual developments which led from the discovery of the neutron to our present understanding of strong interaction physics.
A critical look at the history of relativistic dynamics.
We suggest that not only quanta may have played a role in Einstein's ideas on relativity, but that they themselves may be related to the dynamical and relativistic behaviour of the electromagnetic field exhibited in a Poincar\'e's 1900…
In 1917 Einstein published his Cosmological Considerations Concerning the General Theory of Relativity. In it was the first use of the cosmological constant. Shortly thereafter Schr\"odinger presented a note providing a solution to these…
The solar eclipse of Good Friday has always been recognized as a problem from the astronomical point of view. The date of Crucifixion has been investigated by many scholars and the most accredited one is friday 3 april 33, when, at sunset…
On the spur of Calvary the Shroud appears. On this rock the Scriptures are fulfilled, and this rock, located exactly to the West of the Temple of Jerusalem, becomes mystically the new orient, place of the Resurrection of the Lord. The…
Highlights of the contributions of Brookhaven National Laboratory to Subnuclear Physics are presented together with recent highlights from RHIC
D\'ungal's letter to Charlemagne on the double solar eclipse in the year 810 is extremely interesting both for its form and for its subject matter. Part I of the present study deals with the epistula as a literary work (genre, language,…
In the 5th century B.C.,the philosopher and logician Zeno of Elea posed several paradoxes which remained unresolved for over two thousand five hundred years. The $20^{th}$ century saw some resolutions to Zeno's mind boggling problems. This…
Albert Einstein accepted a 'special' visiting professorship at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands in February 1920. Although his appointment should have been a mere formality, it took until October of that year before Einstein…
The development in the early eighties of supergravity grand unified models with gravity mediated breaking of supersymmetry, has led to a remarkable progress in the study of supersymmetry at colliders, in dark matter and in a variety of…
Gerbert of Aurillac was Pope Sylvester II form 999 to 1003. His history is presented in order to understand his outstanding contribution in the establishment of quadrivium sciences (arithmetics, music, geometry and astronomy) in the…
The horologia are ancient ephemerides, tables of durations of the days and nights during all months of the year. The algorithms used to compute the horologia are here presented and the results are compared with the tables computed by…