The Oxford Handbook of the History of Quantum Interpretations

Edited by Olival Freire Jr, Guido Bacciagaluppi, Olivier Darrigol, Thiago Hartz, Christian Joas, Alexei Kojevnikov, and Osvaldo Pessoa Jr

Oxford Handbooks in Physics

An accessible introduction to long-standing 20^th and 21^st centuries scientific controversies
Technical and scientific content is kept to a minimum to ensure a wide readership
Draws on the wide-ranging expertise of authors from diverse backgrounds including historians of physics, physicists, and philosophers of physics

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Quantum Interpretations

Edited by Olival Freire Jr, Guido Bacciagaluppi, Olivier Darrigol, Thiago Hartz, Christian Joas, Alexei Kojevnikov, and Osvaldo Pessoa Jr

Description

Crucial to most research in physics, as well as leading to the development of inventions such as the transistor and the laser, quantum mechanics approaches its centenary with an impressive record. However, the field has also long been the subject of ongoing debates about the foundations and interpretation of the theory, referred to as the quantum controversy.

This Oxford Handbook offers a historical overview of the contrasts which have been at the heart of quantum physics for the last 100 years. Drawing on the wide-ranging expertise of several contributors working across physics, history, and philosophy, the handbook outlines the main theories and interpretations of quantum physics. It goes on to tackle the key controversies surrounding the field, touching on issues such as determinism, realism, locality, classicality, information, measurements, mathematical foundations, and the links between quantum theory and gravity.

This engaging introduction is an essential guide for all those interested in the history of scientific controversies and history of quantum physics. It also provides a fascinating examination of the potential of quantum physics to influence new discoveries and advances in fields such quantum information and computing.

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Quantum Interpretations

Edited by Olival Freire Jr, Guido Bacciagaluppi, Olivier Darrigol, Thiago Hartz, Christian Joas, Alexei Kojevnikov, and Osvaldo Pessoa Jr

Oxford Handbooks in Physics

Introduction, Olival Freire Jr, Guido Bacciagaluppi, Olivier Darrigol, Thiago Hartz, Christian Joas, Alexei Kojevnikov, and Osvaldo Pessoa Jr.
Part I - Quantum physics: scientific and philosophical issues under debate
1:Quantum mechanics is routinely used in laboratories with great success, but no consensus on its interpretation has emerged, Franck Laloë
2:Philosophical issues raised by quantum theory and its interpretations, Wayne Myrvold
Part II - Historical landmarks of the interpretations and foundations of quantum physics
3:Quantization conditions, 1900-1925, Anthony Duncan and Michel Janssen
4:Of weighting and counting: statistics and ontology in the old quantum theory, Massimiliano Badino
5:Dead as a doornail? Zero-point energy and Low-temperature physics in early quantum theory, Helge Kragh
6:The early debates about the interpretation of quantum mechanics, Martin Jähnert and Christoph Lehner
7:Foundations and applications: the creative tension in the early development of quantum mechanics, Christian Joas
8:The statistical interpretation: Born, Heisenberg and von Neumann, 1926-27, Guido Bacciagaluppi
9:A perennially grinning Cheshire cat? Over a century of experiments on light quanta and their perplexing interpretations, Klaus Hentschel
10:The evolving understanding of quantum statistics, Daniela Monaldi
11:The measurement problem, Osvaldo Pessoa Jr.
12:Einstein's criticisms of quantum mechanics, Michel Paty
13:Tackling loopholes in experimental tests of Bell's inequality, David Kaiser
14:The measuring process in quantum field theory, Thiago Hartz
15:The interpretation debate and quantum gravity, Alexander Blum and Bernadette Lessel
16:Quantum information and the quest for reconstruction of quantum theory, Alexei Grinbaum
17:Natural reconstructions of quantum mechanics, Olivier Darrigol
18:The axiomatization of quantum theory through functional analysis: Hilbert, von Neumann, and beyond, Klaas Landsman
19:Tony Leggett's challenge to quantum mechanics and its path to decoherence, Fabio Freitas
Part III - Places and contexts relevant for the interpretations of quantum theory
20:The Copenhagen interpretation, Don Howard
21:Copenhagen and Niels Bohr, Anja Skaar Jacobsen
22:Grete Hermann's Interpretation of quantum mechanics, Elise Crull
23:Instrumentation and the foundations of quantum mechanics, Climério Paulo da Silva Neto
24:Early Solvay councils: rhetorical lenses for quantum convergence and divergence, José G. Perillán
25:The foundations of quantum mechanics in post-war Italy's cultural context, Flavio Del Santo
26:Foundations of quantum physics in the Soviet Union, Jean-Philippe Martinez
27:Early Japanese reactions to the interpretation of quantum mechanics, 1927-1943, Kenji Ito
28:Form and meaning: textbooks, pedagogy, and the canonical genres of quantum mechanics, Josep Simon
29:Chien-Shiung Wu's contributions to experimental philosophy, Indianara Silva
30:On how Epistemological Letters changed the foundations of quantum mechanics, Sebastián Murgueitio Ramírez
31:Quantum interpretations and 20^th century philosophy of science, Thomas Ryckman
Part IV - Historical and philosophical theses
32:Bohr and the epistemological lesson of quantum mechanics, Stefano Osnaghi
33:Making sense of the century-old scientific controversy over the quanta, Olival Freire Jr
34:Orthodoxy and heterodoxy in the postwar era, Kristian Camilleri
35:The reception of the Forman thesis in modernity and postmodernity, Paul Forman
36:Quantum historiography and cultural history: revisiting the Forman thesis, Alexei Kojevnikov
37:The co-creation of classical and modern physics and the foundations of quantum mechanics, Richard Staley
38:Interpretation in electrodynamics, atomic theory, and quantum mechanics, Giora Hon and Bernard R. Goldstein
Part V - The proliferation of interpretations
39:Hidden variables, Jeffrey Bub
40:Pure wave mechanics, relative states, and many worlds, Jeffrey Barrett
41:Is QBism a possible solution to the conceptual problems of quantum mechanics?, Hervé Zwirn
42:Agential realism: a relation ontology interpretation, Karen Barad
43:Relational interpretation, Carlo Rovelli
44:Philosophy of wholeness and the general and new concept of order: Bohm's and Penrose's points of view, Jean-Jacques Szczeciniarz and Joseph Kouneiher
45:Spontaneous localization theories, Valia Allori
46:The non-individuals interpretation of quantum mechanics, Decio Krause, Jonas Arenhart, and Otavio Bueno
47:Modal interpretations of quantum mechanics, Dennis Dieks
48:A brief historical perspective on the consistent histories interpretation of quantum mechanics, Gustavo Rocha, Dean Rickles, and Florian Boge
49:Einstein, Bohm and Bell: a comedy of errors, Jean Bricmont
50:The statistical (ensemble) interpretation of quantum mechanics, Alexander Pechenkin
51:Stochastic interpretations of quantum mechanics, Emilio Santos

