Related papers: Michael Atiyah and Physics: the Later Years
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…
The role of impossibilities in theories of Physics is mentioned and a recent result is recalled in which Quantum Mechanics is characterized by three information-theoretic impossibilities. The inconvenience of the asymmetries established by…
The role of mathematics in physical sciences is discussed, particularly how higher mathematics found applications in empirical problems. Several examples are given to illustrate this role.
Some relations between physics and finitary and infinitary mathematics are explored in the context of a many-minds interpretation of quantum theory. The analogy between mathematical ``existence'' and physical ``existence'' is considered…
It is becoming common to hear teaching advice about spending more time on the "physics of the problem" so that students will get more physical insight and develop a stronger intuition that can be very helpful when thinking about physics…
From 1929 to his death in 1944, A. Eddington worked on developing a highly ambitious theory of fundamental physics that covered everything in the physical world, from the tiny electron to the universe at large. His unfinished theory…
Thought experiment is an apparition in a modern Science, which is in last 100 Years took sweep. Work is based at the aspect of Physics, because and the writer is from Physics. Manners to study thought experiments are multiple, and this work…
This paper will consist of a selected, personal view of some of the issues associated with the intersections of nuclear and particle physics. As well as touching on the recent developments we will attempt to look at how those aspects of the…
Crucial experiments have a long history of contributions to progress in physics. Similarly, we claim that in the period roughly from 1955 to 1985 crucial calculations played a significant role in setting the agenda for elementary particle…
I shall use a few personal reminiscences of my time as a student and colleague of Dirac in Cambridge to introduce some reflections on the nature of research in theoretical physics. I shall discuss and illustrate the approach of Dirac to his…
The parts contributed by the author in recent discussions with several physicists and mathematicians are reviewed, as they have been occasioned by the 2006 book "The Trouble with Physics", of Lee Smolin. Some of the issues addressed are the…
The key difference between math as math and math in science is that in science we blend our physical knowledge with our knowledge of math. This blending changes the way we put meaning to math and even to the way we interpret mathematical…
Physics education research has probed for the relevance of physics in students' everyday lives. Attitudinal and epistemological surveys have asked students if they think of or use physics in their daily lives. We have previously documented…
This memoire covers my life history starting with my family's background and their immigration to the US. It continues with my childhood, my early education, and my introduction to science. It then covers my professional research included a…
After re-stating why beauty physics is so special and sketching its present status I attempt to map out an itinerary for the next fifteen years. The basic elements are listed for a research program that allows to define and probe the KM…
This article looks at philosophical aspects and questions that modern astrophysical research gives rise to. Other than cosmology, astrophysics particularly deals with understanding phenomena and processes operating at "intermediate" cosmic…
The study of undecidability in problems arising from physics has experienced a renewed interest, mainly in connection with quantum information problems. The goal of this review is to survey this recent development. After a historical…
This article is a slightly expanded version of the talk I delivered at the Special Plenary Session of the 46-th Annual Meeting of the Israel Physical Society (Technion, Haifa, May 11, 2000) dedicated to Misha Marinov. In the first part I…
Brief recollections by the author about how his work with Kip Thorne influenced his career in physics.
Wigner's "unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics" in physics can be understood as a reflection of a deep and unexpected unity between the fundamental structures of mathematics and of physics. Some of the history of evidence for this is…