Dr
Thiago
Hartz,
Niels
Bohr Archive:
 The argument
turned upside down: a history of Bryce DeWitt’s
criticism of Niels Bohr’s interpretation of quantum
mechanics (1948–1970)
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Bryce
DeWitt
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After the late 1920s, the
interpretation of quantum mechanics was largely considered
to be established once and for all. The few discontents –
as Albert Einstein, David Bohm, and Hugh Everett – were
quite isolated, and the majority of the physicists didn’t
take the interpretation of quantum mechanics as an open
problem. This situation was overturned circa 1970. One of
the protagonists of this change was the American physicist
Bryce DeWitt (1923-2004). In this talk, I will analyze
DeWitt’s life and work during the period 1948–1970. I will
show how he was at the beginning quite close to Niels
Bohr’s ideas and why he went over to Everett’s
interpretation of quantum mechanics. I will conclude with
some general remarks about the history of the
interpretations of quantum mechanics and with some
comments about the idea of ‘quantum heterodoxy’.
tirsdag, den
19. november, 2013, kl. 17.00
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The argument
turned upside down: a history of Bryce DeWitt’s
criticism of Niels Bohr’s interpretation of quantum
mechanics (1948–1970)
