物理学史与哲学

Cuba is continuing attracting the attention of the international scientific community for some important and unexpected achievements in applied science such as health biotechnology. They represent outcomes of the 1959 decision of Cuba to…

This paper elaborates on relationalism about space and time as motivated by a minimalist ontology of the physical world: there are only matter points that are individuated by the distance relations among them, with these relations changing.…

An ontology of Leibnizian relationalism, consisting in distance relations among sparse matter points and their change only, is well recognized as a serious option in the context of classical mechanics. In this paper, we investigate how this…

The concept of infinity took centuries to achieve recognized status in the field of mathematics, despite the fact that it was implicitly present in nearly all mathematical endeavors. Here I explore the idea that a similar development might…

We show that the Bohmian approach in terms of persisting particles that move on continuous trajectories following a deterministic law can be literally applied to QFT. By means of the Dirac sea model -- exemplified in the electron sector of…

We study the pages in Albert Einstein's 1916 landmark paper in the Annalen der Physik where he derived his field equations for gravity. Einstein made two heuristic and physically insightful steps. The first was to obtain the field equations…

In Plato's dialogues Republic and Laws, the most important disciplines for the best education of the rulers of the city are identified with arithmetic, geometry and astronomy. Those disciplines, however, are not intended for practical…

I describe the contributions of Guido Altarelli to the development of Quantum Chromodynamics from the discovery of asymptotic freedom until the end of the S$p\bar{p}$S collider era, 1973-1985.

In this dissertation the question of the unification of quantum theory and general relativity is treated. Based on the conceptual structure of these theories and under incorporation of certain ideas from classical philosophy there are…

In this historical note, we wish to highlight the crucial conceptual role played by the principle of virtual work of analytical mechanics, in working out the fundamental notion of parallel transport on a Riemannian manifold, which opened…

Hypothetical existence of other universes gives an opportunity not only to extend the scope of physics, but the scope of biology, SETI, and METI as well. Some steps of the development of alien life concept shall be briefly summarized, then…

In this essay, I argue that mathematics is a natural science---just like physics, chemistry, or biology---and that this can explain the alleged "unreasonable" effectiveness of mathematics in the physical sciences. The main challenge for…

We two had year-long research leaves in Japan, working together fulltime with several Japanese plus Tony De Groot back in Livermore and Harald Posch in Vienna. We summarize a few of the high spots from that very productive year ( 1989-1990…

Childhood and graduate school at Ann Arbor Michigan prepared Bill for an interesting and rewarding career in physics. Along the way came Carol and many joint discoveries with our many colleagues to whom we both owe this good life. This…

A fragment of the folklore text "Apai" that was once put down on Easter Island contains a report about astronomical observations of Kirch's Comet or the Great Comet of 1680-1681 A.D. (C/1680 V1) and the partial solar eclipse of March 19,…

In Part 1 of this paper, I introduce the idea of interactional expertise while in Part 2, I focus on its implications for philosophical theories of the importance of the body in forming our conceptual world. I argue that the way…

The world runs on communicated sequences of symbols, e.g. numerals. Examining both engineered and natural communications networks reveals an unsuspected order that depends on contact with an unpredictable entity. This order has three roots.…

On Thursday, September 1, 1859, the British astronomer Richard Carrington, for the first time ever, observes a spectacular gleam of visible light on the surface of the solar disk, the photosphere. The Carrington Event, as it is nowadays…

The rapidly increasing interest in the quantum properties of living matter stimulates a discussion of the fundamental properties of life as well as quantum mechanics. In this discussion often concepts are used that originate in philosophy…

In the seminal essay, "On the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the physical sciences," physicist Eugene Wigner poses a fundamental philosophical question concerning the relationship between a physical system and our capacity to…