The decision to undertake this volume was made in 1971 at Lake Como during the Varenna summer school ofthe Italian Physical Society, where Professor Leon Rosenfeld was lecturing on the history of quantum theory. We had long been struck by the unique blend of epistemological, histori cal and social concerns in his work on the foundations and development of physics, and decided to approach him there with the idea of publishing a collection of his papers. He responded enthusiastically, and agreed to help us select the papers; furthermore, he also agreed to write a lengthy introduction and to comment separately on those papers that he felt needed critical re-evaluation in the light of his current views. For he was still vigorously engaged in both theoretical investigations of, and critical not reflections on the foundations of theoretical physics. We certainly did conceive of the volume as a memorial to a 'living saint', but rather more practically, as a useful tool to place in the hands of fellow workers and students engaged in wrestling with these difficult problems. All too sadly, fate has added a memorial aspect to our labors. We agreed that in order to make this book most useful for the con temporary community of physicists and philosophers, we should trans late all non-English items into English.
Author(s): Robert S. Cohen, John J. Stachel (auth.), Robert S. Cohen, John J. Stachel (eds.)
Series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science 21
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Year: 1979
Language: English
Pages: 941
Tags: Philosophy of Science; History
Front Matter....Pages I-XXXIV
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
On the Method of History of Science [1947b]....Pages 3-6
Science in History (Review of J. D. Bernal’s Science in History [Watts & Co., London, 1954. xxiv + 967 pp.])[1956f]....Pages 7-15
The Logical Problem of the Definition of Irrational Numbers [1927e]....Pages 16-28
Rationalism in Antiquity [1954c]....Pages 29-31
The Transformations of the Atomic Concept Through the Ages [1969f]....Pages 32-44
Flicker in the Darkness (Review of Nicole Oresme and the Medieval Geometry of Qualities and Motions (ed. M. Clagett)[University of Wisconsin Press, Madison and London 1968. xiii + 713 pp.]) [1969e]....Pages 45-48
Marcus Marci’s Investigations of the Prism and their Relation to Newton’s Theory of Color [1932c]....Pages 49-54
Descartes at Uppsala (Review of Rolf Lindborg’s Descartes i Uppsala . Striderna om “nya filosofien” 1633–1689. [Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm, 1965. xvi + 367 pp.]) [1967a]....Pages 55-57
Newton and the Law of Gravitation [1965d]....Pages 58-87
Newton’s Views on Aether and Gravitation [1969c]....Pages 88-98
The Genesis of the Laws of Thermodynamics [1941a]....Pages 99-111
Joule’s Scientific Outlook [1952a]....Pages 112-122
An Analysis of Joule’s Experiments on the Expansion of Air [with A. P. Hatton] [1956e]....Pages 123-133
The Velocity of Light and the Evolution of Electrodynamics [1956a]....Pages 134-177
The Evolution of Oersted’s Scientific Concepts [1970b]....Pages 178-192
The First Phase in the Evolution of the Quantum Theory [1936b]....Pages 193-234
Max Planck and the Statistical Definition of Entropy [1959b]....Pages 235-246
Matter and Force After Fifty Years of Quantum Theory [1963d]....Pages 247-265
Men and Ideas in the History of Atomic Theory [1971d]....Pages 266-296
Jacques Solomon [1959c]....Pages 297-301
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Quantum Theory in 1929: Recollections from the First Copenhagen Conference [1971c]....Pages 302-312
Niels Bohr An Essay Dedicated to Him on the Occasion of His Sixtieth Birthday, October 7, 1945 [Second Edition Corrected] 1961 [1945e]....Pages 313-326
The Conception of the Meson Field Some Reminiscences and Epistemological Comments [1968e]....Pages 327-334
Nuclear Reminiscences....Pages 335-345
Celestial and Terrestrial Physics in Historical Perspective [1969b]....Pages 346-353
Front Matter....Pages 355-355
On the Question of the Measurability of Electromagnetic Field Quantities [with Niels Bohr] [1933b]....Pages 357-400
Field and Charge Measurements in Quantum Electrodynamics [with N. Bohr] [1950a]....Pages 401-412
On Quantum Electrodynamics [ Among Essays Dedicated to Niels Bohr on the Occasion of his 70th Birthday ] [1955b]....Pages 413-441
On Quantization of Fields [1963a]....Pages 442-445
The Evolution of the Idea of Causality [1942d]....Pages 446-464
Strife About Complementarity [1953c]....Pages 465-483
Complementarity and Statistics I and II [1958b]....Pages 484-494
Misunderstandings About the Foundations of Quantum Theory [1957a]....Pages 495-502
Foundations of Quantum Theory and Complementarity [1961e]....Pages 503-516
The Epistemological Conflict between Einstein and Bohr ( Dedicated to Max Born on his 80th Birthday ) [1963c]....Pages 517-521
Niels Bohr’s Contribution to Epistemology [1963h]....Pages 522-535
The Measuring Process in Quantum Mechanics ( On the 30th Anniversary of the Meson Theory by Dr. H. Yukawa, 1965 ) [1965c]....Pages 536-546
Statistical Causality in Atomic Theory (A General Introduction to Irreversibility) [1972d and 1974a]....Pages 547-570
The Macroscopic Level of Quantum Mechanics [1972a and b] (with C. George and I. Prigogine)....Pages 571-598
Quantum Theory and Gravitation [1966a]....Pages 599-608
Front Matter....Pages 355-355
Questions of Method in the Consistency Problem of Quantum Mechanics [1968f]....Pages 609-613
The Method of Physics [1968g]....Pages 614-636
Some Reflections on Knowledge [1971e]....Pages 637-642
Epistemology on a Scientific Basis [1971a]....Pages 643-654
Condillac’s Influence on French Scientific Thought [1972f]....Pages 655-665
Unphilosophical Considerations on Causality in Physics [1971b]....Pages 666-680
Irreversibility — A Lay Sermon ( On the Occasion of Professor K. Beuler’s Sixtieth Birthday, as a Token of Esteem and Friendship ) [1977b]....Pages 681-685
Berkeley Redivivus (Review of W. Heisenberg’s Natural Law and the Structure of Matter [Rebel, London, 1970]) [1970c]....Pages 686-687
The Wave-Particle Dilemma [1973b]....Pages 688-703
A Voyage to Laplacia [1955d]....Pages 704-708
Front Matter....Pages 709-709
On the Energy-Momentum Tensor [1940b]....Pages 711-735
On the Definition of Spin for a Radiation Field [1942e]....Pages 736-741
On the Behavior of a Canonical Ensemble During an Adiabatic Transformation [1942f]....Pages 742-746
On the Isolated and Adiabatic Susceptibilities [1961c]....Pages 747-761
On the Foundations of Statistical Thermodynamics [1955a]....Pages 762-807
Questions of Irreversibility and Ergodicity [1962b]....Pages 808-829
Part I Dynamical Theory of Nuclear Resonances [1968b]....Pages 830-860
Coupling Between Compound and Single-Particle Resonances....Pages 861-865
The Structure of Quantum Theory [1968d]....Pages 866-878
Front Matter....Pages 879-879
The Organization of Scientific Research [1948d]....Pages 881-891
Front Matter....Pages 879-879
The Atomic Researcher The Atomic Physicist’s Tasks, Goals, and Methods [1968j]....Pages 892-896
Technical and Social Aspects of the Development of the European Scientific Research Organizations [1970e]....Pages 897-901
Social and Individual Aspects of the Development of Science [1971f]....Pages 902-910
Back Matter....Pages 911-941
