I was very enthusiastic about our findings and wanted to publish them in a prestigious journal. I knew that this was not going to be easy, because neither Walter nor I were known experts in this particular area of mathematical physics, and any referee who saw that we tried to refute Bell would probably have a negative reaction to it. This is why I called my friend Federico Capasso and asked him to help. I had known Federico since many years. He was one of the top researchers at Bell Laboratories and now professor of applied physics at Harvard. Federico and I had hadmany spirited discussions about research topics and had become very good friends. Federico’s research area is solid state physics. He is a great expert in the area of light detectors, including the photodetectors that are used in the EPRB experiments, and he is the “father” of the quantum cascade laser. He knew about EPRB experiments and the Bell theorem. He also knew that I would not be calling him if I was not convinced about having important results. After presenting my case, I asked Federicowhether hewould, as amember of the National Academy of Sciences, sponsor a paper for PNAS, the proceedings of this National Academy and a very prestigious journal. I was at that time not yet a member of the academy myself. Any member of the academy could communicate annually a small number of papers to PNAS, determine the referees, and be involved in the publication process in the role of a guest editor. If the referee reports were good, such a paper would be printed with very high probability. For academymembers, this was a wonderful way to publish their own research and also to sponsor deserving research of young scientists as well as research on somewhat risky but highly interesting topics.
I was very enthusiastic about our findings and wanted to publish them in a prestigious journal. I knew that this was not going to be easy, because neither Walter nor I were known experts in this particular area of mathematical physics, and any referee who saw that we tried to refute Bell would probably have a negative reaction to it. This is why I called my friend Federico Capasso and asked him to help. I had known Federico since many years. He was one of the top researchers at Bell Laboratories and now professor of applied physics at Harvard. Federico and I had hadmany spirited discussions about research topics and had become very good friends. Federico’s research area is solid state physics. He is a great expert in the area of light detectors, including the photodetectors that are used in the EPRB experiments, and he is the “father” of the quantum cascade laser. He knew about EPRB experiments and the Bell theorem. He also knew that I would not be calling him if I was not convinced about having important results. After presenting my case, I asked Federicowhether hewould, as amember of the National Academy of Sciences, sponsor a paper for PNAS, the proceedings of this National Academy and a very prestigious journal. I was at that time not yet a member of the academy myself. Any member of the academy could communicate annually a small number of papers to PNAS, determine the referees, and be involved in the publication process in the role of a guest editor. If the referee reports were good, such a paper would be printed with very high probability. For academymembers, this was a wonderful way to publish their own research and also to sponsor deserving research of young scientists as well as research on somewhat risky but highly interesting topics.
Before our publication of (Hess and Philipp, 2004), my inaugural paper for the National Academy of Sciences, Walter and I organized a meeting at the Beckman Institute of the University of Illinois to present all of our ideas and to discuss them with the experts. The meeting was a disappointment for me, because not many of the scientists who had criticized us came. Tony was present and discussed his opposing views. I do not remember any other discussions that we had not heard before, and the presentations that Walter and I gaveweremathematically too complex. Our adversaries did not like what we said; only our friends did. Andrei Khrennikov and also Louis Marchildon were present and very supportive.
In 1985, David Mermin, a solid-state physicist at Cornell, wrote a funny and informative account of the EPR argument and Bell’s theorem for Physics Today, the Wall Street Journal of the American physics community. Mermin’s article generated a resurgence of interest in the subject, which swept like a cresting wave through the cocktail-party circuit and just as quickly receded. I recall confused discussions from this period with members of my generation, who alternately declared Bell’s theorem trivial, uninteresting, or the greatest discovery since Einstein proved moving clocks go slowly. One sentiment produced universal agreement, however: Do not write papers or apply for grants in the area, since “philosophical” issues are career killers.
This special volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series is dedicated to the proceedings of "International Conference on Quantum Science and Applications (ICQSA-2016)". The conference was organized by the Centre for Quantum Research and Applications at Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Eskisehir, Turkey. It was held in Eskisehir Osmangazi University Congress and Culture Centre during May 25-27, 2016 http://icqsa2016.ogu.edu.tr . It gathered actively 143 participants from different disciplines in natural and applied sciences coming from 16 different countries from all over the word. It was the first international conference in its content on the scientific research fields of quantum science and applications in Turkey. It also consisted of 12 plenary lectures and 119 contributed oral presentations covering interdisciplinary fields of research. The ICQSA-2016 conference focused on recent modern theoretical and experimental developments of quantum science in multi-disciplinary aspects of areas of mathematics, physics, statistics, chemistry, biology, computer science, electronics, informatics, medicine, education, etc. It served as an interaction platform for students, researchers, public, and private sector delegates for sharing new scientific and technological ideas on quantum applications in science and technology. The topics of the conference were: Quantum theory and quantum computing, quantum information theory and its applications, quantum statistics and its applications, quantum thermodynamics, quantum cryptography, classical and quantum symmetries, quantum calculus in science, engineering, medicine, education, etc., classical and quantum integrable systems, modeling and numerical methods in quantum systems, other modern mathematical methods in science and technology. Each of the submitted papers for this special volume of the proceedings of ICQSA-2016 has been reviewed by external referees. There are 36 accepted papers. Besides, it is worth pointing out that a great deal of interest shown by the participants of the ICQSA-2016 conference gives hope for the continuation of this meeting in the following years. The conference organization was sponsored by Eskisehir Osmangazi University (ESOGU), Eskisehir Tepebasi Municipality, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) under the project number 113F226. Other supporters of this organization were: Eskisehir Metropolitan Municipality, Eskisehir Governorship Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, Pegem Academy Publishing Company. In addition, this special volume is supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) under the project number 113F226. Finally, our special thanks go to the Scientific and Organizing Committee members, to the sponsors and supporters, and to all of the participants. We hope this special volume will provide a useful resource for students, experts, and other participants, who are interested in interdisciplinary fields of quantum science and applications.
When I took a first glance at Bell’s paper, I got the impression that all of Bell’s statements were mathematically straightforward and simply true for numbers and, therefore, a mathematically proven truth, a theorem for numbers, just as Tony’s equation was. Both Walter and I could not see why this theorem could be applied to the actual experiments. I realized that it would be a lot of work to understand the physical significance of Bell’s ideas, and I first had to convincemyself that it was reallyworthwhile.What I askedmyself was whether Bell’s ideas had any consequences for engineering and technology and not just for the esoteric questions related to the battle between Einstein and Bohr. While I still was fond of my childhood dream to make a contribution in mathematical physics, I had worked too long in areas of applied physics and engineering to attack a problem that had no applications in the foreseeable future.