Related papers: Physics in Carnacki's investigations
In order to ground my approach to the study of paranormal phenomena, I first explain my operational approach to physics, and to the ``historical'' sciences of cosmic, biological, human, social and political evolution. I then indicate why I…
The teaching of modern physics often uses the history of physics as a didactic tool. However, as in this process the history of physics is not something studied but used, there is a danger that the history itself will be distorted in, as…
I describe aspects of my life in physics: the name I publish under, great physicists I have known, how I got into quantum foundations, what role I've played in it. My form is autobiographical, but my personal experience may illustrate what…
In the period from about 1890 to 1915 an interdisciplinary and unifying research programme known as "cosmical physics" attracted much scientific and public attention. It typically included aspects of the earth sciences (such as magnetic…
The suggestion in 1986 of a possible gravity-like ``fifth" fundamental force renewed interest in the question of whether new macroscopic forces are present in nature. Such forces are predicted in many theories which unify gravity with the…
Along with weaving together observations, experiments, and theoretical constructs into a coherent mesh of understanding of the world around us, physics over its past five centuries has continuously refined the base concepts on which the…
The major advances in physics have been through counterintuitive breakthroughs-- ideas that seemed to go against prevailing convictions. In the twentieth century the Special and General Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics have…
In science, one observes correlations and invents theoretical models that describe them. In all sciences, besides quantum physics, all correlations are described by either of two mechanisms. Either a first event influences a second one by…
The origins of Sociophysics are discussed from a personal testimony. I trace back its history to the late seventies. My twenty years of activities and research to establish and promote the field are reviewed. In particular the conflicting…
Causality is one of the most fundamental -- and yet elusive -- concepts in physics. From its intuitive role in everyday experience to its formal and often implicit role in scientific theories, causality has challenged philosophers and…
National studies conducted over many years show that, while most Americans are interested in science and support federal funding of scientific research, the scientific literacy of the public is very low. Why this situation exists and who is…
Physicality has the bad habit of sneaking up on unsuspecting physicists. Unfortunately, it comes in multitudinous incarnations, which will not always make sense in a given situation. Breaching a warp drive metric with physical arguments is…
Since I first became enthralled with physics as a teenager, I've been intrigued by the philosophical aspects of the discipline. As I approached the end of my career as an experimental physicist and observational astronomer (I'm now…
In this short essay, we show how computer experiments, and especially visualization, allowed for the investigation and discovery of phenomena which would have passed unnoticed. We shall also highlight the importance of interactivity between…
Science is a crowning glory of the human spirit and its applications remain our best hope for social progress. But there are limitations to current science and perhaps to any science. The general mind-body problem is known to be intractable…
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…
The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 was one of the most significant developments of science in the last half century. A simplified history has Peter Higgs positing it in the mid-1960s followed by a long wait while experimentalists…
In this essay, dedicated to the one hundredth anniversary of Hermann Minkowski's talk "Space and Time", I argue that physicists should face the issue of the reality of spacetime and worldtubes of physical objects for two reasons. First,…
The author's opinion on the interpretation of quantum mechanics is further elucidated. Not only may quantum mechanics be a description of the sub-microscopic world that is profoundly different from what is often asserted, particularly…
The discovery of the Standard Model Higgs boson opens up a range of speculative cosmological scenarios, from the formation of structure in the early universe immediately after the big bang, to relics from the electroweak phase transition…