Related papers: Physics, scientific investigation and society in A…
In Europe (e.g., in Italy), and in the States, the opinion is widely spreading that the negative consequences of modern progress are the fault of "Science". A lively debate on this topic took place among the famous writer Leonardo Sciascia…
We report the results of a survey applied to students and professionals in the area of physics in Brazil, pursuing to draw a portrait of the composition of this community in terms of the social markers age, race, ethnicity, geographical…
University extension activities play a fundamental role in bridging the gap between academia and society by fostering the socialization of scientific knowledge. This study reports and analyzes an outreach activity conducted in a public…
We present animations based on the aggregated journal-journal citations of Leonardo during the period 1974-2008. Leonardo is mainly cited by journals outside the arts domain for cultural reasons, for example, in neuropsychology and physics.…
In this paper, I aim to clarify the unconscious ideologies and attitudes held by physicists through Prigogine's work. Prigogine was an outstanding chemist and physicist who made significant contributions to the development of…
In this essay, I discuss an interdisciplinary science that is just blossoming: that of geo-neutrinos. I begin with a couple of episodes from the history of thought, showing the deep roots of Earth science and its many connections with…
Rossi's career paralleled the evolution of cosmic-ray physics. Starting from the early 1930s his pioneering work on the nature and behavior of cosmic rays led to fundamental contributions in the field of experimental cosmic-ray physics and…
The dramatic confrontation between new observations and theories of the early and recent universe makes cosmology one of the most rapidly advancing fields in the physical sciences. The universe is a unique laboratory in which to probe…
This article presents a brief review of some historical and philosophical aspects of Einstein's 1917 paper 'Cosmological Considerations in the General Theory of Relativity', a landmark work that denoted the starting point of modern…
The transient sky is composed of diverse phenomena that exhibits dramatic changes on short timescales. These events range from sub-second bursts to weeks and month timescale variability from compact systems. Several challenges need to be…
This paper presents an overview of the state of scientific research in physics in the Italian peninsula for the first thirty years of XIX century. In doing so, we focus geographically on the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Lombardo - Veneto…
By 1930, at a time when the new physics based on relativity and quantum theory had reached a state of consolidation, problems of a foundational kind began to abound. Physicists began to speak of a new "crisis" and envisage a forthcoming…
Probability interference is a fundamental characteristic of quantum mechanics. In this paper we attempt to show with the help of some examples, where this fundamental trait of quantum physics can be found back in a social science…
Dealing with Eugene Wigner's ideas on the measurement procedure in quantum physics and unearthing the controversy that pitted him against supporters of the interpretation of complementarity, I will show how Wigner and his followers…
In the 60s of the last century the few courses of History of physics in Physics degree were held by scholars who, apart from a few exceptions, did not have a specific research background in the field. Some activities, books, social…
We report on theoretical courses by Fermi and Majorana, giving evidence of the first appearance and further development of Quantum Mechanics teaching in Italy. On the basis of original documents, we make a comparison between Fermi's and…
Along with weaving together observations, experiments, and theoretical constructs into a coherent mesh of understanding of the world around us, physics over its past five centuries has continuously refined the base concepts on which the…
An account is given of some topical unpublished work by Ettore Majorana, revealing his very deep intuitions and skilfulness in Theoretical Physics. The relevance of the quite unknown results obtained by him is pointed out as well.
I present the reconstruction of the involvement of Karl Popper in the community of physicists concerned with foundations of quantum mechanics, in the 1980s. At that time Popper gave active contribution to the research in physics, of which…
Randomness is an unavoidable notion in discussing quantum physics, and this may trigger the curiosity to know more of its cultural history. This text is an invitation to explore the position on the matter of Thomas Aquinas, one of the most…