物理学史与哲学

The activities carried out by Italian physicists in the field of semiconductor physics during the period spanning from 1945 to the foundation of the National Group of Structure of the Matter (GNSM, 1965) are reviewed within their historical…

We recount the successful long career of classical physics, from Newton to Einstein, which was based on the philosophy of scientific realism. Special emphasis is given to the changing status and number of ontological entitities and…

We show that quantum mechanics is the first theory in human history that violates the basic a priori principles that have shaped human thought since immemorial times. Therefore although it is more contrary to magic than any body of…

The major contributions of Richard H. Dalitz to hypernuclear physics, since his first paper in 1955 to his last one in 2005 covering a span of 50 years during which he founded and led the theoretical study of hypernuclei, are reviewed from…

It is argued that Weyl's theory of gravitation and electricity came out of `mathematical justice': out of the equal rights direction and length. Such mathematical justice was manifestly at work in the context of discovery, and is enough…

The possible existence of astronomical references in the planning of the so-called Great Hopewell Road, a 90 Kilometres straight road composed of two parallel earthen embankments which, according to recent surveys, likely connected the…

We briefly review the history of Mach's principle and discuss its significance in the light of modern physics.

In this lecture, the early history of asymptotic freedom is discussed. The first completely correct derivation of \beta_0 in non-abelian gauge theory (Khriplovich, 1969) was done in the Coulomb gauge; this derivation is reproduced (in…

We discuss the Sundman-Weierstrass theorem of total collapse in its historical context. This remarkable and relatively simple result, a type of stability criterion, is at the crossroads of some interesting developments in the gravitation…

We give a detailed account of the recent retrieval of a consistent amount (about 600 pages) of documents written by Enrico Fermi and/or his collaborators, coming from different sources previously unexplored. These documents include…

A personal view is given of the development of string theory out of dual models, including the analysis of the structure of the physical states and the proof of the No-Ghost Theorem, the quantization of the relativistic string, and the…

Myron Mathisson (1897-1940) was a Polish Jew known for his work on the equations of motion of bodies in general relativity and for developing a new method to analyze the properties of fundamental solutions of linear hyperbolic differential…

A portrait of Kurt Goedel with emphasis on his work on relativity theory and idealistic philosophy.

The old quantum theory of Bohr and Sommerfeld was abandonned for the wrong reason. Its contradictions were caused not by the orbit concept but by a mental barrier--the inconceivability that an electron might collide with the atomic nucleus.…

Galileo Galilei had sufficient skill as an observer and instrument builder to be able to measure the positions and apparent sizes of objects seen through his telescopes to an accuracy of 2" or better. However, Galileo had no knowledge of…

In the first part of this paper we review several formalisms which give alternative ways for describing the light. They are: the formalism `baroque' and the Majorana-Oppenheimer form of electrodynamics, the Sachs' theory of Elementary…

Paul A. M. Dirac was a great physicist. Wigner used to call him ``my famous brother-in-law''. How did they become brothers-in-law? Did these two great physicists have the same view toward physics?

A discussion of different criteria of consistency of quantum field theory from the point of view of physics and mathematics.

A few recollections and afterthoughts on the development of the string picture of fundamental interactions out of the S-matrix program.

It is reported that the numerical simulations of the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam problem were performed by a young lady, Mary Tsingou. After 50 years of omission, it is time for a proper recognition of her decisive contribution to the first ever…