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On December 14. 1900, Max Planck communicated his derivation of his radiation formula, which he later called ``an act of desperation''. This date is widely recognized as birthday of quantum theory. For Planck it meant the end of his…
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…
Planck's law for black-body radiation marks the origin of quantum theory and is discussed in all introductory (or advanced) courses on this subject. However, the question whether Planck really implied quantisation is debated among…
Quantum physics, which describes the strange behavior of light and matter at the smallest scales, is one of the most successful descriptions of reality, yet it is notoriously inaccessible. Here we provide an approachable explanation of…
This paper explores the historical development of the theory of quantum mechanics between 1900 and 1927 by chronological examination of the foundational papers and ideas. Beginning with Planck's introduction of energy quantisation in…
A demonic being, introduced by Maxwell, to miraculously create thermal non-equilibrium and violate the Second law of thermodynamics, has been among the most intriguing and elusive wishful concepts for over 150 years. Maxwell and his…
In honor of Alan Turing's hundredth birthday, I unwisely set out some thoughts about one of Turing's obsessions throughout his life, the question of physics and free will. I focus relatively narrowly on a notion that I call "Knightian…
The double slit interference experiment has been famously described by Richard Feynman as containing the "only mystery of quantum mechanics". The history of quantum mechanics is intimately linked with the discovery of the dual nature of…
On November 12, 1802, Thomas Young lays down in front of the Royal Society of London his Theory of Light and Colours. In this text, he defends a vibratory model or light, in which the peculiar attention he gives to the consequence of the…
The thought experiment (called the clock paradox or the twin paradox)proposed by Langevin in 1911 of two observers, one staying on Earth and the other making a trip toward a star with a velocity near the light velocity is very well known…
It was first suggested by David Z. Albert that the existence of a real, physical non-unitary process (i.e., "collapse") at the quantum level would yield a complete explanation for the Second Law of Thermodynamics (i.e., the increase in…
A complete history of early atomic models would fill volumes, but a reasonably coherent tale of the path from mechanical atoms to the quantum can be told by focusing on the relevant work of three great contributors to atomic physics, in the…
The problem of possible violation of the second law of thermodynamics is discussed. It is noted that the task of the well known challenge to the second law called Maxwell's demon is put in order a chaotic perpetual motion and if any ordered…
Physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard P. Feynman once remarked ``We choose to examine a phenomenon which is impossible, absolutely impossible, to explain in any classical way, and which has in it the heart of quantum mechanics. In reality,…
Physics was in crisis at the beginning of the twentieth century because the newborn Maxwell's electromagnetism defied mechanistic preconceptions. Albert Einstein understood that the solution to the crisis required an audacious reworking of…
Newton's mechanical revolution unifies the motion of planets in the sky and falling of apple on earth. Maxwell's electromagnetic revolution unifies electricity, magnetism, and light. Einstein's relativity revolution unifies space with time,…
On the base of years of experience of working on the problem of the physical foundation of quantum mechanics the author offers principles of solving it. Under certain pressure of mathematical formalism there has raised a hypothesis of…
In the 20th century, quantum mechanics connected the particle and wave concepts of light and thereby made mechanisms accessible that had never been imagined before. Processes such as stimulated emission and quantum entanglement have…
This work provides an overview of key historical developments in the formulation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, focusing on the notorious challenge of ``Maxwell's Demon'', a hypothetical creature who could presumably violate that law.…
We still lack any consensus about what one is actually talking about as one uses quantum mechanics. There is a gap between the abstract terms in which the theory is couched and the phenomena the theory enables each of us to account for so…