Controversies between Einstein and Niels Bohr about the interpretation of quantum theory have been a classical case in the twentieth-century physics.Through the case study of controversies that been derived from uncertainty princple and EPR paper between Einstein and Niels Bohr,we can find that behind the great controversies concerning great scientific revolutions,it must be the controversies of the fundamental problem of philosophy.In these scientific controversies,the logical inference become highly effective way to argumentation,thus they become the powerful weapons for scientists to win in scientific controversies.Though scientists utilize various rhetoric arguments in dispute,the rhetoric argument must be built on the base of logical inference.For this reason,there is a necessary tension between logical inference and rhetoric argument.
Controversies between Einstein and Niels Bohr about the interpretation of quantum theory have been a classical case in the twentieth-century physics.Through the case study of controversies that been derived from uncertainty princple and EPR paper between Einstein and Niels Bohr,we can find that behind the great controversies concerning great scientific revolutions,it must be the controversies of the fundamental problem of philosophy.In these scientific controversies,the logical inference become highly effective way to argumentation,thus they become the powerful weapons for scientists to win in scientific controversies.Though scientists utilize various rhetoric arguments in dispute,the rhetoric argument must be built on the base of logical inference.For this reason,there is a necessary tension between logical inference and rhetoric argument.
The support of Copenhagen quantum mechanics in the discussion concerning EPR experiments has been based fundamentally on two mistakes. First, quantum mechanics as well as hidden-variable theory give the same predictions; the statement of Belinfante from 1973 about the significant difference must be denoted as mistake. Secondly, the experimental violation of Bell's inequalities has been erroneously interpreted as excluding the hidden-variable alternative, while they have been based on assumption corresponding to classical physics. The EPR experiments cannot bring, therefore, any decision in the controversy between Einstein and Bohr. However, the view of Einstein is strongly supported by experimental results concerning the light transmission through three polarizers.
Niels Bohr was born on October 7, 1885. He was one of the great innovators in physical science in the twentieth century. It so happens that 1985 also marks fifty years since the long discussions, which had begun in the 1920s between Albert Einstein and Bohr on the philosophical problems of quantum physics, attained their apogee. An article co-authored by Einstein, B. Podolsky, and N. Rosen, "Can Quantum Mechanics Be Considered a Complete Description of Physical Reality?,"1 was published in 1935 in the journal Physical Review. According to Bohr, "by virtue of its clarity and, it would seem, flawless argumentation, the work of Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen has created excitement among physicists and played a great role in the discussion of general philosophical questions of physics."2 Precisely as a result of the publication of this article, the critical position of Einstein concerning quantum mechanics became known to a broader circle of physicists. (Prior to this not many physicists had participated in the discussions.)3 In the same year, Bohr responded to Einstein and his co-authors with an article under the same title.4
The Argument The aim of this paper is to provide a critical perspective for Einstein's opposition to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics, by analyzing the ingenious rhetoric of Bohr's principle of complementarity. I argue that what Bohr presents as arguments of “inevitability” are in fact merely arguments for the consistency of the quantum-mechanical scheme. Einstein's resistance to being persuaded by this potent technique of argumentation, and his rejection of Bohr's interpretation of quantum physics, appear consequently as an eminently reasonable position and not as a conservative stand, as it is often presented by the adherents of the Copenhagen orthodoxy.
Quantum theory, the most successful physical theory of all time, provoked intense debate between the twentieth century's two greatest physicists, Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. Quantum information theory has emerged from intensive study of the structure and interpretation of quantum theory to become one of the fastest growing areas of twenty-first century science. This second edition has been extensively revised and updated to cover recent developments, including the findings of papers published since the well-received first edition. A substantial new chapter is devoted to the development and structure of quantum information theory. Developments in the experimental and theoretical study of Bell's Theorem are also covered in detail, and the accounts of ongoing work have been brought up to date. A fascinating account of the development of quantum theory, this book will appeal to anyone with an interest in the fundamental questions of physics, its philosophy and its history.
Between 1927 and 1936 no one had a greater influence on Bohr's thinking than Einstein. It was Einstein's unremitting criticism which provided the severest test of Bohr's interpretation of quantum physics, and which forced him to clarify and refine his arguments. The debate between Bohr and Einstein concerning the interpretation of quantum physics is generally recognised as one of the great intellectual disputes in the history of science. What was the nature of the disagreement between them, and what were the arguments with which each defended his position? The fifth Solvay Conference, 1927 Einstein was not present at the Volta Centennial Conference at Como in September 1927, where Bohr first presented his theory of complementarity; Einstein first learned of Bohr's interpretation of quantum mechanics at the fifth Solvay Conference of Physics at Brussels in October 1927. In the discussion following Bohr's paper Einstein examined an imaginary experiment in which an electron passes through a slit in a diaphragm and impinges at a point on a hemispherical screen. This experiment, Einstein suggested, could be interpreted in either of two ways: the de Broglie–Schrödinger waves represent either ( a ) an ensemble of electrons spread out in space (but not an individual electron), or ( b ) a wave-packet corresponding to an individual electron. There is, he noted, a difficulty with the latter interpretation.
Niels Bohr and Philosophy of Physics: Twenty-First Century Perspectives examines the philosophical views, influences and legacy of the Nobel Prize physicist and philosophical spokesman of the quantum revolution, Niels Bohr. The sixteen contributions in this collection by some of the best contemporary philosophers and physicists writing on Bohr's philosophy today all carefully distinguish his subtle and unique interpretation of quantum mechanics from views often imputed to him under the banner of the “Copenhagen Interpretation.” With respect to philosophical influences on Bohr's outlook, the contributors analyse prominent similarities between his viewpoint and Kantian ways of thinking, the views of the Danish philosopher Harald Høffding, and themes characteristic of American pragmatism. In recognizing the importance of Bohr's epistemological naturalism they examine his defence of the indispensability of classical concepts from a variety of different perspectives. This collection shows us that Bohr's interpretation of quantum mechanics, now nearly a century old, still has the power to shed light on a variety of issues that have arisen only since his lifetime, as well as decoherence theory and other non-collapse interpretations. Balancing historical themes with contemporary discussions, Niels Bohr and the Philosophy of Physics establishes Bohr's on-going contribution to the philosophy of physics and examines his place in the history of philosophy.