I have recently become interested in the work of Grete Hermann, with particular interest in her disproof of the widely accepted theorem by John von Neumann that purported to prove the impossibility of hidden variable theory in quantum mechanics. 2 While thinking about her contributions, I have also been led to speculate about how the subsequent development of quantum mechanics and our present interpretation of quantum theory would have differed if her work had been appreciated and fully recognized by the physics establishment at the time, instead of being ignored for nearly 30years until John Bell rediscovered von Neumann's error, 3 took up her work, and brought it to the attention of the physics community. This episode suggests that we should heed George Santayana's famous saying: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. 4 The history of science should have a role in physics education so it can provide a sometimes much-needed correction to the development and progress of science.
...MoreDescription A note on Grete Hermann's contributions to quantum physics and how they had been largely ignored until thirty years later a male physicist drew upon her work to substantiate similar conclusions.
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Elise Crull;
Guido Bacciagaluppi;
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Grete Hermann - Between Physics and Philosophy
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Bernstein, Jeremy;
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Quantum Leaps
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(2010)
Classes of Copenhagen Interpretations: Mechanisms of Collapse as Typologically Determinative
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Rédei, Miklós;
Stöltzner, Michael;
(2001)
John von Neumann and the Foundations of Quantum Physics
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Freire, Olival, Jr.;
(2006)
Philosophy Enters the Optics Laboratory: Bell's Theorem and Its First Experimental Tests (1965--1982)
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Hon, Giora;
(2009)
Living Extremely Flat: The Life of an Automaton; John von Neumann's Conception of Error of (in)Animate Systems
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Bernstein, Jeremy;
(2008)
John Bell and the Identical Twins
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Jackiw, Roman;
Shimony, Abner;
(2002)
The Depth and Breadth of John Bell's Physics
(/isis/citation/CBB000200076/)
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John von Neumann;
R. Lupacchini;
G. Gottardi;
(2018)
Metamatematica hilbertiana e fondamenti della meccanica quantistica
(/isis/citation/CBB497992538/)
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Valente, Giovanni;
(2008)
John Von Neumann's Mathematical “Utopia” in Quantum Theory
(/isis/citation/CBB000933675/)
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Goldstein, S.;
Lebowitz, J. L.;
Tumulka, R.;
Zanghì, N.;
(2010)
Long-Time Behavior of Macroscopic Quantum Systems: Commentary Accompanying the English Translation of John Von Neumann's 1929 Article on the Quantum Ergodic Theorem
(/isis/citation/CBB001033633/)
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Lacki, Jan;
(2000)
The Early Axiomatizations of Quantum Mechanics: Jordan, von Neumann and the Continuation of Hilbert's Program
(/isis/citation/CBB000740282/)
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Peters, Klaus-Heinrich;
(2004)
Schönheit, Exaktheit, Wahrheit: Der Zusammenhang von Mathematik und Physik am Beispiel der Geschichte der Distributionen
(/isis/citation/CBB000650683/)
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Bernstein, Jeremy;
(1991)
Quantum profiles
(/isis/citation/CBB000037902/)
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Hilgevoord, Jan;
(2005)
Time in Quantum Mechanics: A Story of Confusion
(/isis/citation/CBB000501568/)
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Bacciagaluppi, Guido;
Crull, Elise;
(2009)
Heisenberg (and Schrödinger, and Pauli) on Hidden Variables
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Henson, Joe;
(2005)
Comparing Causality Principles
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Krips, Henry;
(1995)
Rhetoic, ideology, and desire in von Neumann's Gründlagen
(/isis/citation/CBB000067323/)
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