Growing Recognition of Bohm’s Causal Interpretation

Olival Freire

This article focuses on the reception among physicists of Bohm's 1952 papers on the causal interpretation of quantum mechanics, which were poorly received at the time. I describe his Brazilian exile and analyze the culture of physics surrounding the foundations of quantum mechanics. I take into account the strength of the Copenhagen interpretation among physicists, the way in which issues concerning the foundations of quantum mechanics were present in the training of physicists, the low status of these issues on research agendas, and the kind of results Bohm and collaborators were able to achieve. I also compare the reception of Bohm's ideas with that of Hugh Everett's interpretation and argue that the obstacles growing from the cultural context of physics at that time had a more significant influence in the reception of Bohm's ideas than did the vicissitudes related to the McCarthyist climate.

Amit Goswami

Zhang Gui-quan

This paper introduces and analyses David Bohm's causal interpretation of quantum potential and his viewpoint of nonlocality. As the key of Bohm's causal interpretation of quantum theory, the interpretation of quantum potential has been paid serious attention to by Bohm since 1980's. Bohm reviews quantum potential from the perspective of information and puts forward some new views. Especially, Bohm probes into nonlocality on the basis of the view of quantum potential and active information. This is of great significance in both physics and philosophy.

Yemina Ben-Menahem

Chris Talbot

Lee Smolin

In the early 1950s the American physicist David Bohm (1917-1992) lived through a critical moment, when he produced a new interpretation for quantum mechanics and had to flee from the United States as McCarthyism's victim.At that time he faced vicissitudes related to the Cold War and his move from Princeton to São Paulo.This article focuses on the reception among physicists of his papers on the causal interpretation, which were poorly received at the time.I describe his Brazilian exile and analyze the culture of physics surrounding the foundations of quantum mechanics.This article takes into account the strength of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics among physicists, the way in which issues concerning the foundations of quantum mechanics were present in the training of physicists, the low status of these issues on research agendas, and the kind of results Bohm and collaborators were able to achieve.It also compares the reception of Bohm's ideas with that of Hugh Everett's interpretation.This article argues that the obstacles growing from the cultural context of physics at that time had a more significant influence in the reception of Bohm's ideas than did the vicissitudes related to the McCarthyist climate.WHEN DAVID BOHM and Richard Feynman concluded their physics dissertations, during the first half of the 1940s, they were among the most promising students of their generation in American physics.After the war, however, their fates were very different.Feynman reached the zenith of his scientific career in the United States.In 1951, Bohm was forced to leave the United States forever.Before that, he got a position in Princeton, carried out his research on plasma theory, and published a praised graduate