Related papers: Memories of a Theoretical Physicist
Two decades after its creation, the interpretation of quantum mechanics called QBism is entering a new phase. Since it shares a personalist, subjective world-view with phenomenology, the philosophical study of human experience, there is a…
Personal recollections on theoretical particle physics in the years when the Standard Theory was formed. In the background, the remarkable development of Italian theoretical physics in the second part of the last century, with great…
We present two programs that address needs to better prepare graduate students for their roles as professional physicists, particularly in the areas of teaching and education research. The two programs, Preparing Future Physicists (PFP) and…
I worked on String Theory over a period of five years during the First String Era, the most intellectually satisfying years of my scientific life. One of the early prospectors in the String Theory Mine, I was fortunate enough to contribute…
Zdenek Svestka's research work influenced many fields of solar physics, especially in the area of flare research. In this article I take five of the areas that particularly interested him and assess them in a "then and now" style. His…
I correct two misapprehensions, one historical and one conceptual, in the recent literature on extensions of the Wigner's Friend thought-experiment. Perhaps fittingly, both concern the accurate description of some quantum physicists'…
This article is a multiauthored portrait of Edsger Wybe Dijkstra that consists of testimonials written by several friends, colleagues, and students of his. It provides unique insights into his personality, working style and habits, and his…
This is an attempt to apply Nagel's distinction between internal and external statements to the interpretation of quantum mechanics. I propose that this distinction resolves the contradiction between unitary evolution and the projection…
Physics outreach programs provide a critical context for informal experiences that promote the transition from new student to contributing physicist. Prior studies have suggested a positive link between participation in informal physics…
I intend to make a scientific contribution of my subjective experience as a single unit of self-described ``artist'' leveraging artificial intelligence as an assistive visual creation tool, in the hopes that it may provide some inspiration…
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…
Recent decades have seen a rise in the use of physics methods to study different societal phenomena. This development has been due to physicists venturing outside of their traditional domains of interest, but also due to scientists from…
We present a concise review of where we stand in particle physics today. First we discuss QCD, then the electroweak sector and finally the motivations and the avenues for new physics beyond the Standard Model.
Helping students learn to think like a physicist is an important goal of many introductory physics courses. One characteristic distinguishing more experienced physicists from novice students is that they make better use of problem solving…
The text presented here and revised by the authors is based on the original oral history interview by Donald Salisbury with Andrzej Trautman recorded in Warsaw on June 24 and June 28, 2016.
The after-dinner talk has by now become a tradition of this Conference series on Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum. On this occasion, I have tried to combine a free-style and (hopefully) amusing presentation with deep questions of…
Computation is becoming an increasingly important part of physics education. However, there are currently few theories of learning that can be used to help explain and predict the unique challenges and affordances associated with…
Modern machine learning techniques, including deep learning, are rapidly being applied, adapted, and developed for high energy physics. Given the fast pace of this research, we have created a living review with the goal of providing a…
I give my perspective on promising directions for high energy physics in coming years.
Detlef D\"urr (1951-2021) was a theoretical and mathematical physicist who worked particularly on the foundations of quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, and statistical mechanics. This piece is a rather personal look back at him and his…