Related papers: Michael Atiyah and Physics: the Later Years
A recent high school graduate addresses the salient question: Should individualism or collectivism be encouraged in physics students? (Physics Today, Points of View, October 2013)
A look back at Kenneth Wilson's contributions to theoretical physics, with some reminiscences of the professor I encountered at Cornell during the 1980s.
This is a philosophy paper rather than mathematical physics work. I will publish it in some other place.
This is the first of a series of papers that we intend to publish about the epistemology of fundamental physics in its current state. One of the main objectives of these papers is to improve our understanding of fundamental physics (and…
A brief account of some recent controversies about the teaching and learning of physics is presented. A shorter version of this outcome was accepted by The Physics Teacher, but publication is still pending.
This is a translation into English of my Masters thesis (hovedoppgave) from 1991. The main topic of the thesis is the relation between fundamental physics and philosophy, and a discussion of several possible ontologies of quantum field…
This article describes an undergraduate physics module at a university in England that places year 3 student physicists in secondary school classrooms for a semester. This is done as a way of introducing them to the occupation of secondary…
Whereas physics in the period from about 1880 to 1910 experienced a steady growth, it was also a revolutionary period in which the foundations of the physical world picture were criticized and reconsidered. Generally speaking, from about…
Dedicated to the centenary of the Ioffe Institute, the article contains the shortest review of scientific achievements of the theorists of the institute during this time. We concentrate mainly on research in the field of elementary particle…
Mathematical aspects of contemporary classical and quantum gauge theory are sketched.
Some basic sociophysical notions are described by a physicist, tentatively for a sociologically-oriented reader.
Despite its amazing quantitative successes and contributions to revolutionary technologies, physics currently faces many unsolved mysteries ranging from the meaning of quantum mechanics to the nature of the dark energy that will determine…
John Bell's investigations in foundations of quantum mechanics, particle physics, and quantum field theory are recalled.
A survey is made of selected topics in flavour physics where real progress is expected in the coming half-decade, paying particular attention to those where New Physics signals may appear.
This contribution aims to give an overview of the historical context of neutrino physics. I will present the strong social trends that shaped physics and the way physicists worked, along the 20th century. First, we will see the background…
The story of (Ward-)Takahashi relations and their impact on physical theory is reviewed.
Nuclear Physics has had its ups and downs. However in recent years, bucked up by some new and often puzzling data, it has become a potentially very rich field. We review some of these exciting developments in a few important sectors of…
Many physicists, following Einstein, believe that the ultimate aim of theoretical physics is to find a unified theory of all interactions which would not depend on any free dimensionless constant, i.e., a dimensionless constant that is only…
Although it has been almost 100 years since the beginnings of quantum mechanics, the discussions about its interpretation still do not cease. Therefore, a survey of opinions regarding this matter is of particular interest. This poll was…
A non-technical argument is presented that there is a link between the mind and the physical world in modern physics. Special relativity, general relativity, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, and other areas of physics are explored.…