Related papers: Nyaya-Vaisheshika: The Indian Tradition of Physics
This paper is the second in series of the Indian physics of the Nyaya-Vaisheshika school. It is significant that the school defines matter not in terms of something gross that is anchored to the commonsensical notion of an object, but…
Historians of science are generally unaware of the contributions of India to physics. The main reason for this is that very little research has been done on the subject in the recent past, a consequence of the fact that there are few…
This paper, third in the series on Indian tradition of physics, describes conceptions of the cosmos with ideas that are clearly spelt out in texts such as Yoga Vasishtha.In particular, the conception of multiple universes that occurs often…
The paper addresses the phenomenon of cross-cultural resonance, which arises when ideas coming from different cultures and view systems show mutual correlation, or coherence. We particularly dwell on the parallels between modern physics and…
This paper describes Indian ideas of the early-Purana/Mahabharata times (centuries BC) on the nature of space, time and consciousness that would be of interest to the physicist. In order to simplify references, we quote mainly from…
This paper contrasts the Greek and Indian conceptions of atom. It is shown that these two are quite different in spirit.
The dual nature of matter and radiation and the concept of the structure of an atom share a number of key conceptual elements from quantum mechanics. Despite the similarities, we find that the concept of the structure of an atom is well…
This manuscript is written for students in introductory physics classes to address some of the common difficulties and misconceptions of the normal force, especially the relationship between normal and friction forces. Accordingly, it is…
There exist dozens of interpretations of quantum theory, but they do not seem to contribute much to understanding the theory. This paper attempts to clarify some issues that are discussed in those interpretations. The main keywords are:…
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…
These lectures deal with the problem of inductive inference, that is, the problem of reasoning under conditions of incomplete information. Is there a general method for handling uncertainty? Or, at least, are there rules that could in…
At present many of the endeavours in physics are made to recognize in quantum substance classical reality, time, subjectivity, consciousness and many other physical and nonphysical features. The purpose of these remarks is to draw attention…
The resonance phenomenon is of central importance in many areas of physics, with particular significance in the study of nuclear structure and reactions. Starting from the classical framework of damped driven oscillations, this text…
In the first lecture of this volume, we will present the basic fundamental ideas regarding nuclear processes occurring in stars. We start from stellar observations, will then elaborate on some important quantum-mechanical phenomena…
In the spirit of the International Year of Physics 2005 the author advices the replacement of the teaching methods based on verbal explanations and to perform a number of tasks following a given recipe by procedures that actively involve…
The discovery of atomic nucleus by E. Rutherford, at the beginning of the twentieth century, was the Nuclear Physics original landmark. From then, a series of experiments in which beams of particles composed of neutrons, protons and others,…
Three extraordinary physics discoveries were made from colonial India, which did not have any previous tradition of research in modern physics: Saha ionization equation (1920), Bose statistics (1924), Raman effect (1928). All the three…
(transcript of a talk given by Prof.~Feshbach:) Nuclear physics has been and will be a major factor in science and technology. It makes unique and important contributions to medicine, to industry and to other sciences. Interaction with…
Influence theory is a foundational theory of physics that is not based on traditional empirically defined concepts, such as positions in space and time, mass, energy, or momentum. Instead, the aim is to derive these concepts, and their…
Three extraordinary physics discoveries were made from colonial India, which did not have any previous tradition of research in modern physics: Saha ionization equation (1920), Bose statistics (1924), Raman effect (1928). All the three…