History and Philosophy of Physics
The main aim of this paper is to make a remark about the relation between (i) dualities between theories, as `duality' is understood in physics and (ii) equivalence of theories, as `equivalence' is understood in logic and philosophy. The…
Contrary to claims about the irrelevance of philosophy for science, I argue that philosophy has had, and still has, far more influence on physics than is commonly assumed. I maintain that the current anti-philosophical ideology has had…
It seems natural to ask why the universe exists at all. Modern physics suggests that the universe can exist all by itself as a self-contained system, without anything external to create or sustain it. But there might not be an absolute…
A consistent interpretation is provided for Neolithic Gobekli Tepe and Catalhoyuk as well as European Palaeolithic cave art. It appears they all display the same method for recording dates based on precession of the equinoxes, with animal…
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…
Because of the non-locality of quantum entanglement, realist approaches to completing quantum mechanics have implications for our conception of space. Quantum gravity also is expected to predict phenomena in which the locality of classical…
Based on Propostion 6 of his Principia, Newton's geometrical derivation in Propositions 10 and 11 for the radial dependence of the two central forces that lead to elliptical orbits is notoriously difficult. An alternate and more transparent…
In this essay, I argue that modern science is not the dichotomous pairing of theory and experiment that it is typically presented as, and I offer an alternative paradigm defined by its functions as a human endeavor. I also demonstrate how…
The manuscripts that presumably contained Newton's early development of the fundamental concepts that led to his Principia have been lost. A plausible reconstruction of this development is presened based on Newton's exchange of letters with…
We discuss some recent work by Tim Maudlin concerning Black Hole Information Loss. We argue, contra Maudlin, that there is a paradox, in the straightforward sense that there are propositions that appear true, but which are incompatible with…
The article introduces a new concept of structure, defined, echoing J. A. Wheeler's concept of "law without law," as a "structure without law," and a new philosophical viewpoint, that of structural nnnrealism, and considers how this concept…
Our collective views regarding the question "what is fundamental?" are continually evolving. These ontological shifts in what we regard as fundamental are largely driven by theoretical advances ("what can we calculate?"), and experimental…
On the evening after Stephen Hawking's funeral in Cambridge on March 31, 2018 a dinner for attendees who had come from far away was hosted by Paul Shellard, the Director of the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology. I was asked me to speak for…
A brief remembrance of some aspects of the author's scientific interaction with Stephen Hawking. A contribution to Physics Today's March 14, 2018 web page in which Stephen Hawking is remembered by his colleagues.
We provide a novel perspective on "regularity" as a property of representations of the Weyl algebra. We first critique a proposal by Halvorson [2004, "Complementarity of representations in quantum mechanics", Studies in History and…
We provide a novel perspective on "regularity" as a property of representations of the Weyl algebra. In Part I, we critiqued a proposal by Halvorson [2004, "Complementarity of representations in quantum mechanics", Studies in History and…
This year is 50 anniversary of the first experimental observation of ultracold neutrons (UCN). I present my reminiscences of the first experiment in Dubna, first encounter with F.L. Shapiro -- pioneer of the UCN investigations, and the…
We argue for enlarging the traditional view of quantum gravity, based on "quantizing GR", to include explicitly the non-spatiotemporal nature of the fundamental building blocks suggested by several modern quantum gravity approaches (and…
We discuss a less known aspect of Feynman's multifaceted scientific work, centered about his interest in molecular biology, which came out around 1959 and lasted for several years. After a quick historical reconstruction about the birth of…
(in english): Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier was born in Saint-L\^o on March 11, 1811. He entered the Ecole Polytechnique in 1831, from which he was to emerge 8th two years later. After first devoting himself to chemistry, in 1836 he…