物理学史与哲学

Dirac's approach to gauge symmetries is discussed. We follow closely the steps that led him from his conjecture concerning the generators of gauge transformations {\it at a given time} --to be contrasted with the common view of gauge…

Lemaitre was apparently the first to make an explicit coordinate transformation resulting in the removal of the singularity at r = a = 2m in the Schwarzschild metric, while Lanczos was the first to express doubts on the physical reality of…

The thesis developed by Cornelius Lanczos in his doctoral dissertation is that electrodynamics is a pure field theory which is hyperanalytic over the algebra of biquaternions. In this theory Maxwell's homogeneous equations correspond to a…

The possible discovery of astronomical effects due to precession - such as the shift in the declination of heliacal raising of bright stars or the precession of the equinoxes - is reviewed for various ancient cultures in the world. Although…

The binary many-step Markov chain with the step-like memory function is considered as a model for the analysis of rank distributions of words in stochastic symbolic dynamical systems. We prove that the envelope curve for this distribution…

We study the theory of the (1/2,0)+(0,1/2) and (1,0)+(0,1) representations in the helicity basis. The helicity eigenstates are not the parity eigenstates. This is in accordance with the idea of Berestetskii, Lifshitz and Pitaevskii. The…

A historical account of Einstein's 'Fernparallelismus' approach towards a unified field theory of gravitation and electromagnetism is given. In this theory, a space-time characterized by a curvature-free connection in conjunction with a…

The first comprehensive overview of the final version of the general theory of relativity was published by Einstein in 1916 after several expositions of preliminary versions and latest revisions of the theory in November 1915. A historical…

Einstein distinguished between ``principle'' and ``constructive'' theories in physics, and although he thought the latter were more explanatory than the former, he regarded his 1905 formulation of special relativity theory as a principle…

In 1964, Dashen and Frautschi published two papers in the Physical Review claiming that they calculated the neutron-proton mass difference. It was once regarded as a history-making calculation, in view of the fact that the proton and…

We generalize the Stueckelberg formalism in the (1/2,1/2) representation of the Lorentz Group. Some relations to other modern-physics models are found.

We review the derivation of Planck's Radiation Formula on the light of recent studies in its centenary. We discuss specially the issue of discreteness, Planck's opinion on his discovery, and the critical analysis on the contributions by…

We present a translation of Albert Einstein's Rio de Janeiro manuscript on light quanta. In it, Einstein evaluates the Bohr-Kramers-Slater refutation of light quanta, which was concurrently the subject of intense empirical scrutiny on two…

This illustrated article represents a popular account of the study of the Babylonian astronomical records of Enuma Anu Enlil tablet series i.e. of the Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa and of two lunar eclipses linked with the IIIrd dynasty of Ur,…

It is argued that string theory may pose new conceptual issues for the history and philosophy of science.

It is shown that the refraction near the horizon is introducing an additional bias into the Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa, which is able to influence the interpretation of the data. We then discuss the attempts to link certain solar eclipses…

We outline the priority of high quality data of astronomical content as our strategy for the analysis of the ancient astronomical records in the search of the absolute chronology of the Near East in II millennium BC. The correspondingly…

The very early dismissal of Schwarzschild's original solution and manifold, and the rise, under Schwarzschild's name, of the inequivalent solution and manifold found instead by Hilbert, are scrutinised and commented upon, in the light of…

This note is about three interesting 15th and 16th century sightings of comets in Kashmiri chronicles. We provide reasons for their identification as the 1468 S1, 1531 (Halley's), and 1533 M1 comets.

While similarities do naturally exist between tao and other philosophical systems, for the specific case of Democritus we can argue also the chronological parallels, the parallels in the posterior development (alchemy and mathematics) and…