Related papers: Physicists and the 1945 Decision to Drop the Bomb
From its very beginning, Quantum Theory developed contrary to the intentions of its creators. For Max Planck it marks the failure of a long-term research program, in which he tried to understand the 2nd law of thermodynamics…
There is a curious absence of legal constraints on U.S. government agencies undertaking potentially risky scientific research. Some of these activities may present a risk of killing millions or even destroying the planet. Current law leaves…
When a mountaineer is ascending one of the great peaks of the Himalayas she knows that an entirely new vista awaits her at the top, whose ramifications will be known only after she gets there. Her immediate goal though, is to tackle the…
Quantum theory has been proved as an outstanding mystery in modern science. The predictions of science have turned out to be probabilistic. The principle of determinism has failed. For systems like weather, earthquakes, rolling dices etc...…
We discuss the influential role of Niels Bohr's work in the anti-realist realist re-foundation of physics that took place during the 20th century. We will focus in how, developing the modern co-relational matrix of scientific understanding,…
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…
Metaphysics is the science of being and asks the question ``What really exists?'' The answer to this question has been sought for by mankind since the beginning of recorded time. In the past 2500 years there have been many answers to this…
After a very brief review of twentieth century elementary particle physics, prospects for the next century are discussed. First and most important are technological limits of opportunities; next, the future experimental program, and finally…
Radiation technologies have found wide application in power engineering, medicine, biology and other areas of human activities. However, theoretical calculations of nuclear reactions and, correspondingly, the interpretation of experimental…
Nuclear physics has a long and productive history of application to astrophysics which continues today. Advances in the accuracy and breadth of astrophysical data and theory drive the need for better experimental and theoretical…
In physics, there is the prevailing intuition that we are part of a unique external world, and that the goal of physics is to understand and describe this world. This assumption of the fundamentality of objective reality is often seen as a…
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…
Modern quantum engineering techniques enabled successful foundational tests of quantum mechanics. Yet, the universal validity of quantum postulates is an open question. Here we propose a new theoretical framework of Q-data tests, which…
In the last 25 years, much progress has been made producing and controlling Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) and degenerate Fermi gases. The advances in trapping, cooling and tuning the interparticle interactions in these cold atom systems…
"Ever since the advent of modern quantum mechanics in the late 1920's, the idea has been prevalent that the classical laws of probability cease, in some sense, to be valid in the new theory. [...] The primary object of this presentation is…
Historic steps in the emergence, the derivation and the use of three-nucleon forces, genuine and effective, for calculations of few-nucleon systems and of the structure of heavier nuclei are recalled. The research focus is on few-nucleon…
Embedded in the historical context, we review recent progress in the development of nucleon-nucleon (NN) potentials based upon chiral effective field theory. A major breakthrough is the construction of the first NN potential at…
Physicists and philosophers alike have pondered the measurement problem in quantum mechanics since the beginning of the theory nearly a century ago. Marcel Reginatto and I (2013) have made the case as have many others, Niels Bohr among…
According to Karl Popper assumptions are statements used to construct theories. During the construction of a theory whether the assumptions are either true or false turn out to be irrelevant in view of the fact that, actually, they gain…
The nuclear interaction is responsible for keeping neutrons and protons joined in an atomic nucleus. Phenomenological nuclear potentials, fitted to experimental data, allow one to know about the nuclear behaviour with more or less success…