Related papers: Problems with Popper
Two of the major achievements of Stephen Hawking are described in elementary terms. They are his work on the beginning of the universe and his work on the end of black holes. These are perhaps the scientific achievements for which he is…
The role of probability appears unchallenged as the key measure of uncertainty, used among other things for practical induction in the empirical sciences. Yet, Popper was emphatic in his rejection of inductive probability and of the logical…
Leonhard Euler, the most prolific mathematician in history, contributed to advance a wide spectrum of topics in celestial mechanics. At the Saint Petersburg Observatory, Euler observed sunspots and tracked the movements of the Moon.…
Carl Gustav Hempel (1905-1997) formulated the dilemma that carries his name in an attempt to determine the boundaries of physics. Where does physics go over into metaphysics? The purpose of this contribution is to indicate how a recently…
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…
Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765) was the eminent Russian polymath and a towering figure of the European Enlightenment. This English translation of Mikhail Lomonosov seminal work "Oration on the Origin of Light " draws from its original Russian…
An experiment which could decide against the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics has been proposed by K. Popper and, subsequently, it has been criticized by M.J. Collett and R. Loudon. Here we show that both the above mentioned…
A comprehensive review on Cook's contribution in the theory of NP-Completeness with relations to modern mathematics.
Gerhard Hochschild's contribution to the development of mathematics in the XX century is succinctly surveyed. We start with a personal and mathematical biography, and then consider with certain detail his contributions to algebraic groups…
Henri Poincar\'e formulated the mathematics of the Lorentz transformations, known as the Poincar\'e group. He also formulated the Poincar\'e sphere for polarization optics. It is shown that these two mathematical instruments can be combined…
The last century saw dramatic challenges to the Laplacian predictability which had underpinned scientific research for around 300 years. Basic to this was Alan Turing's 1936 discovery (along with Alonzo Church) of the existence of…
Alan Turing is considered as a founder of current computer science together with Kurt Godel, Alonzo Church and John von Neumann. In this paper multiple new research results are presented. It is demonstrated that there would not be Alan…
A sketch of some of the fundamental notions related to the nature of knowledge is offered, with special focus on the role of mathematics and my own opinions. No single idea exposed here is entirely original; indeed, this topic has been…
Johann Kepler (1571-1630) is sometimes considered as a precursor of science-fiction novels with the writing of "Somnium, sive opus posthumum of astronomia lunaris". In this work published posthumously in 1634 by his son Ludwig, Kepler…
Eugene Wigner famously argued for the "unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics" for describing physics and other natural sciences in his 1960 essay. That essay has now led to some 55 years of (sometimes anguished) soul searching ---…
A short essay on the life and mathematical heritage of Coble. A substantially edited version will be part of the series of biographical memoirs of past members of the National Academy of Sciences. Version 2: minor changes. Version 3. Typo…
This article provides information on the life and work of the number theorist Arnold Scholz. It is an English translation with modifications of an introduction to the correspondence of Hasse, Scholz and Taussky published in 2016.
Times magazine selected Albert Einstein, the German born Jewish Scientist as the person of the 20th century. Undoubtedly, 20th century was the age of science and Einstein's contributions in unraveling mysteries of nature was unparalleled.…
Remarks on the life and work of Paul Erdos.
Corroboration or confirmation is a prominent philosophical debate of the 20th century. Many philosophers have been involved in this debate most notably the proponents of confirmation led by Hempel and its most powerful criticism by the…