Related papers: How John Wheeler lost his faith in the law
During the period identified as the Rebirth of General Relativity, John Wheeler was instrumental in retrieving the physics of gravity that had become hidden behind the mathematical formalism. For Wheeler himself the change in point of view…
John Archibald Wheeler was a theoretical physicist who worked on both down-to-earth projects and highly speculative ideas, and always emphasized the importance of experiment and observation, even when speculating wildly. His research and…
John Wheeler advocated the principle that information is the foundation of physics and asked us to reformulate physics in terms of bits. The goal is to consider what we know already and work out a new mathematical theory in which space,…
Throughout John Wheeler's career, he wrestled with big issues like the fundamental length, the black hole and the unification of quantum mechanics and relativity. In this essay, I argue that solid state physics -- historically the study of…
During the conference on the methods of differential geometry in physics in Warsaw in June 1976, Professor Wheeler gave an interview for the Czechoslovak Journal of Physics A. After Professor Wheeler authorized the English version in…
When about half a century ago the concept of universal spontaneous collapse of the wave function was conceived it was an attempt to alter standard non-relativistic quantum physics. As such, it was largely ignored by relativistic field…
About 35 years ago Wheeler introduced the motto `law without law' to highlight the possibility that (at least a part of) Physics may be understood only following {\em regularity principles} and few relevant facts, rather than relying on a…
We analyze the Wheeler-DeWitt (WDW) equation in the context of a gravitational collapse. The physics of an expanding/collapsing universe and many details of a collapsing star can classically be described by the Roberston-Walker metric in…
General Relativity has had tremendous successes on both theoretical and experimental fronts for over a century by now. However, the theory contents are far from being exhausted. Only very recently, with gravitational wave detection from…
The nature of gravity is fundamental to our understanding of our own solar system, the galaxy and the structure and evolution of the Universe. Einstein's general theory of relativity is the standard model that is used for almost ninety…
General Relativity is considered to be so far the best gravitation theory. However it is quite hard to use in real situations. The root of these difficulties lays in the non-linearity of the theory. Our aim was not to linearize the theory,…
With the detection of Gravitational waves just about an year ago Einstein`s general theory of relativity- a space-time theory of gravity, got established on a firmer footing than any other theory in physics. Gravitational waves are just…
An outstanding problem in gravitation theory and relativistic astrophysics today is to understand the final outcome of an endless gravitational collapse. Such a continual collapse would take place when stars more massive than few times the…
Black holes are extreme spacetime deformations where even light is imprisoned. There is an extensive astrophysical evidence for the real and abundant existence of these prisons of matter and light in the Universe. Mathematically, black…
It is widely accepted by physicists and philosophers of physics alike that there are certain contexts in which general relativity will "break down". In such cases, one expects to need some as-yet undiscovered successor theory. This paper…
Starting with the conceptual foundation of general relativity (GR) - equivalence principle, space-time geometry and special relativity, I train cross hairs on two characteristic predictions of GR - black holes and gravitational waves. These…
Newton's deduction of the inverse square law from Kepler's ellipse and area laws together with his "superb theorem" on the gravitation attraction of spherically symmetric bodies, are the major steps leading to the discovery of the law of…
Almost half a century before Einstein expounded his general theory of relativity, the English mathematician William Kingdon Clifford argued that space might not be Euclidean and proposed that matter is nothing but a small distortion in that…
This article is an attempt for a new vision of the basics of Physics, and of Relativity, in particular. A new generalized principle of inertia is proposed, as an universal principle, based on universality of the conservation laws, not…
The paper is devoted to fundamental problems of the Wheeler - DeWitt quantum geometrodynamics, which was the first attempt to apply quantum principles to the Universe as a whole. Our purpose is to find out the origin of these problems and…