物理学史与哲学

The present work is a translation from french to english of our previous \g{D\'emocrite et la puissance motrice du feu}, amended on a number of respects. It is mainly of historical and pedagogical interest. We suggest that the concepts…

Most scientists would hold that science has not established that the cosmos is physically comprehensible - i.e. such that there is some as-yet undiscovered true physical theory of everything that is unified. This is an empirically…

In their 1954 paper, Yang and Mills invented the non-Abelian field strength to satisfy certain criteria but didn't explain how it could be derived. In the penultimate section we show how the Yang-Mills field strength derives from Yang's…

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Drake formula, it appears interesting to briefly review the history of Astrobiology from the origins up to the epoch of the Drake formula. After recalling the main steps of this history during…

It seems that the Nazca Lines, ancient geoglyphs of a Peruvian dry pampa, had some astronomical orientations. Here we discuss a geoglyph representing a frigatebird and its orientation towards the setting of Fomalhaut, using freely available…

Installation of the world's first superconducting synchrotron began at Fermilab 30 years ago, but now the Tevatron has finally seen its last beam. The author looks back at the intriguing story of this pioneering machine.

Arthur Neville Brown, MA, FRAS (1864-1934) was a prolific variable star observer and served for many years as Secretary of the BAA Variable Star Section. This paper discusses Brown's life and career, both as a variable star enthusiast and…

This paper discusses Einstein's methodology. 1. Einstein characterized his work as a theory of principle and reasoned that beyond kinematics, the 1905 heuristic relativity principle could offer new connections between non-kinematical…

Dr. Thomas David Anderson (1853-1932) was a Scottish amateur astronomer famed for his discovery of two bright novae: Nova Aurigae 1891 and Nova Persei 1901. He also discovered more than 50 variable stars as well as making independent…

Carlo Cercignani was known all over the world for his works on the Boltzmann equation and on kinetic theory. There was however another aspect of his scientific life, which is not much known. Namely, his interest for the foundations of…

Frederick William Longbottom FRAS (1850-1933) was an original member of the British Astronomical Association and served as Director of its Photographic Section between 1906 and 1926. A hop merchant by trade, he spent much of his life in…

The philosophy of science is a discipline concerning the metaphysical aspect of science. Recently, I proposed measurement theory, which is characterized as the metaphysical and linguistic interpretation of quantum mechanics. I assert that…

The present short essay, of essentially historical nature, aims at describing the transition from the Euclidean-Newtonian space-time geometry of Classical Physics to the Pseudoriemannian geometry of General Relativity, including the…

The Nabateans built several monuments in Petra and elsewhere displaying a decoration with a preference for astronomical motifs, possibly as a reflection of their religion. However, due to the lack of direct written accounts and the scarcity…

Entropy in thermodynamics is an extensive quantity, whereas standard methods in statistical mechanics give rise to a non-extensive expression for the entropy. This discrepancy is often seen as a sign that basic formulas of statistical…

We test the hypothesis that Aboriginal linear stone arrangements in New South Wales (NSW) are oriented to cardinal directions. We accomplish this by measuring the azimuths of stone arrangements described in site cards from the NSW…

The night sky played an important role in the social structure, oral traditions, and cosmology of the Arrernte and Luritja Aboriginal cultures of Central Australia. A component of this cosmology relates to meteors, meteorites, and impact…

This paper deals with the social production of knowledge in the exact sciences. After defining the term, exact science, it delineates the broad dynamic of its history. It, then, offers a socio-economic historical explanation of why the…

In this paper I argue that aim-oriented empiricism (AOE), a conception of natural science that I have defended at some length elsewhere, is a kind of synthesis of the views of Popper, Kuhn and Lakatos, but is also an improvement over the…

Perhaps more than any other of the physical sciences, cosmology exemplifies the inevitable contact between science and philosophy, including the problem of the demarcation criteria that distinguish science from non-science. Although modern…