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Quantum Interpretations

Edited by Olival Freire Jr, Guido Bacciagaluppi, Olivier Darrigol, Thiago Hartz, Christian Joas, Alexei Kojevnikov, and Osvaldo Pessoa Jr

Oxford Handbooks in Physics

Author Information

Edited by Olival Freire Jr, Full Professor of Physics and History of Physics, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Guido Bacciagaluppi, Associate Professor, University of Utrecht, Olivier Darrigol, OHST Research Fellow, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Thiago Hartz, Assistant Professor of History of Mathematics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Christian Joas, Director, Niels Bohr Archive, University of Copenhagen, Alexei Kojevnikov, Professor, University of British Columbia, and Osvaldo Pessoa Jr, Professor of Philosophy of Science, FFLCH, University of São Paulo

Olival Freire Jr is Professor of Physics and History of Science at the Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brazil. He is the author of The Quantum Dissidents (2015) and David Bohm: A Life Dedicated to Understanding the Quantum World (2019). In 2011 he co-edited Teoria quântica: estudos históricos e implicações culturais with Osvaldo Pessoa Jr. and Joan Lisa Bromberg and was awarded the Jabuti Prize in Science & Technology, the most important literary prize in Brazil.

Contributors:

Valia Allori
Jonas Arenhart
Guido Bacciagaluppi
Massimiliano Badino
Karen Barad
Jeffrey Barrett
Alexander Blum
Florian Boge
Jean Bricmont
Jeffrey Bub
Otavio Bueno
Kristian Camilleri
Elise Crull
Olivier Darrigol
Flavio Del Santo
Dennis Dieks
Anthony Duncan
Paul Forman
Olival Freire Jr
Fabio Freitas
Bernard R. Goldstein
Alexei Grinbaum
Thiago Hartz
Klaus Hentschel
Giora Hon
Don Howard
Kenji Ito
Anja Skaar Jacobsen
Martin Jähnert
Michel Janssen
Christian Joas
David Kaiser
Alexei Kojevnikov
Joseph Kouneiher
Helge Kragh
Decio Krause
Franck Laloë
Klaas Landsman
Christoph Lehner
Bernadette Lessel
Jean-Philippe Martinez
Daniela Monaldi
Wayne Myrvold
Climério Paulo da Silva Neto
Stefano Osnaghi
Michel Paty
Alexander Pechenkin
José G. Perillán
Osvaldo Pessoa Jr.
Sebastián Murgueitio Ramírez
Dean Rickles
Gustavo Rocha
Carlo Rovelli
Thomas Ryckman
Emilio Santos
Indianara Silva
Josep Simon
Richard Staley
Jean-Jacques Szczeciniarz
Hervé Zwirn

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Quantum Interpretations

Edited by Olival Freire Jr, Guido Bacciagaluppi, Olivier Darrigol, Thiago Hartz, Christian Joas, Alexei Kojevnikov, and Osvaldo Pessoa Jr

Oxford Handbooks in Physics

Reviews and Awards

"Quantum mechanics is the basis for contemporary physics and our guide to technologies from the transistor to quantum computing, yet a century after its codification in 1926, debates rage over its physical meaning. The editors of this grand volume have assembled remarkable essays about the history and state of this theory like no other. Bravo! Physicists, historians and philosophers will plumb the riches here for decades." - Peter Galison, Director, Black Hole Initiative, Harvard University