物理学史与哲学
Determinism and indeterminism in physical theories are reviewed and some broader implications of determinism are discussed.
The author recollects Sergio Fubini's impact on field theory (radial quantization, merons, conformal quantum mechanics) and on MIT.
Einstein's thesis ``A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions'' was the second of his five celebrated papers in 1905. Although it is -- thanks to its widespread practical applications -- the most quoted of his papers, it is less known…
It took eight years after Einstein announced the basic physical ideas behind the relativistic gravity theory before the proper mathematical formulation of general relativity was mastered. The efforts of the greatest physicist and of the…
I discuss a memorandum entitled " A True state of the Case and Controversy between Sir Isaak Newton and Dr. Robert Hooke as the Priority of that Noble Hypothesis of motion of ye Planets about ye Sun as their Centers", where Hooke summarizes…
By means of a thought-experiment, consisting of an interference experiment with two interfering beams, it is shown that it can be demonstrated experimentally that with one single particle a wave can be associated which propagates in space…
A brief review of Heisenberg's life and work: participating in the youth movement in the aftermath of World War I, creating quantum mechanics, conflict with "deutsche Physik", involvement in "Hitler's Uranium Project", last illusions.…
The review consists of two parts. In the first part the critical points in the past, present and future of neutrino physics (nuclear, particle and astroparticle) are reviewed. In the second part the contributions of Yugoslav physics to the…
We present the first English translation of Einstein's original papers related to the teleparallel ('absolute parallelism', 'distant parallelism' and the German 'Fernparallelismus' are synonyms) attempt of an unified field theory of…
Einstein's research manuscripts provide important insights into his exceptional creativity. At the same time, they can present difficulties for a publication in the documentary edition of the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein (CPAE). The…
The French Academy units of time and length - the second and the meter - are traditionally considered independent from each other. However, it is a matter of fact that a meter simple pendulum beats virtually the second in each oscillation,…
The consequences of the Nazi-power for the scientific process are described qualitatively in various articles and books. However, recent progress in information systems allows a quantitative reflection. Literature databases ranging back to…
Copernican Cosmography was used to discover the path linking Cebu islands and Acapulco via Kuro-Shivo Stream, as registered in Physica Speculatio, first physics book written in New Spain. Teaching and practice of Copernican theory were an…
We analyze in some detail the course of Theoretical Physics held by Ettore Majorana at the University of Naples in 1938, just before his mysterious disappearance. In particular we give an account of the recently retrieved "Moreno Paper",…
The golden mean, Phi, has been applied in diverse situations in art, architecture and music, and although some have claimed that it represents a basic aesthetic proportion, others have argued that it is only one of a large number of such…
The erroneous prediction of the speed of light in dispersive media has been looked upon historically as unequivocal proof that Newton's corpuscular theory is incorrect. Examination of his arguments shows that they were only directly…
It is shown that time intervals Delta t' measured for photons moving with speed v > c can be of the same sign for all observers according to special relativity, thereby avoiding any violation of Einstein causality. Previous assertions to…
This note presents reasons why Mendeleev chose Sanskrit names (now superseded) for eight elements in the periodic table.
This paper explores the evolution of the so called "anthropic reasoning" in a historical perspective. It takes under scrutiny the appearance of "anthropic" considerations in various stages of modern cosmology, focusing also on some very…
In early 1929, V. Fock (initially in collaboration with D. Iwanenko) and H. Weyl developed independently from each other a general relativistic generalization of the Dirac equation. In the core, they arrived at the same theory by the…